Pack Fair And Square – Mark Feltham […with tab]

Life is like a card game, you always take a chance

And so to the final installment in our 9 Below Zero trilogy. So far we have covered Riding On The L&N and Swing Job. We’ve looked at the key musical influences in each case and considered some of the history involved. We’ve also tried tabbing out the harp parts. Pack Fair And Square holds no secrets. It’s drawn directly from The J.Geils Band’s live Full House album. Simple.

With 80s contemporaries such as The Cheaters from Manchester, 9 Below Zero were inspired by the high voltage delivery of the J.Geils Band’s live performance and they set about reproducing it British Pub-Rock style. Out came the charity store jackets, skinny jeans, Chelsea boots, tidy hair cuts and straight black ties. On went the gangster fedora. Then boom! In your face with the rallying cry ‘No more slipping and dodging round with you’, and you’re off on the musical equivalent of a tea tray down the Cresta Run.

Pack Fair And Square first appeared on 9 Below Zero’s eponymous EP on M&L records in 1979 along with Rocket 88, Tore Down and Last Night. As it was such a popular number with their fans, the band had no argument about reproducing it on their live debut LP a year later. “But then you’d be missing the point. Dig into your blues burger and blow your face out baby”For harmonica players Pack Fair And Square incorporates the excitement of playing on a high register F major harp, hitting those sharp filler licks and, perhaps most importantly, digging into that deep 1 hole draw bend before exploding into the full on power harp solo. Bliss. When comparing 9 Below’s version more closely with the original, you’ll notice plenty of changes in the harp line, including Feltham’s departure from that Magic Dick yodel riff 3D’..3D 4D 3D, 3D’..3D 4D 3D. But then you’d be missing the point. Dig into your blues burger and blow your face out baby.

Tab Key

A right arrow > denotes a preceding vocal line. A row of full stops following a note means hold that note. A row of full stops between two notes means run the first into the second and so on. A scrolled hyphen denotes two trilled notes. A hyphen denotes a tongue split or octave; play the the two holes together.

Warm up

Grab yourself an F major blues harp. You know – the high pitched one. We’re playing cross harp in C major.

4D’ 4D…..

4D’..4D..5D 4D’..4D..5D 4D’..4D..5D

4D’..4D..5D 4D’..4D..5D 4D’..4D..5D

4D’..4D..5D 4D’..4D..5D 4D’..4D..5D

2D 3D 4B 2D 3D 2D

2D 2D 2D” 1D 1D’ 1B 1D 2B 2D”……………….. 2D

Verse 1

> 1D..2D 2D 2D 2D” 1D 2D

> 4D..gliss..2D 2D 2D 2D” 1D 2D

> 2D 2D 2D 2D”..1D 1D

Verse 2

> 3D”..3D’..3D~4D

> 4D’….4D 2D 3D 2D 2D” 1D…1D’

> 2D 2D 2D 2D”..1D 1D

Chorus

> 2D 2D..2D…

> 2D 2D..2D…

> 2D 2D..2D…

> 2D 2D..2D…

> 1D’……………………………………………1D pull this right down to the floor and really make it honk

Harp solo

2D 2D..2D”..1D

3D 4B 4B 3D 2D

3D 2D 2D

2D” 2D”

4D’..4D

4D’..4D 4B 2D 3D 4B

3D 2D 3D 2D 2D” 1D

2D” 2D 2D”..1D..1D’

4D’..4D~5D

4D’..4D..4D’..3D 4B 2D 3D’..3D 2D 2B

2D 2D 3D’..3D 2D 2B

2D 2D”..1D 1D

2D..3D..4D 5D..gliss..2D

2D..3D..4D 5D..gliss..2D

2D..3D..4D 5D 4D 5B 4B 4D

2D..3D..4D 5D..gliss..2D

2D..3D..4D 5D..gliss..2D

2D..3D..4D 5D 4D 5B 4B 4D 4B

3D’..3D 4D 3D’..3D 2D

3D’..3D 4D 3D’..3D 2D..2D”..1D

5D 5D 5D

4D 4D 4D

3D 3D 3D 2D..2D”..1D

3D 4B 2D 3B

2D..gliss..6D 5D 6B 5B 5D 4D 5B 4B

4D’..4D..4D’..3D 4B 3B 3D 2D 2B 1D 2D 2D”..1D 1D

Verse 3

> 3D’-4D’…3D-4D 2D 3D 2D 1D’..1D

> 4D’..4D~5D 5B~6B 5D~6D 5B~6B 4D~5D 4B~5B 3D~4D

> 2D 2D 2D..2D”..1D 1D

Chorus

> 2D 2D..2D”..1D

> 2D 2D

> 2D”..2D 2D”..2D 2D”..1D

> 2D 2D

> 4D’ 4D 5D…………………………………………………..

> 1D 2B 2D