5 replies to this topic

[mikee21]

ok well i know its been said before in the forum but its all so confusing I do not know were to look and some info is different than others. so forgive me is this info is already stated somewhere, I thought i may get an official word ha.

question: i play to the bb's songs and im not doing that bad, but some songs i cant get the right key in, now some people have said an Eb will work on most of their songs, is buying an Eb good or do I need to get a bunch of harmonicas in diff keys to paly the songs ?

[Dauber]

Off the top of my head, here are the songs with harmonica and what key the harmonica probably is:

"Hey Bartender" -- could be an F harp, but it might be a Bb harp played in third position.

"Messin' With The Kid" -- Eb

"Almost" -- A

"Shotgun Blues" -- Eb

"I Don't Know" -- if it has a harmonica (don't recall off the top of my head), it's a C

"Soul Man" -- there's only a harmonica during the instrumental break, and most likely it's a Bb harmonica.

"B Movie Boxcar Blues" -- if there's a harmonica, probably A

"Flip, Flop & Fly" -- Eb

"She Caught The Katy" -- Eb

"Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" -- could be an F or a Bb

"Sweet Home Chicago" -- definitely an A harmonica

"Jailhouse Rock" -- I don't remember if there's a harmonica in this song, but if it is, it's probably a G

"Who's Making Love" -- don't remember if it has a harmonica, but if it does, it's probably Bb

"Riot In Cell Block #9" -- most likely an F, but could be a Bb

"I Ain't Got You" -- A

"From The Bottom" -- D

Don't know about the BB2000 songs.

BTW - the reason I can't say for sure whether some of the songs have an F or Bb is that the songs are in the key of C, and the default harp for playing in the key of C is an F harmonica....but the songs might actually have a C-minor thrown in or use a lot of B-flat notes, and it's common to use a B-flat harp to play songs like these...but I'm pretty sure "Riot..." uses an F harp because those are pretty high-pitched, and Elwood's harmonica on that song goes pretty high.

[FatJim]

Good answer Dauber.

Mods - This question gets asked a lot. Can we make it sticky please?

[mad-wolfie]

have you seen this thread?

http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/harmonica-chat/6533-what-key-harmonica-buy.html

[mikee21]

thanks guys actually, I bought a Bb and bartender, katty, flip and fly work well with it messing with kid i got to work with an A harp, and thanks for all the help with the replays i appreciate it much and will use it for my playing...

P.S. BB 3 come on baby lets make a 3rd.... haha with a good story

[Dean Heuke]

Best harp will be the A.
I am using a Lee Oskar in A.
Of course i have also harps in Bb, C, D, E, F, G