Groove like Ritchie Valens - play La Bamba on harmonica now!

In this lecture we expand on playing the chorus.

Using the charts provided, you will be able to play the simple notes of the chorus in many different ways including chords and notes.

The most important thing is to get the rhythm correct, everything else will then fall into place.

In this lecture you will find:

• the three backing tracks at 70% of the normal speed
• the full chart
• the A section, which we are working on at the moment

In this lecture we are simply having fun playing what we know about the tune so far.

The attached audio files are at the normal speed.

So now you have two speeds to choose from and three versions of the tune

• first is the cover version is with vocals
• second is the instrumental version which has no vocals, like a karaoke track
• third is a piano guide that you might find useful I think

Here comes the B section, as I have called it.

This is the first part of the music that you hear when you listen to the original.

The B section and the C section are the same.

Try to get the timing right and everything else will fall into place.

This type of tune defies being written down because it has that Latin feel to it which you can only get by listening to the original or any good version played live.

Try to feel it. I was told to 'be more Latin' when I was in Cuba trying to learn Cuban dance.

My Uncle and Grandfather were both Church of England Vicars so give me a break.

Anyway - be more Latin. That's my advice.

Dance and play at the same time, move with the groove.

This is the D section.

It is somewhat tricky and please remember it follows the C section immediately without any gaps.

The words in Spanish run very quickly with the music and it will probably help if you can speak Spanish.

As you can tell I don’t and sometimes I stumble over the words as they seem to run into each other. Maybe I should be more Latin.

I am sure you will get it fairly quickly.

I should remind you that the system I useful slowing down music in order to learn how to play better is a software program called ‘Transcribe!’

It is one that I have become familiar with but I believe there are many others available.

Now we come to the H section.

This is the only part of verse that has an extra piece added and it changes rhythm and feel.

Please take a listen to the original and to my version to learn how it works.

The best way to learn this is to sing it very slowly and then to try to play it in three sections.

The phrase is repeated three times so you can learn it phrase by phrase.

Now that you have learnt all of the component parts it’s time to play the whole tune.

This lecture uses the vocal version to give you some support.

It is certainly much easier to play with this version than the instrumental version.

So try to play the tune using the backing tracks at slow or fast speed and then you can try to improvise a little bit as well.

If you make a mistake just keep going and we will tell the audience you are improvising.

In this lecture we will do the same thing but with the instrumental version.

You can see me making some mistakes as the structure of the song - it's not 100% in my memory yet. I need to sing it more - as well as becoming more Latin.

This is something we all have to study and playing along with the original will certainly help.

If you can read music the best way is to follow the written music, that way you will not make any mistakes. Probably.

I hope you have enjoyed learning this amazing yet simple tune with me; I think it is a very exciting party piece which never fails to entertain people.

It is the sort of tune that everybody knows and wants to sing along with so you will be the life and soul of the party once you have learnt how to play it comfortably. Don’t forget to give us some written feedback and some stars, as many as you think we deserve, and I look forward to hearing about your success and seeing you in the next instant Harmonica course. My spell checker wrote 'Chanukah course'. It's up to you.