Hello and welcome to this week’s harmonica lesson, where I will be showing you how to play the Sonny Boy Williamson classic Bye Bye Bird on harmonica in C played in 2nd position in the key of G.
Click here to download lesson resources
Break down the rhythm
The rhythm is quite complex so it is really important to spend some time breaking it down into more manageable blocks before you attempt to play the whole thing all the way through. Play really slowly and focus on which chords are being accented. You will notice a number of the blow chords are barely played. I call them ghost blow coughs. You are releasing your tight mouth shape on the harmonica and gently coughing through it so there is a little bit of a rhythmic element but it is not very loud. This is a better way to approach accenting the draw chords. They will sound accented by comparison to the blow chords as against drawing harder.
Lick 1
Lick 2
Lick 3
Lick 4
Click here to download lesson resources
Play like the original
In the original version, Sonny Boy Williamson plays an extended range C harmonica which is an octave lower. So, he is playing in the same key as us but if you want to play like him you will need to get a Low-C harmonica.
Thank you
Thank you so much for taking part in this lesson. I hope you enjoyed it and would really appreciate it if you shared it with your friends on Facebook and/or Twitter.
Keep Calm and Play Harmonica
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Thanks man!
Why use the two draw when the 3 blow is the same note? Using three blow makes the breathing much easier in the long sequence of 2 3′ draw notes.
Hi Mickey – we tend to play the 2 draw instead of the 3 blow because there are more interesting tonal tricks you can make on draw notes. The 3 blow is quite limited.
Ciao Tomlin, tank you for your awesome lessons very easy to understand also for me that dont’speak english (i’m italian) !! I wanna ask you if is possible to put the bye bye backing track in your website, i cant wait try to play your tab on the backing track!! 🙂
sorry for my bad bad english 🙂
Hi Jei, glad you the like the lessons. There is no backing track because the tune is meant to be played unaccompanied. Cheers, T
Greetings from Poland! Could you tell me how you make that trombone-like sound on half-step bent 3 draw? Is your soft palate vibrating? Anyway, amazing lessons you’ve got there, thanks a million!
Thanks Another great lesson,
Been trying with the first lick and come to the conclusion I have the musicality of a brick.
I just happen to have been listening over and over to Sonny Boy playing this and was frustrated because it sounds like something very simple but was very difficult to pick up just what he was doing. You have given me one of those “ahaaa” moments, thank you! To really feel inadequate, go find this video of Sonny Boy playing this all alone and watch as he puts the harp in his mouth and plays it while snapping his fingers and clapping. His tongue blocking is something to behold.
Your lessons are brilliant I find them really good and helpful ,I was surprised when looking through Utube to find Bruce Willis plays Harmonica he is awsome ..keep up the good work with your lessons ,I would highly reccomend you to friends.
I don’t agree Peter 😉 This is a particularly hard tune to play. Perseverance is required for everyone 🙂
Hi Mariusz Greetings from Scotland!! I am scooping the 3 hole. I’m saying “kwi” when I attack the note to get a bend and then release. Hope that helps 🙂
Thanks Tomlin -the notation and talk through you do are so well put together and easy to follow – just takes practice practice practice to make it sound nice and bluesy.
Gracias, me ha sido muy útil y efectivamente mejora con una octava inferior. Una buena lección !!