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T&A

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Wild Slivovitz
In "Down In The Hole" Sugar Blue plays an A harp, if memory serves. Top notch performance, by the way.

not a chromatic harp? always sounded like chromatic to me....

I don't think so. Sugar Blue playe really fast, and therefore his phrasing is much more articulated that most blues harp players'. However, you can't really get Sugar Blue's raunchy sound with a chrom harp, can you?

i think you can, but i'm no expert....i do know he dabbles in chromatic harp work....whatever it is, he creates a very unique sound....

Have you listened to Surger blue's version of Miss You? ohhh! He's no rolling stone but its a bad ass cover none the less.


Party Doll has always intrigued me. There is some straight up harp in it and then it sounds like he's got some kind of synth mixed in too. I got a chance to ask MJ one time years ago. It was an online chat promo and he fielded questions from whoever logged in. It was early Internet days. Anyway he told me, huh, Yeah Mick told me...he said "No one has ever asked me that....then he said it's just country harp."

I like the Lee Oskers, they have clean sound and last forever. I prefer a less crisp sound myself like a honner blues but they definately don't last as long.

My favorite harp is G. Cheap mic, crate amp high gain. Unless I'm using a hanger with guitar. Tom Petty, Neal Young and of course some stones.

I do a version of Angie and I do the strings part with harp. I like it

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tpntx
Party Doll has always intrigued me. There is some straight up harp in it and then it sounds like he's got some kind of synth mixed in too. I got a chance to ask MJ one time years ago. It was an online chat promo and he fielded questions from whoever logged in. It was early Internet days. Anyway he told me, huh, Yeah Mick told me...he said "No one has ever asked me that....then he said it's just country harp."

cool! but what does he mean by that?

Brian Jones was 100% better than Mick. I strongly suggest watching those old videos of the Stones playing live Not Fade Away. What a harp player!

Leo

Well at the beginning yes he was, but Jagger surpassed him. Really, yes look at the old clips and Brian is mostly playing the wailing harp style and very few indifidual bending or draws. Jagger by the time of Exile was an incredible harp player! The studio version of Midnight Rambler has some exquisite harp. And all his harp on EOMS is fantastic. He wails on Hip Shake at the end, and all throuhout Turd on the Run, at a more proficient level than Brian could have played. It is the classic tale of the student mastering the master. Go in peace grasshopper.

No way. Jagger's harp playing has improved a lot over the years, but his best harp work is no match for Brian Jones's work on those early London albums.

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tpntx
Have you listened to Surger blue's version of Miss You? ohhh! He's no rolling stone but its a bad ass cover none the less.

He plays in the original version as well!

On the last tour, they did "Love is Strong" in Baltimore. Jagger's harp playing was one of the highlights of the show. Made you wonder why they don't drop a warhorse and play that song more often.

Back in '79, I went to see Sugar Blue play at a small club in Paris. During a break, I went to the loo. Sugar was in there getting chewed out by his girlfriened. "Sugar!! You have got to get your sheeeet together!!" It was pretty funny. Still have a poster from the show. Should have had him sign it.

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Wild Slivovitz

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jamesfdouglas
That scaling forumla is correct.

I used a D harp for that song, and when we were called 'Goats Head Soup' I used a C harp for 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' - in 2001 before Mick did it!

Rambler is in B - so I use an E harp.
(You can hear it on our band's site - the only cover song found there)

I don't think Mick used a C harp for "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?", but that harp is the correct choice. I also used that key when playing that song with my friends from RollingstonesItalia!

Anyway, just for the record "Out Of Control" is C harp. "Like A Rolling Stone" F harp, "Miss You" D harp, "Down in The Hole" D harp... which key is "Break The Spell"??

"Miss You" and "Down in the Hole" were both Sugar Blue contributions.

~Ben Edge

K



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026-06-12 12:02 by Palace Revolution 2000.

x



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2026-06-12 12:02 by Palace Revolution 2000.

No live versions of "Gimme Shelter" are known to have a harmonica track, but on the original 1969 studio recording, the instrument sounds as though it is distorted, like it's played through a distortion pedal as used to filter a guitar's sound.

~Ben

hmmm sweet virginia. I do it and guitar at the same time. I use a G. The chords are c/a/g and the G harp works in perfectly. I've never tried to match it up the the RS track.

Now I'm going to have to try it.

I don't know he really didn't address my question. If you listen to that song you distinctly here "country harp" but then then there is something that sounds like harp but something strange about it. Almost celtic sound.

I'd love to hear a lot more of Mick Jagger's beautiful harmonica playing on the next Stones album, preferrably on rock songs, not just strict blues ones.

Mick plays Lee Oskars. They are more durable, even toned and have a full range with lesser breath. They unfortunately don't convey the quiet subtlety or profound volume of which the Hohner Blues Harp is capable in the hands of an accomplished player. I'm thinking he might reconsider his bleating solo in the recent versions of CYHMK and either learn to play along correctly or just drop "Like A Rolling Stone" altogether.

He once used Hohners as Lee Oskars only came to market 20 some years ago.

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cc

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tpntx
Party Doll has always intrigued me. There is some straight up harp in it and then it sounds like he's got some kind of synth mixed in too. I got a chance to ask MJ one time years ago. It was an online chat promo and he fielded questions from whoever logged in. It was early Internet days. Anyway he told me, huh, Yeah Mick told me...he said "No one has ever asked me that....then he said it's just country harp."

cool! but what does he mean by that?

ha ha !! very funny. Mick has been asked millions of questions before, the last thing someone would ask him would be his harp playing on one of his solo songs!
Excellent...it definately caught him by surprise.

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tpntx
hmmm sweet virginia. I do it and guitar at the same time. I use a G. The chords are c/a/g and the G harp works in perfectly. I've never tried to match it up the the RS track.

Now I'm going to have to try it.

Try with an harmonica in A.

"Moon Is Up" and "Hang On To Me Tonight" deserve honorary mention in this thread.

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R
I'm thinking he might reconsider his bleating solo in the recent versions of CYHMK and either learn to play along correctly or just drop "Like A Rolling Stone" altogether.

recent?... you mean 2002? And when was the last time they played "LARS"? No need to worry, I think it's already been dropped.

i do recall keith famously saying on more than one occasion something to the effect that he thought jags REAL soul and 'voice' came out when he played harmonica.

that you could hear the 'real mick' as a grand musician w this instrument. that he 'sings' thru it etc...
these statements always made an impression on me.

i use hohner special 20s and Oskars (more expensive but grand) and don't do the cross thing that's been recommended by many friends over the years...i do more folky melodic thing i guess...almost always using key of song as key of harmonica and once i have the root and can bend it about in and out a bit, it's quite a beautiful trip that i can't really express w chords or guitar lines personally. tho i keep trying.

Please look at this thread, harmonica players :
[www.iorr.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-01-11 10:16 by dcba.

But can Mick try to one-up Blues Traveler's John Popper? Popper could do blazingly fast harmonica solos, some of which have high notes so ear-torturing.

why one up him? The are two totally different styles! And yes, technically Popper is fantastic, fast and thrilling. But he doesn't have the blues feel of Jag. Like I said two different styles, both with their merits.

I LOVE John Poper's playing. He's maybe my favourite harmonca player! But Mick thinks different, since when Blues Traveler have been opening some concerts of the Stones, and John Popper proposed himself to share the stage with the boys for some number, Mick turned him down, because he plays too many notes. Mick's a much more conservative attitude toward the blues, which is absolutely fine, if you ask me.

Hi. I am the lead singer of a band covering some Stones in Germany, and I wanna attempt Midnight Rambler. So to any good harmonics players out there, is the E harp the right one to get for that song? And do I get a minor or major E harp?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026-06-11 22:44 by Stonesfan2146.

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BrianJones1969
But can Mick try to one-up Blues Traveler's John Popper? Popper could do blazingly fast harmonica solos, some of which have high notes so ear-torturing.

He already does, and without the speed. That reminds me of Keiths view of solo
leads that torture.

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Stonesfan2146
Hi. I am the lead singer of a band covering some Stones in Germany, and I wanna attempt Midnight Rambler. So to any good harmonics players out there, is the E harp the right one to get for that song? And do I get a minor or major E harp?

E major if you want to do the "cross-harp" thing. But see if you can find a Hohner blues harp in the key of B.