Your Instructor
Richard Sleigh is well known in the known in the harmonica community as a pioneer of high-performance customized harmonicas. He is also a high-octane performer who has played onstage with Paquito D'Rivera and the Wooster Symphony Orchestra, The Bridgeton Symphony Orchestra, Bo Diddely, Taj Mahal, and many others.
As a studio musician (guitar, slide guitar, harmonicas and pennywhistles), he has done recording sessions for a variety of recordings including radio and TV spots, and film soundtracks.
Richard has recorded two solo albums, Steppin Out and Joliet Sessions and a collaboration with Jump Blues harmonica master Dennis Gruenling on Backbender Records.
He currently spends his time building custom harmonicas and performing and teaching music at festivals, concerts, and other musical events.
Why Sweet Georgia Brown is a great tune to play on the Blues Harp:
· Familiarity – you probably already know the melody well enough that memorizing it will be easy
· Simple chord progression – OK, maybe not simple compared to a 12-bar blues, but the ABAC structure is easy to learn and breaks down into easily digestible four bar phrases.
· It is full of familiar sounds in a new setting. This course focuses on an arrangement of Sweet Georgia Brown that has been stripped down to a chord progression that uses only seventh chords – E7, A7, D7, G7, B7, and Em7.
· The swing beat – four beats to the measure – is a great way to develop your rhythm chops.
· Improv possibilities – the bluesy seventh chords give you plenty of ways to use your blues harp chops as a starting point.
· Classic recordings to study – there are a ton of great recordings easily available to go to for inspiration and stealing killer riffs and phrases
· Playing seventh chord arpeggios will give you new chops and greatly improve your bending skills.
· The guitar chords in this arrangement are easy to learn so you can play this with rack harmonica and guitar or easily teach a guitar player to back you up.
· This song was written in 1925 by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard, and Kenneth Casey. Because it was written in 1925, it is now in the public domain. That means you can record it and not have to worry about paying fees or any legal worries.
· In short, this song is a great “gateway drug” into the world of jazz improvisation because it swings hard, has a catchy melody and delicious chord changes.
Check out the "Overview of Sweet Georgia Brown Course" in the Example Curriculum section that follows for a deeper dive into what this course is about...