I've never had a student come to me and say, "All I want to do is learn how to accompany someone really well." Yet, as blues harmonica players we spend the majority of our time on the bandstand playing behind the vocals or another instrumentalist. If a song is twelve choruses in length, you maybe get two to three choruses of that for your solo, the rest of the time you're accompanying. And let me tell you, it's not easy. How do you play actively to create excitement without stepping on the other musicians' toes? The old adage, "When in doubt, sit out" is safe and true. Intermediate players that play active behind vocals will often get ridiculed for playing too much—but that's how Little Walter played behind Muddy Waters! What's the difference? It's what you play, not how much. It's playing the right notes, in the right place, with the right rhythm that makes it work. This is what we'll study.

There are four main areas of focus for this study.

1) We'll look at how the fathers of blues harmonica approached accompaniment. Our main studies will focus on Little Walter and Big Walter Horton. This includes: filling spaces between vocals; playing lightly behind the vocals and filling spaces between the vocals louder; playing active and fairly loud the whole time; and how repetition is a key factor in active playing.

2) We'll look at how horn lines are great to mimic due to their repetitive nature and general similar timbre and note choice to the harmonica. This is both a classic and modern approach to accompaniment playing.

3) We'll look at how players copy bass lines to add weight to a song's hook. This is a more modern approach to accompaniment playing.

4) Lastly, we'll study some of the country blues players to gain the skills of active chordal playing, such as what Sonny Terry would play behind Browne McGee.

BASS LINES
This month we'll start with studying bass lines. There are many grooves where the bass will play a pattern and repeat it over all of the chord changes (called sequences). Anything repeated is going to grab the ear of the listener as being important. This bass line becomes the driving force of the song, making the line a hook. The hook is a repetitive, catchy line that permeates the entire song. These hooks are great for us to latch onto. Sometimes bass lines become a main theme in harmonica instrumentals. Louis Myers' (Little Walter's guitar player!) harmonica instrumental "Just Wailin'" is an example of this. Rod Piazza's instrumental "The Upsetter" has a prominent bass line played on the second and fourth chorus. R.J. Mischo's song "Telephone Blues" uses a common bass line for its head. These are just a few examples of how the bass can influence what a harmonica player plays.

Demonstrated below are bass lines that work very well for harmonica. Keep in mind that in each example when playing the 9th measure to the end (last line), you have the option of changing the line, and even playing like you're lightly soloing.