Does anyone know the brand and the key of harmonica Mick uses when they play Midnight Rambler?

MR is in the key of E

Not sure what brand

Hohner is the brand of choice of most harp players. They make the "Marine Band" and the "Blues Harp". Of course, that's not to say that MJ uses that brand, of course.

I figured it is either a "Marine Band" or "Blues" Hohner. But I also know that Lee Oskar has his own brand and they are pretty good harps.

MR is in the key of B isn't it? But Jagger would play cross harp meaning he would use an E harp.

terraplane Wrote:
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> MR is in the key of B isn't it? But Jagger would
> play cross harp meaning he would use an E harp.


That was always what I thought---if you listen to Ya Yas or any of the '72-'73 boots, Mick Taylor is playing in B---no question about it.

Yep. Keith capoes at the 7th fret and plays standard tuning E D A chords (with the capo making it B A E) then D A E (with the capo making it A E . A rockin' tune - souped up Chuck Berry.

Song is in B, but requires the E harmonica.

Never played harmonica--is that how it works--you play up a 4th--ie key of B=E harmonica; A=D etc?

Yep for blues. It's called cross harp. I think it allows you to play blues riffs more easily. Guys like Neil Young however just use an A harp to play in A.

terraplane Wrote:
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> Yep for blues. It's called cross harp. I think it
> allows you to play blues riffs more easily. Guys
> like Neil Young however just use an A harp to play
> in A.


Very interesting---thanks for the info terraplane--never knew that before.

No problem. Now if I could only play one like Jagger!

E Harp, Mick is currently using Lee Oscar harps

i read somewhere that mick used the ECHO VAMPER hohner harp... cant remember where.what mick plays isnt that hard...

Mick talks about his harps & harp-playing (including the cross-harp/"country harp" question) on the fanclub dvd -
one of the cooler bits on it, actually.

Yep. Mick is currently using Lee Oskar harmonicas; he used to play honher ones back in the seventies and earlier, though. By the way, does anybody know why he hasn't been playing harmonica at all in 1981 - 82? Maybe he felt inadequate after playing with Sugar Blue? Too bad he let the keyboards do some harmonica parts in the Steel Wheels tour, as well! Thankfully he came back on track during the Vodoo Lounge tour...