Country Harping With The Rolling Stones – Sweet Virginia [..with tab]
Wadin’ through the waste stormy winter
All these years on, and old big lips and the band are up on stage delivering their special brand of rock’n’roll. And I still like it!
We got a call from our good friend Gordon Russell this week, asking if Harp Surgery had a student who could add the harp line to something one of his protégés was performing locally. ‘What’s the song?’ the Good Doctor asked. ‘Sweet Virginia in A, by the Stones’, replied the ex-Doctor Feelgood axe-meister.
‘No sweat me old mucker, we’ve got just the person.’ Cue Harp Surgery’s junior player of the year 2011 and 2012, Josh Cooper, age 10. Josh and the Doc duly put their heads together and this is what happened..
And there’s not a friend to help you through
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards co-wrote Sweet Virginia for their 1972 Exile On Main Street double album. Having checked out the recording and a few YouTube clips, our dynamic duo concurred that the song is in A major and Mick Jagger uses an A harp in first position to play the intro.
Josh and the Doc paused to consider the musical landscape. Sweet Virginia is a Country flavoured song; the team duly swapped their Fedoras for a couple of Stetsons. ‘Now how does that top end Country Scale go again…?’, the Doc fumbled. ‘Like this’, replied his Apprentice..
7B 8D 8B’..8B 9B 10D 10B
Tryin’ to stop the waves behind your eyeballs
Now it was time to figure out Mick Jagger’s intro. After a few rewinds, it was clear there are four harp phrases at the start of the song…and that’s about it. Josh quickly picked them off..
4B… 4D… 4B..4D..5B
5B 4D 4B..4D..4B… 4D… 4B..5B
5B 4D 4B..4D..4B… 4D… 5B…6B…7B…
8B… 8D… 7B…
Drop your reds, drop your greens and blues
Having nailed the intro, the Doc asked Josh what he’d do if he was asked to solo later in the song. Josh was silent. ‘Well I see it like this,’ the Doc continued, ‘the original has a Sax solo mid-way and more Sax towards the end. If the band doesn’t have a Sax player, I’d add a Country style harp break’. Still nothing from Josh.
The Doc leaned forward, peered over his spectacle frames and smiled. ‘Working between 7B and 10B, let’s build on those intro phrases, taking note of the chord progressions, thinking about the country scale, keeping the tone light and working out what we can do add without changing harps’.
Josh ran up and down the top-end Country scale a few times and produced some new country licks. ‘Ok that’s cool’, the Doc nodded, ‘but don’t forget 10D and 8D. These are your Country notes. Without them we’re relying too heavily on the blow bends and laying down a blues line’. Within minutes the job was done. The new licks sounded hot and Josh was looking confident. Gig on!
The song’s chord changes require three very simple, but very important, clean draw notes on the diatonic harp: 10D on the ascending runs, a holding 9D at the end of the third phrase and 8D in the resolving phrase. And just as we’d use the 3D bend in country cross harping, so the 8B bend becomes pivotal to high end country phrasing on a straight harp. Milk it!’.
I want you to come on, come on down Sweet Virginia
And so, without further ado, let’s check out Josh’s Sweet Virginia solo licks and add them to our repertoire. Time to Country-harp along to the Rolling Stones..
7B 8B’..8B 9B..10D..10B 10D 9B 8B..8B’..7B 8B’..8B..9B
7B 8B’..8B 9B..10D..10B 10D 9B 8B..8B’..7B 8B’..8B……
7B 8B’..8B 9B..10D..10B 10D 9B 8B..8B’..7B 8B’..8B..9B 9B..9D
7B 7B..8B’..8B 8B’..8B 8D 8B..8D..7B
And for that schmaltzy, yee-ha, country style ending, how about..
……9B..10D..9B 8B..8B’..7B
Now try this over a full cycle of the song
For more Country Harp technique and tips check out: Country Harping First Steps
I’ve been waiting for you to tab that since we began 😉
Hi,
Great stuff. By coincidence, I have been learning the guitar part and was thinking of playing the opening riff on the ‘rack’. Now I can add to the song with some great upper register lines, thanks.
Hi Captain – you’re patience is appreciated! Let me know if there are any others tunes you’d like to hear about.
Thanks for dropping in Stuart. Your kind message means our job is done! Get that harp going dude ;0)
Well, since you did ask, have you ever tabbed out BWH’s song Skip It? I do believe it was played on a 364 Solo in the key of C?
Just checking out your website. I live next door to the Brunswick in hove and will be coming along on 2nd feb. I have been playing for 20 years on and off bust mostly off. Have recently got right back into it and recently played through an amp for first time (Roland cube15xl) . I look forward to getting some advice on amps that done cost the best part of a grand. Online it’s all about old fender valve amps which are well out of my price range
Crikey Ronny my man, great call. When my bangers are done and the washing upds finished I’ll take a look.
Mr McVitie, how are you my man?!! Trade your 15xl Cube in for a Street Cube, get up Churchill Square and start earning! That way you can then get down to the Guitar and Amp Centre and buy one of them thar Fender Twin Reverbs or, one I recently invested in…the Fender Bassman 2 x 10 TV face. Oooh B-A-B-Y baby! She’s a honeydripper. And all valve. See ou down at HBTS 2013!
I just ordered my Hohner 364 Solo Tuned!
I will probably need to hit some really BIG octaves to play Skip It but I am motivated!
Sweet Virginia by Mick is so awesome
Just played Sweet Virginia by the Stones to your tabulation and it really works for me.Sounds great when you play along with the cd.I even felt confident enough to improvise the rest the song.Wonderful.Thanks.👍👍👍👍
Yee-haw! Thanks for checking it out Graham. Glad it’s given you something new to fly with. Doc
I’m just getting around to checking out your site – way cool stuff. Since you asked I’ve been trying to figure out the intro to Steve Millers Living in the USA. Would love some help. Thanks
Hi Steve. Thanks for joining us down at the surgery. For Living in the USA, grab yourself a D harp and practise the Blues Scale 2D 3D’ 4B 4D’ 4D 5D 6B. Add on 6D’ and 6D and you probably have all the ammo you need. It’s pretty experimental by nature, but it’s based on the 2nd Position Blues Scale, and applied to a funky groove, with a lot of 60’s feel! I hope this helps you forward….
5D 6B..6B..6B 5D 6B 5D 3D’..2D
6D’..6D 6D’..5D..4D 4B..3D’..2D
4D’..4D..4D 4B..3D’..2D 2D..2D 2D”..2D
4D 6B..6B
Stand back etc (hard to tell if he’s playing high end single note stabs on the harp. If he is, it’s 9B)
Feedback, into.. 2D(faint) 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D..3D’
2D 2D 2D 2D..2D” groan
2D”..2D..2D 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D..3D’
2D 2D 2D 2D”..2D”..3D’ 2D 2D”..2D..3D’ 2D 2D”..2D
2D”..2D..3D’.. 4B..4B 4B..3D’..2D 2D 2D tom tom
2D 2D..2D” feedback
Stand back etc
Gliss 4D to 2D
Organ
2D 2D..2D
2D
Vocals, Where you going to etc