I can play Kind Hearted Woman Blues by Robert Johnson on guitar using fingerpicking style as the original was. Its in the key .of A. I intend to record my own version of this for my first blues album. Although I am still in the process of learning blues harp I want to put together my own harmonica licks to play inbetween the verse lyrics. I will use a harp in key of D, I presently have a new Lee Osaka harp that I purchased just for this song. I want to keep the licks simple as I cant yet bend a note properly, any suggestions on how to move forward with this please, any alternative techniquies, apart from bending, that I can use to add interest that may be easier to learn at this stage. I will continue to keep trying to bend notes. Perhaps someone has already written a harp version of this song that they will be happy to share with me. Thank you.
Try this out see how you get on.
Thank you for sharing that Dai, it is definetely a big help, I will have to go through it several times so hopefully I should get my first proper note bend soon!
I’d go for the four draw bend first as there is only one of them
Trills obviously add a lot of interest. Hold a note and just change the shape of your mouth while drawing. All sorts of saying TaTa Ta Da Da da and similar. Verbrato. Holding a note and changing the strength of your draw or blow. And of course just volume change while on the note. Go from chord eg. 3 holes to 1 hole. Try all these things on one note. You can play a tune with one hole.
Nice lesson. Great follow on to Beginner to Boss where these techniques were introduced. Thanks for posting. Very helpful.
I will definetly try those techniques thank you for the suggestions.
HI Luffy,
You might consider a Pentaharp. It will give you the “blues” notes without having to learn the bends right away, if you are in a rush to get the recording going. Otherwise, keep practicing the bends and it will come. By the way, welcome to the site.
Ah…right so its a harp with all the pentatonic scale then. That sounds like a good idea to tide me over till I can get the bends right. Thank you for that suggestion. Ian
Note. I would need a harp that is the same key as song eg Am rather than a D or E?
Ian, Correct, you would want the Pentaharp Am model. The Pentaharp was designed exactly for your type of case. Check online you should be able to find one without too much trouble.
Kevin
That is a great piece. I played along with Eric Clapton’s version also on a D in second posision. That song is ripe for some nice harp blues licks. Good luck.
Thats exactly what I was thinking, plenty of space inbetween the verses.
Well I have now ordered a Am pentaharp which should be with me in a few days. I also checked out Hohners tab maker which is a brilliant tool if you play blues guitar as I do. Just select the notes on the fretboard for the lick and it instantly provides the pentaharp tab of that lick. It is now so easy to put together a harp solo. Although there are some minor constraints as I use a lot of passing notes and small quarter bends when I solo on the guitar which isnt quite possible on the pentaharp. Also if I was guitar soloing in A minor I would also incorporate a G flat major scale which could be done if I can get a G flat or F sharp pentaharp (as one of the major scale positions is an exact copy of the Am pentatonic scale. Its a compromise I can live with until I can bend notes properly on a diatonic harp. I will post a video soon. Ian