"Middle of the Road" by The Pretenders

Theory
1

Someone just turned me onto this song, and Chrissie Hynde proves 2 awesome facts that I’ve talked about before:

1.) Women Rock
2.) To sound great playing in 2nd position, draw more than blow

Here’s the tabs to her opening licks:

-1 -1’ -1 -1’

-1 -1’ -1 -1 -1

-45 -45’ -45 45 -45 45 -23 -3 -3” -2

She goes on to do a lot of stuff around -5 and her high point is -6.

Hope that helps.

Rock on,
Luke

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2

Luke,
I was reading some stats on another forum where they had analysed a few classic blues songs, typically played in 2nd position. The average was around 90% draw notes! So exhale before you start!
Cheers
Maka

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3

AMEN, brother. AMEN!

That’s so cool. I’d never heard that before, but I’m gonna trust the secondhand info and start quoting you on that. :wink:

4

As stolen from Dave Barrett (no original thought on my part):
As a randomized sample of our ratio of draw to blow notes played (rests were not counted), I analyzed the first four choruses of these songs played in 2nd Position (our most common position):

  1. “Bonus Boogie” by Kim Wilson – 8 beats of blow and 147 beats of draw = 95% draws
  2. “Blue Midnight” by Little Walter – 25 beats of blow and 143 beats of draw = 85% draws
  3. “Baby Scratch My Back” by Slim Harpo – 12 beats of blow and 122 beats of draw = 91% draws
    With these numbers in mind, it’s obvious that every time you pick up your harmonica to play, your reflex should be to exhale before starting.
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5

I’ve always loved this song @Luke, as well as just about anything from the Pretenders, now even more so!

Getting some “low dough” on the draws definitely seems to be key to making 2nd position wail @Maka. Nice stats!

:sunglasses: :notes: :+1:

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