Re: [Harp-L] Hoochie Coochie Man - 1st position!!

["Alec Drachman" <alec@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, it's time for me to "pay it forward". Years ago I was corrected about
this tune by Richard Hunter right here on harp-l. At the time, I was not
very good at first position, and only recognized it when I heard the
high-end stuff like Jimmy Reed. If you casually play along with the
recording, cross harp seems to work fine, but the original Muddy recording
has Little Walter playing an A harp in first position all the way through
the tune.

There are two tell-tale signs: First, listen carefully to the riff - Little
Walter is not playing the same riff as the guitar. He starts on a two draw ,
then plays a couple of bent 3 draws and ends on a 4 blow. Again, he is
playing a different riff than the band. The ascending line he plays adds a
bit of cool tension. The second and biggest clue that Richard pointed out to
me years ago, is that when he goes to the warble over the V chord, the
interval is a major third - he's playing a 4-5 draw warble in first
position. If you play it in cross harp, it will be a minor third. Listen
carefully when Muddy sings the line "I'm your Hoochie Coochie Man..." - the
warble in the background is a major third - it won't sound right on a D
harp.

I hope this helps - I know it helped me. This was the tune that opened the
door for me to do a bit more sophisticated 1st position playing. Once you
get this one down, you'll start to hear first position all over the place
that you previously thought was cross harp.


Alec Drachman
http://www.bluecats.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Holcomb" <mholcomb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 3:17 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Hoochie Coochie Man


> You are almost correct.
>
> In A on a D harmonica INCLUDING the riff.
> The riff is 1- 2"- 1- 2"- 2- and it's easy to play
> but hard to make it sound really good.
>
> >What key do you all play this in,
> >my band says E but most recordings i have
> >the harp player sounds like he is playing in A on a D
> >harp on all the parts
> >other than the main E-A-E-G riff. Any help?
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Mike Holcomb
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
>