How to play Sweet Home Chicago on harmonica

Jun 24, 2015 | 12 Bar Blues, Advanced Beginner Harmonica Lessons, Songs

This week we look at the classic blues standard ‘Sweet Home Chicago’. You will need a harmonica in the key of A and we are playing in 2nd position (key of E).





It is all about the inflections

The phrases are relatively simple but they sound very emotive and that is because there are quite a lot of inflections. This is also known as scooping. Basically, you are playing a very small bend and quickly releasing it. You can do this by saying “kwi-kwi”.

Enunciate

You will see that we have some doubled up notes (2 or more repeated notes). To make these sound good you should use your tongue to enunciate them by saying “ta-ta”.

Shuffle rhythm

If you are having trouble remembering what a shuffle rhythm is just try saying “Humpty Dumpty”. That is what a shuffle rhythm sounds like.

Thank you

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See you again for the next harmonica video!

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