Melodic Blues Licks for Harmonica Part 1

Well today’s lesson is divided up into sections. The first five licks are going to be all-purpose licks that work pretty much anywhere in the blues progression. The next five licks are going to be licks that are in triplets that are pretty cool and they work pretty much anywhere in the blues progression as well. Then, the next 10 licks are going to licks that work on the five-chord and also on the turnaround. We’re going to combine them together and just kind of mix and match a few of them and play them.

Each lick, I'll go ahead and play it through a few times up tempo then I'll slow it down for you. Then, I'll go even slower with the click track so you can play along with me. And then finally, I'll play it for you with the rhythm tracks so you can hear what it sounds like. We’ll do that with each lick. So, let's go ahead and get started with our very first lick.

A lot of these licks that we’re learn and play today, the ones that I've used and played over the years, some were created by me, some were inspired by some of the great masters. This first one is a lick that was done and used by the great Paul Butterfield. It goes like this—

[Demonstration]

To A—

[Demonstration]

And here it is slowed down a little bit—

[Demonstration]

So, let's do it at about that tempo or maybe a little slower and go ahead and play it along with me three or four times.

[Demonstration]

And now let's listen to it and see what it sounds like played along with the rhythm track—

[Demonstration]