Re: Sleazy Chromatic Blues

["Charles Williams CS" <CWILLIAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As far as I know Carey Bell's button on his chromatic broke off and he just
has never gotten it fixed.

As far as playing blues/rock/etc on the C chromatic in different keys, try
playing in A minor (Bb minor with slide in) or E minor like playing in 4th or
5th position on a diatonic - all the notes are there in A minor without even
using the slide, G only need to use the slide occasionally and Ab except push
the slide in and let it out occasionally, C and Db - similiar to G use the
slide occasionally,  F - you need to get use to playing the Bb with the slide
in or bend the B down and for me the hardest is the key of Bb because so many
of the notes are obtained without using the slide but for a clean Bb you need
the slide in. There I have mentioned 9 or 10 other keys beside the typical D
and Eb (slide in). Although playing in D minor I use the slide for the Bb and
for C# grace notes. Even though you don't have to, I sometimes like to bend
down from the draw F down to the E. Don't overlook the fact that the slide in
on the draw B gives you the C and on the E gives you the F which can be pretty
handy. Using the slide by quickly letting it in and out when playing chords,
octaves, other intervals can be great for getting a zydeco sound. Keep on
harping.

cwilliam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Charlie Williams, Clarksville, MD)





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Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 21:34:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Randy Lilleston
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> Very few blues chromatic > players use the button unless they want to play
in Eb. :-)  Carey Bell evens > goes so far as to cut off the lever. Lots of
blues in D on the chromatic. Of > course it's pretty obvious we don't utilize
the full potential of the > instrument. Paul deLay or Mike Turk are good
examples of blues chromatic > players WITH the button and Rod Piazza or Little
Walter are good examples of > blues chromatics players WITHOUT the button(or
at least much of it) > Tim Moody > MississippiSaxophone

I'm surprised more people don't use G chromatics (not as common as C, but
still easy to find). This lets you play songs in A (a very popular blues key)
in the traditional chromatic third position. I really like doing this...I
sometimes play George Smith's "Last Night" using a G chromatic.