[Harp-L] West coast blues - the changes

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Folks, 

 

Has anyone ever tried to tackle Wes Montgomery's "West Coast Blues"?  I
wondering how hard it would be to handle it on a short harp; I'm guessing
pretty hard, even with OBs.  But I'm thinking it might be a nice piece for
the chromatic.  It's an I-IV-V progression but with this other couple of
chords in there and I wondering how I might figure out, with my limited
command of theory what those other changes are.  They just change the
character of the whole song, giving it this sweet, wistful groove.  If
anybody knows a site where they lay out chord progressions for songs I'd
love to know it or at least the changes for this song.

 

I'd love to know how to figure out changes for basic songs though, so I
could communicate to other players.  Take Ray Charles' "Get On The Right
Track.  That's a great song for 1at position harp, as Mark Hummel shows on
his most recent CD.  There is a tone of gospel and early soul songs that
would be great to do on harp with a band and break up the I-IV-V drag. 

 

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh