Re: [Harp-L] blue sky

["Fred & Sylvia" <fsstov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Garry wrote:
"at the jam the other night, the allman brothers' song
"blue sky" came up .... <snip> ... i believe the song is in E.  if anyone
could suggest an approach, tab out a riff or two, or send a recording with
some explanation, i'd appreciate the help."

Garry 
On a lot of rock, country rock, etc. songs like this, doodling on the major
pentatonic scale of the I chord can often be a quick fix.  If the song is in
E, grab your A harp and play around on the E pentatonic scale degrees 1, 2,
3, 5, 6.  
This equates (by octaves) in 2nd pos to holes
......... 1- 2+
2- 2-" 3- 4- 5+
6+ 6- 7- 8- 8+
9+ 10- .......

Gee, I hope I got that right.  Anyway, once you get that little pattern
down, particularly from the 2- to the 9+, it's amazing how well it works in
a lot of situations.  For some reason the I chord pentatonic scale seems to
fit over most of the common chord changes in a lot of "ballad" type songs -
Allmans, Creedence, etc.  It almost seems intuitive by ear after a while,
like what notes to stress on the next chord.  Just running up and down the
scale can actually get pretty cool.  Throw in a few triplets and you're well
on your way.

Haven't had time to test this theory out on this particular song, but
thought it had a good chance of working here and was a quick tip you could
try.  It's bailed me out a number of times when trying to find something to
play.  

Fred S