Sonny Boy Williamson II

Help Me

Riffs between Vocal phrases

When Sonny Boy sings he has the harp in his hand and can quickly play a riff and then continue singing, without any pause at all.

First Verse

Through out the first and second verses, Sonny Boy plays the chug on the 2/3 draw between phrases until he hits the 4 chord where he blows on the 2/3 to make a 4 chord chug. It's much harder to "punch" a blow than a draw so make sure that you really give it a good "CHUCK-CHUCK" vocalization, perhaps "DUCK-DUCK" is nearer to the mark.

Then into the 5 chord before "I'll have to find myself somebody else" he plays the 5 chord riff:

He plays the 1 chord base which is the 2 draw, bends it down all the way (a very cool flat 7th) and the bounces on the 1 hole draw. The 1 hole draw is the 5 chord so he plays it three times. These notes should not sound mushy so make sure you articulate them well with the phrase "Dirt-ty dog, dog, dog!" (actually I use dee-yah dah dah dah, articulating the bend slows me down too much).

The 2 hole unbent has a little 3 hole leaking through. Sonny Boy was not exactly on the 2 hole when he started playing.

Then he sings the punch line - "I'll have to find myself somebody else" and goes for the turnaround.

He bends the 2 hole down and bounces it up to the 2 unbent, letting in a little 3 hole. He plays this for what sounds like 4 times and drops back the the 2 hole full bend and settles down on the 1 hole draw for the 5 chord in the turnaround.

The second verse is not significantly different than the first verse.

Next: The solo!