Jump to content

"Mary Jane's Last Dance"; What key harmonica?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Yes, I know that "Mary Jane's Last Dance" is super tired and every band plays it, but it still works, and the girls love it, which is why every band plays it.  We just learned it and our singer wants to play the harmonica part.  What key harmonica would be used if the song is in Am?

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

G harp for blues in C.

G is the 5th of C,

C is the 4th of G.

So when you say 4th or 5th depends on your frame of reference.

I prefer to think in terms of what key is the music in. If the music is blues in F, I pick a harp that is the 5 of F. C is the 5 of F, so you use a C harp to play blues in F.

F is indeed the 4 of C but that seems backward to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Most everyone is saying the right answer, but here's the theory spin:

 

When you are trying to get a bluesy sound, the mixolydian mode works great. Speshilly since the mouth harp can bend notes and double stops.

 

When you play a major scale starting on the fifth degree to the 12th degree of that scale, you are playing the mixolydian mode in the key of the fifth degree's letter name. Examp: the 5th degree of C major is G. Playing the notes of the C major scale starting on G and ending an octave higher (on G 8va), is the G mixolydian mode. In other words, in G mixolydian, C major is it's "parent" scale.

 

The diatonic mouth harp (blues harp) only has the notes of a specific major scale on it (Examp: G harp only has the 8 notes of the G major scale on it).  So, in order to play the mixolydian mode, you must use the harp to play the "parent" scale....So when you are jamming in G blues, you use the C harp to get the mixolydian sound.

 

Bending and manipulating the reeds, help to create different sounds and in certain situations, different modes depending on where you start and which notes you bend. Howard, the original harp/keyboard guy from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones could get all 12 chromatic notes out of a blues harp with bends and could play any scale on one diatonic harp. But then again, he was a freakin jeenyus....just ask Little Walter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...
  • Moderators

I'd use an F# in the 3rd position...I'm approaching the 'G#mi' as more like a B6, tonally, as far as where the harp would ride, but there are other keys and other positions that would work well against the mode...

IIRC, the original version of the song is not tuned to A440 [song is played as A minor, but is actually sharp, almost Bb, but right around that 'fifty cent' line...]; for the  live versions they were probably tuned to A440. That 'out of tune'-ness gives the harp that special graininess, for lack of a better term...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...