How to play Georgia on My Mind on harmonica in C

This week’s lesson is a 2 parter. You will need a harmonica in the key of C and the song is in the key of G.

I have based my harmonica transcription on Charlie McCoy’s version of this song. Interestingly, this version of Georgia on My Mind is played on a C harmonica which has been country tuned. Country tuning means that the 5 draw has been raised a semi-tone from F to F# on a C harmonica. However, in this lesson I am playing that note using the 5 overblow but please feel free to use a country tuned harmonica.

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Part 1

Count the beats

There is quite a lot of space between some of the phrases as well as some of the notes being sustained quite a long time. As a result, it is absolutely essential that you remember to count the beats so that you can play phrases in exactly the right place. This is quite difficult because the tempo is quite slow but with a little practice you will get the hang of it!

Part 2

Practice embellishments

You can really make this your own by taking advantage of all the space in between phrases to add some improvised embellishments. To do this you will be taking notes from the major pentatonic scale. If you don’t know how to do this have a look at my lesson on the major pentatonic.

Thank you so much for taking part in this lesson. I hope it was useful for you. If you enjoyed this lesson, please share it with your friends.