TheATL
66 posts
Oct 25, 2013
3:01 PM
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All,
We all know Dylan has done some (amazing (ymmv)) (please don't flame me - I have seen a lot of back and forth about whether he is a genus on the harp or just a wanabe) things with harmonica over the years. I had not paid a lot of attention to his work in terms of trying to play it, but I was involved in a gig last night where we were slated to play "Don't think twice, it's alright". So as the band played away at rehearsal, I went through the harp bag - damn - can't find something that works. Went through the harp bag again (definition of insanity - doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result ;-). Still nothing. So I gave up, and we moved on through the set list. But later at the hotel, it really got my goat, and so I went to work to try to figure out what the heck he was doing. Put the tune into Automatic Slowdowner and tweaked the pitch - still nothing. Tweaked some more - humm. Got close with an 'F' harp this time, but still did not work. Grabbed a Low F, and BANG - there it was. I was able to do simple blow-draws on the 4-5-6, etc. and all the rest fell into place.
Sorry if everyone already figured this out, but I thought I would share it since usually I can pick up a harp and at least noodle out something, but until now Dylan had perplexed me.
Out.
p.s. the song got cut from the gig
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Frank
3093 posts
Oct 25, 2013
3:29 PM
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Amazing, thanks for sharing :)
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Jehosaphat
573 posts
Oct 25, 2013
5:09 PM
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Why didn't the band tell you what key the song they were playing was in?
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CarlA
397 posts
Oct 25, 2013
5:17 PM
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Pretty sure is an A harp second position song key E
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1847
1238 posts
Oct 25, 2013
5:43 PM
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it's possible they slow the tape down when they record him
.. makes his voice sound closer to pitch.
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
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TheATL
68 posts
Oct 25, 2013
5:51 PM
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@Jehosaphat
I knew what key it was in - don't remember and don't have my notes. But the point is that even though I knew what key the band was in, I could not figure out what harp to play because I was not trying low harps. In fact, I only have a Low F, so it was not until I changed the pitch and then hit the F that I was able to actually switch to the Low F and make it work.
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timeistight
1408 posts
Oct 25, 2013
5:53 PM
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"Pretty sure is an A harp second position song key E"
Yep. That's what I hear on the "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" version.
The distinctive finger-picked guitar is capoed at the fourth fret. If your guitarist is playing that part on an uncapoed guitar, s/he would be in "C," which is why your F harp works.
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