Playing “Help-Me” in the Style of Sonny Boy Williamson II

One of the greatest blue songs ever written is "Help me" by Rice Miller (the second Sonny Boy). I am a fan of this great harp player and I enjoy listening to his .
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Feel Like Going Home. Blues Keyboard Lessons for Beginners. The Major Eights 1: Battle of the Bands. Blues Guitar Lessons - Solos. Legends of the Blues. In Search of the Blues.

Playing "Help-Me" in the Style of Sonny Boy Williamson II by Keith P. Graham on Apple Books

Sheet Music Momma Blue. Learn to Play Harmonica. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long.


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Would you like us to take another look at this review? No, cancel Yes, report it Thanks! You've successfully reported this review. We appreciate your feedback. Graham, January Imprint: The bold characters represent the downbeat. But is this accurate? Subject to Sonny Boy telling us I did it like this , the following seems more expedient and more authentic.

One 4D 4B 3D.. This option lends itself to a more syncopated rhythm from the diaphragm and produces better staccato. This little trickster has provoked a schism between 2D advocates and 3B partisans ever since it was recorded. In Help Me it appears at the 1: You could play it anywhere in the song, but it will only sound authentic when you reproduce it over the IV chord. Make a mental note. The other vital detail is the timing. The lick comes in after the down beat.

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There are another couple of classic licks which feature right at the end of Keep It To Yourself. They turn the rhythmic emphasis back onto the down beat and, in doing so, they stand out from the pack. At the same time they follow the chord changes, which ensures they sit perfectly with the musical flow. The first lick is played over the one chord.

Now we can start hanging it all together. The first line is repeated as the song returns to the I chord. Next we add a simple bent 3D over the V chord and then move to the outro. In this number the band stops momentarily, allowing Sonny Boy time to fill the false ending with a passing phrase before slotting in a standard blues finish. The final notes are not played altogether cleanly — Sonny Boy catches adjacent holes for effect. You could use it at the very end of a song. You could also use it midway through, substituting the ending here with a standard turn around above.

Try the full sequence now, with the complete tab and sound clip here:. Basic as it is, you must ensure it punctuates the lyrics at the optimum moment: Grab your C harp, it sounds likes this.. In simple terms this is the quivering sound generated by rapid movement of the free hand.

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Keep the heel of your free hand anchored into the harp-holding hand, but flutter the fingertips as rapidly as you can. On a C harp, draw 4, draw 3 and draw 2, it sounds like this.. As ever, it involves a triplet pattern. The rhythm is one dah -dah-dah duh duh and the result should sound like this.. It is a further example of how he picks the twists, tucks and turns that nobody else thinks of.

Any harp will do, although the clip uses a C major. The penultimate line of tab should be familiar by now; you just need to add the standard turn around lick to complete the exercise:. All you have to do is add the wah-wahs and standard turn around.

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GP picks out some quintessential SB2 licks and weaves them into his song to the very best effect. Check it out and learn from it. Oh yeah, a couple more things: Maybe the Doc was right about that trickster lick after all. This is where Sonny Boy actually spells it out for us beyond all reasonable doubt. I did it like this…. Frogs For Snakes is a classic. I hope to revisit SB2 before long and look at his first position stuff.. I came across this web site some weeks ago. The lecture on Sonny Boy is particularily good. I have been learning a lot.

Thanks for your kind words. We plan to add more posts on the Sonny Boy II theme. Hope they prove useful too. In fact, I learned by playing along to his albums. I can totally sympathise. We weill look into it with the aid of The Amazing Slowdowner available on line and our expert ear. It may take us a week or two, but hopefully help is at hand. Hi, very good tabs!! This is a technique which goes hand in hand with the tongue block method of playing harmonica.

Instead of pursing or puckering, you are covering about four holes with your mouth, blocking off three holes with your tongue and playing the remainng hole. Typically this means blocking the three holes to the left and playing the remaining hole on the right. So you might blocks holes 1 to 3 and play hole 4. The reverse can also be true however — you could block 2 to 4 and play hole 1. Either way the result is a system of playing where you blow from the side of the mouth rather than centrally.

It adds a crunch effect to the sound. By repeating the process, a jig or shuffle rhythm can be created. Thanks very much for clear and comprehensive explanation!!! I see what you mean! I have edited the second paragraph, so it should be slightly clearer now. Hope your SB2 homework is coming on ok! This is totaly brilliant as iv been here and there trying to gain some wah wah intermediate approach, as i have been stuck with a good wah wah but with little effect as in choking the harp??

Hi Cain, Welcome to the Surgery! This is brilliant — thanks so much. Your explanation is so clear and detailed. Great to have a comment in from beautiful Brazil. There will be more stuff to read once we have finisghed setting up our harmonica in schools project. Keep in touch and come back soon. C harp in 2nd position.

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