Re: [Harp-L] BB King - Rock me baybe - Clarification




Just to clarify, I tabbed what I heard and saw (using Bendometer). The 3d***, not 3d**** is what I heard and saw, I guess its a guitar bend from G to Ab. I know you can't do that on a harmonica, but I used harp tab to notate what I heard. I figured it out after I wrote it.


So:
4b 3d (3*** 3****)

Means:

C B ( G to Ab vibrato)

Pierre.




----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Hill" <jonathan.f.hill@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 4:24 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] BB King - Rock me baybe



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jonathan Hill <jonathan.f.hill@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 15:24:24 -0600
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] BB King - Rock me baybe
To: Pierre <plavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


I'm guessing in your notation that * means bent one semitone. If that's the case, 3d would only go down to 3d***, not 3d****.

So the opening riff on a C harp is:

G F G

not unusual given that F is the dominant 7 of G. Pretty common in
blues, jazz and most popular music.

Not sure what that second lick is, but maybe you meant:

4b 3d (3** 3***) which would be C B A Ab. Wish I knew what chord
that's over. The A and Ab are 9th and b9th, with respect to G. I'll
let Winslow tackle that one.

The third lick is just that little three note chromatic walkup/down
thing that I associate with Hendrix. In the blues scale, its usually
here:

G Bb ->C Db D<- F G, but I've heard Hendrix use it all over the place
and in the context the B could just be a passing tone between the C
and Bb.

Rereading your post, I see that I've probably just reiterated a bunch
of stuff you already know, but I'm in the process of analyzing Charlie
Parker's "Blues for Alice" and am excited about all that I'm learning.
I'll give a disclaimer here...some of this stuff I'm just learning and
I have no formal training, so I'll let the big dogs tackle the theory
that I'm probably only half right on. Sic 'em boys! :-)

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 12:40:58 -0500, Pierre <plavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I am tabbing parts of "Rock Me Baby" by BB King (Key of G).


I have done the first couple of minutes of the tune. I am a bit surprised at his note selection. Many key notes are neither from the blues scale nor from the chord arpeggios.

For example the opening rythm riff is:

2d 2d** 2d

A bit later he plays this:

4b 3d (3*** 3****) (Vibrato between 3*** and 3****)

He also plays:

4d 3d* 3d**

and at 1:08 he plays

3d* 3d** 3d** 3d*** 3d*** 3d*** 3d**

I've never tabbed guitar playing, is this normal?

Writing this, I am realizing what may be happening is that he is bending up the 2d rather than down from 3d*** (pretty hard to bend down on guitar :-)). Still why emphasize the note of resolution then? Is this common?

Any comments on the use of 2** and 3** ?

I'm intrigued by BBs use of volume on this tune, volume goes way down, you have to strain to hear him, then later it goes way up. I thought dynamics were more on a note by note basis, never figured it would be on a passage basis. Seems to create a lot of tension as you want it to come up.

One last question, when playing 2d** on a C harp, is there any way to get a clean sound? Can this be mastered or is this the nature of the beast. I expect to play this with a piano, so I would like a clean sound if its possible.

Thanks,

Pierre.

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