Fwd: [Harp-L] Accompaniment Questions

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Jp "Pagán" <jpl_pagan@xxxx> 
wrote:
hey all,
  
    I have some general questions about playing
accompaniment. i don't know anything about horn
sections - i've really just played harp and most of my
albums are chicago and delta blues records. some
horns, but not alot. i'm also light in the music
theory dept.
   anyway... i've read that playing in "parallel
thirds" (or fifths) is a good way to play
accompaniment. and get a horn-section like sound. 

============Winslow:

More important than specific intervals like 3rds or 5ths is the notes 
the underlying chord and the notes it comprises.

Some horn parts may simply involve "shots" - quick staccato bursts, 
or even just held notes, on notes of the chord. Different 
combinations of notes and different voicings of those notes (one 
above the other, played close togther or far apart in different 
octaves) will produce different effects. YOu can experiment. Sounding 
them out on a keyboard can help give you an idea if you don't have 
the opportunity to experiment with the other "horn" player(s).

==============JP:

my
band make-up is guitar, piano, bass, drums, harp, and
vocal. so, say, if my guitarist (or piano player) is
playing a riff like D F G (over the I chord in G) and
i play F Ab Bb and we play the line in unison, is that
kind of the idea? 

===============Winslow:

Yes, but let's look at the note choices.

The chord is G: G B D

The scale involved is probably something resembling a major scale:

G A B C D E F(#) G

Now, the other horn player is starting on a note of the chord, D. 
Then (s)he's going to the 7th, F, then landing on another chord note, 
G.

If you start on the F, it will probably work. G will have a stronger 
sound as you will both be on chord notes. 

You next proposed note, Ab, is probably not a good choice, as it is 
likely to clash with both and the impled A natural in the underlying 
scale - if it doesn't sound bad, it is likely to sound weird.

OK, so we have F (or G) to A. Where do we land?

Well, B natural is a chord note. You and the other horn player will 
both end you lines on chord notes together.

Is Bb a bad idea? Not necessarily. In a blues context - or a blues-
influenced context (which these days extends to both rock and country 
along with jazz) It's a bluesy note. Given that the other horn line 
includes the minor 7th (F), which is also a blue note, it could work -
 but it's a tension note to a certain extent and you may not want to 
end a line on a tension note unless there is a folllo-up line that 
brings things to rest.

=============Jp

what if i play that line over the G
chord but i don't have anyone paralleling me with the
accompanying riff, could that still work? wouldn't it
just sound like i'm playing the riff in the wrong key?

=============Winslow:

The line you proposed is the first horn line transposed up three 
semitones, so it comes out in the key of Bb. 

Rather than transpose a line up a set number of semitones, what you 
need to do is transpose the shape of the line up and find the notes 
in the underlying key and chord that will outline that shape and 
harmonize with the other line.

Winslow