The Mavericks. All you ever do

Hi harp friends. Any advice on playing “All you ever do is bring me down”. It’s in guitar A and E. So do I play straight? Any advice would help I’ve been asked to play with some jamming friends. Thanks.

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Hey @tess848ducati yeah so if you’re gonna be jamming that with friends, you’ll probably want to use an A harmonica. This song, as you mentioned goes from I - V, and hit has a cajun feel.

You can play some nice backing chordal stuff blowing on the A chord, and drawing on the E chord and that should add some really nice texture to the ensemble.

Hope that helps!

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Thanks Luke. Yeh I guess it doesn’t need to be over complicated. Playing straight is alien to me. Any tips on making it easier? It’s like playing backwards lol.

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LOL. Sure! I can help ya!
First of all, Just focus on playing chords.

Play on two time on beats 2 & and one time on beat 4.

So “rest, ta-ta, rest, ta

Listen and pay attention to when the chords change.

When the singing starts you’re:
First blowing on the I chord for 2 bars.
Then drawing on the V chord for 4 bars.
Then blowing on the I chord for 2 bars.

So that 8 bar pattern repeats the entire tune from the time the singings starts. (And it’s just on the I chord before the singing starts.)

Just doing that will add a great vibe to the jam. And then once you’ve played that one million times and can do it in your sleep, then you can start playing around with embellishments. :sunglasses:

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