How Do You Play Harmonica For Minor Blues?
After playing the blues harp for a while, you get pretty good, but you still don’t sound like the professionals do on stage or through your stereo. Most books on learning the harmonica, with the exception of anything by John Gindick, aren’t much help in anything but getting you blowing “Oh Susanna”. Here is a pretty easy trick to get you sounding sweet and soulful when backing up a band or guitarist: minor harp! By now, you should know how to play in cross harp, the way to play the harp to sound like the blues. For minor harp, instead of playing a harmonica four keys higher than the band is playing, you play one key lower. For example, in cross harp, if your the band is playing in D, you should play a G harp. In minor harp, you would play a C harp. When playing, emphasize the draw notes. In minor harp, your root notes are 1 draw, 4 draw and 8 draw. Instead of getting fancy, put some feeling into long chords and pucker notes. Add some trill and vibrato to really put some feeling into it
