“Hey, you play harmonica, right?”
“Um…yeah, a bit.”
“Play me something.”
“[collapse on floor in fetal position]”
OR you play something that you know will be magically cool without even needing the help of a jam track.
What’s your GO-TO???
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If I get put on the spot to play I typically start with a few chordal patterns
Some recognizable like Do Wah Diddy or I want candy
Or I’ll do my own rhythm and articulations with only blow draw on 123 or 234
I keep it simple
I am getting better at Amazing Grace and look to pull that off sometime when asked to play
How about you @Luke what’s your go to?
Mike
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Train imitation definitely!
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The first solo to “Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)”.
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@cloves-fibs0f No, I usually fall on the floor in the fetal position! That’s why I’m asking! 
All joking aside, I do feel a bit like a deer in the headlights in these situations, and I’d like to find some good, fun, impressive options to feel less like that in the future, lol. I’ve played random blues improv stuff, a tongue-blocking shuffle like I teach in this vid, or most often a Fox Chase kinda thing like this. If someone asked me today, I might do some Sonny Terry style whoopin’!! But I’m seriously conducting an inquiry into this!!!
@davidkachalon OK. But…which train imitation?
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I’ve never actually considered this scenario!
This is assuming I wouldn’t be allowed to queue up a backing track on my phone?
Maybe some sort of recognizable funk song that also gives you some freedom to improvise? Maybe Cissy Strut?
I suppose I should learn “Careless Whisper”, It sounds like an appropriate “jump on a table and belt a solo out of nowhere” type of song.
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I’m pretty good at just making a groove up on the fly, but definitely a blues of some sort
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Not gonna collapse on the floor for a guy who only has 4 strings on a 7 string guitar
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The standard in in out out. Definitely.
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@chris3 I gotta give props to my amazing illustrator named ChatGPT. It took it about 2m to make that! 
I was pretty impressed. My first time trying it.
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Hey @Luke, a while ago I bought a Rocket Low D from my local music shop. Harmonicas are not that popular here, so they pretty much only have special 20s on the shelf. Anything else has to be ordered in, so the staff have got to know my name as I’ve ordered a few different models. I got a phone call to come in and pick it up and when I went in, there was no one else in the shop, just me and their three staff. The boss says, hey Craige, play us a tune on it, we’re interested to hear how it sounds. So, I’m feeling just like the Guy in your meme. I take it out of the box and try a few notes. Well, you can imagine a beginner putting a low D to my lips for the first time, in front of three musicians who I hardly know, all standing there looking at me. It was so hard to play. I’m thinking “Does this #%^*} thing even work?” I think I ended up scratching out a bit of the Godfather, then just drew on 1 2 3 for a bit. The boss says, “Oh wow that’s LOW” and I scuttled out of the shop. I think I’m still traumatised by the incident. I actually don’t talk much about my harmonica playing, other than on this forum, so no one else has ever asked me. If they did, I would probably go with ‘Annie’s song’ as everyone recognises it. It would be embarrassing if they didn’t.
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can’t go wrong just improvising a few licks. throw in a bend or two etc. if they don’t know the song they won’t see the mistakes.
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Lol fair play
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Still having fun playing and learning. You are a great teacher and love working with you. As it gets colder and deeper in snow will have more harp time to enjoy. Keep up the good work. !!! Les
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@Luke I use the shock treatment, something unexpected, usually it’s Puccini’s un bel di, vedremo aria from Madame Butterfly, most people have heard it but few know it really well enough to spot any slip-ups. 
Jay1
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The question seldom arises, but if I want to pull something out, I’ve got a 12-bar with a 2-5-1 turnaround that I call “Dexter Ducks Out” (not to be confused with “Lester Leaps In”). I use a low F#. It begins with 12-bars of “Royal Roost” (later, “Tenor Madness”) followed by 12 to 24 from songs like “Red Top”, “Take the A-Train”, “T-Bone Shuffle”, D’Natural Blues”, “One O’Clock Jump” or whatever I remember at a given moment. Just some jazz blues that swings. If there’s a band and they aren’t comfortable playing in C#, I’m okay with them playing in Db. I don’t play many instrumentals. This is more fun for me than trying to duplicat someone else’s song.
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I absolutely love the T-bone shuffle, that’s my sort of thing. I like to play a mixture of Downhome stuff, Electric Chicago Blues and the West Coast swing stuff when I’m with a band, although I’ve played a bit of country when I had my country rock band. But if I’m asked to just play something I’ll do something old Country blues or Mississippi high country blues as people seem to know what that is when I play it and some of it is very trance like.
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If I have a Troculus handy, I’ll play a melody like What a wonderful Life followed with a little blues riff with a couple bends and trills. Folks seem to like that.
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I play the train, both steam and diesel. The diesel is a mid harp 456. I also feel a deep one bend a deep -1 bens sounds like a ship coming into harbor on a foggy night. Just too deep for me.
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