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A Lesson in Cross Harp
In this lesson, we’ll compare Day Tripper to a couple of different cross harp folk blues riffs. I won’t give the specific tab notes to play the Beatles song, but it’s similar enough to other standard riffs that once you have those basics, you can figure it out for yourself. We’ll be using an A harmonica.
Two Standard Riffs
Here’s a standard, almost bluegrass-sounding cross harp riff:
-2 -3' -3 -4 5 -4 6
And here’s a standard blues vamp:
-4 6 -5
Splits
Optional: the above vamp sounds particularly good played with an four-hole split on the last couple notes. For 3,6 this means you place your tongue in the middle, and catch 3 blow out of the left corner of your mouth and 6 blow out of the right corner. Then you keep the same spacing, but shift to the draw for -2,-5.
-4 3,6 -2,-5
Putting It Together
Back to our main topic. Day Tripper is very similar to a combination of the two main phrases, and it sounds great with the optional splits. What’s different? I’ll leave it to your ears to puzzle through, but here’s a clue: Day Tripper has fewer notes. Have fun!