How to Play Riff-Based Bluesy Sax Licks on Harmonica

Some of the early electrified blues players (like Little Walter) were emulating the popular R&B riff- oriented sax players of the 40s & 50s- Louis Jordan, Sam “The Man” Taylor, Earl Bostic, etc. The handheld-mic-through-an-amp harp tone greatly resembled the sax, and these sax players played swinging, riff- oriented music designed for dancers. People used to dance to Blues, Swing, Jazz, and R&B, which back then meant “Rhythm and Blues”- a more rhythmic, jazzier style than Blues, and the precursor to early rock and roll.

5th Position can be very Bluesy if you take a step back and “see” it. All the in/out breathing patterns are different, but it’s full of juicy bends, and opportunities to use Overblows and Overdraws to sound like a guitar or a sax.

I chose the G harp because it's a low key harmonica closer to the range of a sax, plus- most harp players have one. Otherwise, I would have used an Ab harp to play in C, a standard key for Boogie Woogie and R&B.

The harmonica I use in this video:
G Hohner Marine Band with Special 20 reed coverplates customized by Joe Filisko

Download “Boogie in B” backing track: https://levyland.com/teaching-videos-free-backing-tracks

0:00 Intro and explanation
5:50 "Boogie in B"

-------------------------------
Howard’s online harmonica school: https://artistworks.com/harmonica-lessons-howard-levy

https://levyland.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HowardLevyFanPage/
https://instagram.com/howardlevyland

Видео How to Play Riff-Based Bluesy Sax Licks on Harmonica канала Howard Levy