Struggling with harmonica solos? Here's the solution.

Liam Ward
Jan 28, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Jun 5

Every harmonica player (eventually) needs to be able to improvise on the blues harmonica. Your harmonica solos are the thing that will set you apart as a player and will give you a bluesy sound unique to you.

People often struggle with solos and so in this week's lesson I am sharing my simple first step to harmonica solos. Even if you have been improvising blues harmonica for a while now it's still worth revisiting this skill.

Grab a C harmonica to play along!

Harmonica solos - 101

In order to play any style of music, it's really important to understand the chords you're playing over. Most blues features seventh chords. We're going to break down what these are and work on playing some suitable notes for these chords.

We’ll use a 10-hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C (we'll be playing in 2nd position so our tonal centre will actually be G).

What You’ll Learn:

How to find and play the I, IV, and V chords in arpeggio form
How these arpeggios fit into common chord progressions
How to use these patterns as building blocks for improvisation

🎵 What is a Dominant Seventh Chord?

A dominant seventh chord (often written as "7", like G7, A7, etc.) is a four-note chord, and it has a distinctly tense and bluesy sound that wants to resolve. They're usually just called "seventh chords" for short.

🧱 The Building Blocks

A dominant seventh chord is made up of:

Root (the starting note)
Major third (4 semitones above the root)
Perfect fifth (7 semitones above the root)
Minor seventh (10 semitones above the root)

So, a G7 chord would be:

G (root), B (major third), D (perfect fifth), F (minor seventh)

🎵 The Chords in 2nd Position (Key of G on a C harp):

If we can find the notes of the relevant chord on the harmonica, this is a great launch point for building solos. If you just stuck to these notes, it wouldn't sound amazing but it would sound safe and in tune - a great place to start.

We're going to practice finding these notes on the harmonica. We'll play the notes in ascending order - this called an arpeggio.

✅ I Chord – G Dominant Seventh Arpeggio

Start on 2 draw

2 draw (G) or 3 blow (G)
3 draw (B)
4 draw (D)
5 draw (F)

✅ IV Chord – C Dominant Seventh Arpeggio

Start on 1 blow

1 blow (C)
2 blow (E)
3 blow (G)
3 blow, half step bend (Bb)

✅ V Chord – D Dominant Seventh Arpeggio

Start on 1 draw

1 draw (D)
2 draw, half step bend (F#)
3 draw, full step bend (A)
4 blow (C)

🔁 Practice Tip: I–IV–V Cycle

Try playing each arpeggio up and down like this:

G Major (I): -2 -3 -4 -5

C Major (IV): 1 2 3 -3/

D Major (V): -1 -2/ -3// 4

Then string them together in a 12-bar blues-like pattern (I–IV–V–I), or just loop them I → IV → V → I.

🎶 Why This Matters

Understanding arpeggios gives you the skeleton of any chord progression. You’re not just playing random notes — you’re outlining the actual harmonic structure of the music. This means: