Re: [Harp-L] Learning covers

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary;
          It's been a while since I've had my old SBWII records on the turntable, but I am not so sure that 'Help Me' is minor. I suspect it leans heavily on the pentatonic blues scale giving a strong impression of a minor, but I suspect there are dominant sevenths (ie with major thirds) being played down at the bottom end.
          There is a lot of blues that sounds minor, but is not; the flat 3rd in the blues scale, when stacked on top of a dominant 7th with it's major third, creates what you'd have to call a 'sharp ninth' harmony.
          Having said that, it is possible to play 'Help me' in third position over dominant 7th chords (I know someone is going to jump on me here for my terminology)
          It works for some tunes and not for others though; you just have to be careful, 'cause in the blues. there are no strict rules beyond taste.
RD

>>> GaryB <garybond@xxxxxxx> 24/02/2009 12:08 >>>
I've taken the advice to just listen and learn. I'm working on Sonny 
Boys Help me. The last jam I went to the guitar player called this song 
out in Aminor so I tried using a G in Third position. It didn't work all 
that well. So I called my friend up and he told me to play second 
position over it even though it's in a minor key. So through trial and 
error it's starting to come together. This is one song where I want to 
play it quite similar to the recorded version.
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