Re: [Harp-L] playing along

[Mojo Red <harplicks@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Chris, 

Great question! My approach to playing on a song that wasn't arranged for harp 
will depend entirely on the song itself, and on the other musicians I'm trying 
to cover the song with. Generally, I'll look for the strongest groove and try to 
find my pocket there by duplicating it on harp. It usually comes from the bass 
or rhythm guitar, but on songs where horns play a major groove role, I'll try to 
cop those licks. 

Once I have a sense of the overall groove, I'll mostly hang out there, and then 
look to fill holes with little riffs and fills, as a horn player would. If 
there's room for a solo, then I'll do my own dang thang there. 

My band does a version of "Midnight Hour" and we only have drums, bass, lead 
guitar and harp. For that song I created my own "horn lines" to go against the 
vocals during the verses because the original lines didn't sit well on my 
diatonic. However, the signature lick preceding the solo I play note for note 
since the audience is expecting it. It works.
 
Other songs may require an entirely different solution, but my process for 
finding the groove is the same. Most blues songs not originally intended to have 
harp (ie Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King etc.) can accommodate harp quite readily if 
you listen to what the bass and rhythm are doing and hang out there. 

Hope this helps.
Harpin' in Colorado,
--Ken M.
TeraBlu Band on My Space
http://www.myspace.com/terablu




________________________________
From: Chris Reynolds <c_reynolds2571@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 11:50:56 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] playing along

So I have a question about how some of you folks approach playing along with 
songs that don't necessarily have a harp part in them. I'm in my shop listening 
to Lynyrd Skynyrd today and there are songs that would just be fun to play along 

with. So I'm curious about how others approach playing along with songs. Do you 
play the melody or prefer to play a background rhythm?

Chris