Eight Bar Blues Progressions.zip

For harmonica players of ALL LEVELS, but especially for players who are already familiar with the standard 12-bar blues format. (If you are a BEGINNER or ADVANCED BEGINNER, you should not purchase this lesson until you have worked through the material contained in the lesson entitled "Counting and Playing 12-Bar Blues.")

This lesson offers players an intensive study of the "other" important blues progression: the 8-bar blues. Although most players are familiar with at least one 8-bar blues, such as "Key to the Highway," there are actually THREE distinct 8-bar patterns. What distinguishes them, above all, is the chord change that occurs in the second bar. In order to avoid disasters at jam sessions and on pickup gigs, harp players need to understand the differences and be able to quickly discern them by ear.

In this extended (60+ minute) video tutorial, Adam Gussow diagrams the three different harmonic patterns and offers a series of musical examples drawn from players like Little Walter, Sonny Terry, and Kim Wilson, plus singers like Otis Spann, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Witherspoon--a total of 14 songs in all, each of which fits into one of the three categories. He offers many suggestions about how you can begin to master this important blues form.

Note: This video tutorial has been packaged, in zip-file form, along with the chord chart that Gussow refers to on-camera.

Harp key: mostly C (Some of the 14 musical examples are in other keys and Gussow briefly plays along with those tracks, using A, D, and several other harps)

running time: 1:06:59 (long!)

Another Modern Blues Harmonica production (www.modernbluesharmonica.com)