Selected Harp Tablature from Scott Rakowski. Email Scott with suggestions or songs you would like to see on this page. Also check out his band, Out of the Blue. Harmonica Tabs
All songs depicted here are copyrighted by Blues Traveler. The tablature is copyright 1998 by Scott Rakowski. The contents of this website may not be used for commercial or financial gain. (That means you can't print this stuff out and sell it.) This tablature is in the public domain and may be distributed freely as long as this disclaimer is included.
Tablature Explanation:
B-blow
D-drawCanadian Rose
Escaping
Justify the Thrill
Crystal Flame
Lucky Lack
Whoops
Dropping Some NYC
Canadian Rose intro (Diatonic E harp)* There are a couple bends and some slides in here that I didn't tab because it would confuse some people so just play along with the album and you will see the spots where these techniques are used:
6B 6D 7D 8D 8B 8D 9B 9D 8D 7D 7B 8D 7D 6D 6B 6D 6D 7D 6D 5D 4D 6B 6D 7D 8D 8B 8D 9B 8D 8D 8D 7D 6D 6D (rest) 6B 6D 7D 8D 8B 8D 9B 9D 8D 7D 7B 8D 7D 6D 6B 6D 6D 7D 6D 5D 4D 6B 6D 7D 8D 8B 8D 9B 8D 7B 8D 7D 6D 6BEscaping intro (Diatonic E harp)* You really have to use a lot of breath control while playing the 1-2-3-4D chord at the beginning (B chord). It lasts for about 8 seconds before the real riff kicks in. This is a real easy one. The solo isn't all that bad either.
1-2-3-4D (w/ breath pulsation) Keep drawing and slide up to 7th hole then: 7D 7D 7D 7D 7D 6D 7D 6D 6B 6B 6D slide to 7D 7B 6D slide to 7D 6B 4DJustify The Thrill intro (Diatonic A harp)* Make sure to bend the notes on the third hole when you are drawing, it is a double bend. Also, the 1-4D means an octave is played so place your tongue between holes 2 and 3 and draw, if you do not know how to play an octave. For those of you who wish to attempt the solo, the first half of the harp solo is on a D harp and then he switches back to the A (if you listen you will hear the change).
4-5-6B 3D 3D 123D 456B 3D 3D 1-4D (repeat)Crystal Flame intro (Diatonic E harp)* This is a pretty easy intro that is really pretty and melodic. I love this song!!! However, the 3D3D2D1D part is extremely tough so you might want to play 3D2D1D instead. After the let me play part, Popper changes key to an A harp. I will tab some of that part for you too, but since some of it is improv, I will leave it out, because there is no way I can play it note for note with all of Popper's little quirks.
Intro: 3D 4B 4D 6B 6B 6D 6B 6D 7D 6D 5D 4D 4D 3D 2D 4B 4D 4B 3B 3B 3D 3B 4B 5B 4D 4B 3D 3D 2D 2D 1D 2B 1D 2B 2D 3D3D2D2D1D 2B 1D Let Me Play Section (Diatonic A harp): When the drum hits the snare 4 times play: 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 6D 6D 6D 6D After this improv a lot and then when the drum hits the snare 3 times play: 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 5D slide to 4D 4D (double bend the second 4D) Next, back to a little improv and then when the drum hits the snare 5 times play: 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 6D 6D 6D 6D slide to 7D At the very end of this little interlude, right before Chandler's gitfiddle solo, Popper does something very undetectable to most but here it is. You have to listen very carefully to hear this part. When the song is at the 4:30 mark play this: slide to 4D 4D3D2D3B2B 3D *1D *Popper starts off this little riff with the A harp but after the 3D, he very quickly switches harps back to the E and plays the 1D on that harp, which leads into Chan's soloThe Poignant And Epic Saga Of Featherhead And Lucky Lack intro (Diatonic D harp)*Not too much I can say about this one except that the harp riff is very similar to the beginning of Run Around, only it is on a D harp of course, while Runs in on a C. All of the harp in this song is really easy. I could probably tab the whole thing, but Josh would probably agree with me, that tabbing solos isn't necessary. (I agree! -- JLH) When you play other bands' licks, it isn't right to copy all of their stuff. The main line is cool, but try and make your harp solos original and fun. I have never heard Popper play a harp solo verbatim off of the album. That would be boring as hell.
Pick a hole on the harp (one of the lower ones) and draw on it and very quickly slide up and play this: 8D 8D7D6D 6B 6D 6D slide to 8D 8B 8D 7B 6D 7D 9B 6D slide to 7D 7B 6DWhoops (Diatonic D harp)*This song should be a challenge for you harpists. If you know your octaves real well, it will be a piece of cake, but if not, you better get to practicing. One of Popper's amazing talents is his ability to switch from octaves to notes back to octaves really quickly. An example can be seen in the Hook intro. I have tabbed the first part of the solo and the rest is just a blur of 32nd and 64th notes that is impossible to figure out and I hereby bow down to Mr. Popper.
Intro: 4-1D slide to 8-5D 8-5B 8-5D 7-4D 7-4B 6B 6B 6B 6B (Repeat this over and over until verse....vary the number of times you do the 6B run at the end of the riff each time) Coming out of guitar solo: Play main riff and every once in a while hold out the 8-5B part and then proceed to play the rest of the riff. Listen and you will know what I am talking about. Then after about 4 or 5 times of playing the main riff go to a little interlude on the harp. It starts off: 6-3D 6-3B 5-2D 5-2B. After that run through a bunch of octaves using that pattern of draw blow, draw blow. There is a technique John uses during this part where he gently coughs into the harp while he is doing this part. Give it a try. Next is a fav part of mine: In this corner....... Right after he says "You may start your engines go to the solo. It begins like this: slide up to 7D 7B slide to 8D 6D slide to 7D 7B 8D 8B 9D 8B 8D 7D 7B 7D warbles along with 6D 6B6B6B6B6B6B6B6B6B6B6B6B (that part is tricky) slide to 9B 9B8B7B 8D7D 7B 7D 6D 6B 6B6D7D8D8B 8D 9D (after this good luck on the rest of the solo) Coming out of solo: Go back to main riff- a couple of times he plays variations such as these: 4-1D slide to 8-5D 8-5B 8-5D 7-4D 7-4B 9B 9B 9B 9B 6D 7B 9B 9B 9B 9B 4-1D slide to 8-5D 8-5B 8-5D 7-4D 7-4B 9B 9B 10B After some of these variations (listen to the cd and find out where they go) go back to the main riff and at the end of the song play the main riff 4XDropping Some NYC intro (Diatonic G harp)* This intro is about as simple as Popper's playing gets. If you are a beginning harpist this is definitely something that you will like and you can brag to your buddies that you can play a Blues Traveler song on harp. Basically, Popper matches Chan's little B B C C part on the guitar.
2B 2B 2D 2D (when you draw bend the hell of the note (double flat) because the second whole drawn is a D note and since there is no C note in the low register on the G harp you have to bend it that much to bring it down a whole step)