Pack Fair and Square.mov

For INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED INTERMEDIATE players. (ADVANCED BEGINNERS will get something useful from the slowed-down version I teach from here, but will be unable to keep up at full speed.) A video tutorial focused on Magic Dick's two-chorus solo from "Pack Fair and Square" by the J. Geils Band off the LIVE FULL HOUSE album. Transcribed/adapted by Adam Gussow of Satan and Adam.

Magic Dick is one of the great rock-blues harmonica players, with a powerful, original style that blends the finesse and inventiveness of Little Walter with the staccato snap of an R&B sax sideman. This solo is terrifically fast, with a tempo of roughly 216. (My electronic metronome doesn't go that high.) In order to make it playable, and to help you unpack the song's many bravura flourishes, I've slowed the tempo way back for most of the duration of this video. The fast rock groove of "Pack Fair and Square" makes this lesson unlike anything else I currently offer at Modern Blues Harmonica.

Technical challenges, apart from the very rapid tempo, include an unusual sustained 1 draw bend, lots of 4 draw bends in various combinations, two bars' worth of half-note triplets, and, some tricky timing.

Harp key: F (the solo is cross harp in the key of C)

Note: a two-page PDF tab for this lesson is also available.

Running time: 41:32 (long!)

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