Any country music fans out there that can help me figure out how to play the harp part in Blake Shelton’s song Ol’ Red?
Thanks in advance
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Ol’ Red is a song with a simple, but soulful harmonica part by my favorite player, Terry McMillan. Terry is a very good player worth checking out if you like a more bluesy sound to your country harp. He’s using a Bb harmonica in 2nd position, so he’s playing in F. It involves a lot of bending and vibrato. I can also record an audio sample if you want.
The second half of the first verse goes like this:
4D’->4D 5D 4D’->4D (make sure to keep this last four draw slightly sharp)
4D’->4D 5D 4D, 4D’ 3D’ 2D
2D" 2D->2D" 2D…2D" 1D
1234D
The outro is just this line
4D’->4D 5D 4D, 4D->4D’ 3D’ 2D
Except you hold out that last note with a softer volume with vibrato on it.
For the second half of the last verse, it’s more related to chugging and rhythm playing but it’s revolved around the bottom three notes. This is just a text explanation, but if you want a full audio/video explanation I can do it.
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