Weir-d Chord Sequences

A small confession here: I was a teenage Deadhead. I'm now a middle-aged Deadhead. Yes, I possess a modest collection of live shows—first on cassette, these days as mp3s on my laptop. I've seen the Grateful Dead live, but only twice (6/21/84 and 6/30/87 for the record, both local shows at Kingswood Music Theatre up in Maple). And I'm one of those solitary Heads who's never felt the need to be part of the Deadhead community or enhance the listening experience by ingesting drugs, psychedelic or otherwise. The music is trippy enough.

The current Dead & Company tour has rekindled the flame for us old-timers and caused some newbies to hop on the bus, so to speak. It's been great to hear this rejuvenated band revisit the canon and put its own stamp on the songs. I'm bummed that I couldn't make it to the show closest to me (Buffalo, November 11), especially considering they played the rare and spacey "Dark Star" that night. I did, however, download the entire show a day later. If you're interested, you can stream and/or download endless Dead and related concerts at the Internet Archive.

Anyway, the other night in St. Louis they busted out a tune I was delighted to hear again, the Weir-Barlow classic "Black-Throated Wind." Always on the hunt for new cover material, I thought I'd try it out on my guitar. Parts of the song are near the top of my vocal range, but on the whole I can sing it comfortably. What came as a surprise, though, was the chord sequence. It's one of the most bizarre I've heard in a popular song.

Things start off simply enough. After an intro lick around E, Esus4 and E7, the verse goes like this:

• E F#m D A E, repeated once
• A D Bm E, repeated once

We're pretty clearly in the key of E here, with the sorts of chords you'd expect to see. Nothing really stands out. Then comes this jaw-dropping chorus:

• D C#m A Em C A D C#m A Em A G D A

I don't know music theory well enough to explain what's going on, but suffice it to say I've never encountered a song where C, C#m, D, E and Em coexist. All are common chords in rock songs, just not in the same song. They make no sense in terms of graceful key relationships (or anything conventionally musical), yet somehow Bob Weir makes them work, weaving a powerful and unusual melody around them. The structure and variety of the chords also ensure that "Black-Throated Wind" is one of those rare songs that needs no bridge. With all that chordal movement, a bridge would be too much. Weir has always had a reputation as a bit of a quirky songwriter, and now I see why. Well done, sir!

A tip for those of you who want to learn the song: use Capo 2 and transpose the above chords down a whole step. It's far more playable this way. Here are the transposed chords—first, the verses:

• D Em C G D, repeated once
• G C Am D, repeated once

Chorus:

• C Bm G Dm Bb G C Bm G Dm G F C G

As a bonus, I've expanded my harmonica knowledge by working up this tune. I play the opening guitar lick on the harmonica, and the only way to get those "blue" notes is to play in cross-harp or second position. Which I finally figured out: for second position, your harmonica key should be a fourth above the key of the song. So, song in E? Choose a harmonica in the key of A.

Harmonica Basics

And I do mean basics, my friends. I'm a raw beginner, but in the course of blowing some serviceable notes on my record and just learning to play guitar and harmonica together, I've discovered a few tips I'd like to share with you. First off, as far as I can see, 99% of the harmonica instruction available online assumes that you want to play the blues. If this is you, read no further; I've nothing useful to impart. Google "blues harp lessons" or something and off you go.

As for the rest of us, welcome to the wonderful world of first position. Here you'll find Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and the vast majority of folk music. In first position, key of song equals key of harmonica. Simple, right? Yes, as long as we're talking major keys. Playing in minor keys is trickier. I've been adding three semitones to the song key in order to find the harmonica key (example: song in E minor, harmonica in G). That's correct as far it goes, but it appears I have only half the picture as there are two minor-key modes. This page explains things better than I currently can.

Two advantages to first position: one, it's hard to play a wrong note; two, you have access to the three building-block chords of popular music—namely I, IV, V. The I (root), is simply the key of the harmonica, and if you blow (exhale) anywhere on the instrument, you'll obtain the root chord. For illustrative purposes, let's assume your harmonica is in C. Your blow notes, low to high: C E G C E G C E G C. Anywhere you blow, you're guaranteed to get some inversion of a C-major triad.

If you draw (inhale), the notes you get depend on where your mouth is positioned on the harmonica. On a C harmonica, your draw notes, low to high, are D G B D F A B D F A. Now, the V (fifth) chord is easily identifiable here. In the key of C, the fifth is G. Going low, any of the first four draw notes will give you a G-major triad, and up on draw holes 7, 8 and 9, you've got a G7 chord minus the G root. The IV (fourth) is a bit harder to produce, but it can be done. In C, the fourth is F, and you can't get the full triad but the root and major third (F and A) occur twice, at holes 5 and 6 and 9 and 10. I find the high pair a bit shrill so generally I'll go for the 5- and 6-holes, which are conveniently located in the middle of the instrument.

Much of the time, of course, you'll want to play melodic lines (single notes instead of full chords). Again, I'm hardly in a position to advise on technique, but I've found that pursing the lips will usually produce a single note, though sometimes I get two. Hey, I'm still working out the kinks. But because the harmonica is a diatonic instrument, you'll be picking out notes in the major scale of the harmonica key—which, as we discussed earlier, is the same as the song's key in first position. So, you really can't lose, and it's quite easy to stumble upon the melodies of greats that have come before. And by improvising or riffing on those, you can write your own killer lines, tailor-made for your songs. (Example: tonight I chanced on the opening to Dylan's "With God on Our Side" just by messing around.)

One more tip: everyone will tell you that your first harmonica should be in the key of C, as most instructional material for beginners is written in C. If you're learning from a book, that's probably wise counsel. However, if you're using harmonica to colour your own songs, the song key determines the harmonica key. Your song is in F? Then the harmonica should be in F, and so on for all 12 keys. (Again, if you're a blues player, I can't help you other than to note that you're generally playing in second position, so song and harmonica keys will differ. See 99% of online harmonica instruction for more.) Based on the songs I've written and am covering, the most useful harmonicas for me have been G, D, Bb, A, B and E. In fact, I've yet to use a C harmonica in any of my music. Maybe that tells you something about my music. Point being, "Buy a C harmonica first" is not always the best advice.

Now let me climb up on my soapbox for just a moment. I've found scant online material on first-position playing—hence this post—and what little I did find is dismissive at best. In one video, the instructor did a desultory run-through of "Oh! Susanna" to demonstrate first position, immediately contrasting that with a flurry of lightning-fast blues licks in second position. I won't diss the guy completely because he's clearly knowledgeable, is more skilled than I'll ever be, and in another video helped me decide which harmonica to buy. But let it be known that first-position music is still music and damn fine music at that, whether or not it evinces dazzling virtuosity. First-position players have made stellar contributions to popular song (see Dylan, Bob among others) that go far beyond cornball folk standards.

Oh ... and for those of you wondering, my harmonica of choice is the Hohner Special 20, though I'm not expecting a juicy endorsement deal anytime soon.

Oh, Baby, I Got the Piedmont Blues

I've added another slice of exotica to my instrumental palette: the good old harmonica. I recently wrote a song that was begging for one, so I bought a Hohner Special 20 in the key of D, along with a cheap seven-piece Piedmont Blues set so I could experiment with different keys. For the curious, the set's keys are G, A, Bb, C, D, E and F. The Special 20 is a professional-grade instrument with a warm, reedy, classic sound and is truly a joy to play. The Piedmont Blues? Well, they're okay for goofing around or casual jam sessions, maybe, but I wouldn't record with them. When you blow you get too much air (some notes are especially wheezy) and the tuning is questionable in spots. That said, I'll use them for my live shows once I learn how to play guitar and harmonica together. If these things get battered and bruised, I can afford to replace them. By the way, you do gain a handsome case with the Piedmont set and from what I can gather, some enthusiasts buy the set for the case alone.

It's funny. I last tried a harmonica several years ago and was convinced I couldn't play it because I didn't know how to get single notes. All I could do was blurt out one monster chord on the exhale (blow) and another on the inhale (draw). The fact that I can't whistle at all led me to believe that I'd forever be harmonica-challenged. But with a little practice and a few online tips here I am, blowing and drawing one note at a time. I'm still very much a beginner who can't bend notes, but that's okay. I learned rather quickly that there are purveyors of blues harmonica—who are more than likely to call it a "harp"—and folk harmonica. Guess which camp I fall into? I lack the technique to play da blooze and fortunately, I also have zero interest in doing so. The vibe I'm after is more Bob Dylan-John Lennon-Neil Young, which was doable after a day of messing about.

In other news, I've begun to tackle the rather daunting fiddle part in my quasi-bluegrass number, "Year of No Tomorrow." Make that two parts, as I'm doing what a real player would call double stops (playing on two strings simultaneously) on separate tracks. Truth be told I still can't play the thing, at least not in a linear, real-time way. But I'm a world-beater if I go one or two notes at a time ... which is about all I'm able to do. Adding to my difficulty is the key of the song (Bb). No open strings here, kids. You can't really capo a violin—yes, I tried—and tuning it up a half-step you'd risk breaking a string or messing up the bridge. I didn't try slowing the whole song down a semitone and recording the part in A, as I was concerned I'd compromise the sonic integrity of the song and/or the fiddles once I sped it back up.

Ironically, I've just completed the high fiddle and it's pretty good, not at all scratchy. In fact, it's sounding a little too sweet for this setting and I might have to add some grit using EQ and other such trickery. But that's okay; if it were too scratchy, no processing known to humanity could make it sound sweeter. And in any event it sounds much better than the cheesy keyboard patch it's replacing.

Oh, and I'm still digging the Coltrane quote. You'll know what I mean when the song comes out—for now, just picture me sawing away at the opening bars of A Love Supreme in the midst of a knee-slappin' bluegrass tune. (Yes, really. Among other things this song features not one but two tracks of me slapping my knees. With reverb! Can't get more down-home than that, y'all.)