Sugar Sugar (Part 2)
Who can take a sunrise
Welcome to part two of our Bubblegum Pop number.
By now you should be able to play all the good stuff. The head, harmony and fills of the chorus. This is the main bit which starts the song and many people will recognise straight away.
Now it’s time to round things off by learning the verse. Let’s get down to the candy store.
Sprinkle it with dew
Once again, just before we start, remember it’s not a good idea to eat and play harmonica at the same time. We don’t want sweets (candy), food or drink to get stuck in you or in your harmonica!
Grab your C major diatonic harmonica and some harp friends, and let’s check out the verse.
Decide whether you are going to follow the main line or the harmony line. You just need to follow the same colour – pink or green. Or why note play both notes together (which is what we call double-stops)? Beware if you do. There’s a split at the end of the fills. We’ll explain this later on.
Remember, D means draw (breath in) and B means blow (breath out). The numbers shown are for a 4 hole harmonica. For ten holes change 1, 2, 3 and 4 into 4, 5, 6 and 7. Tracking the words should help guide you through the rhythm.
Here’s the lead part. It’s played twice, each time followed by the fill (below).
2B 2B 2B 2B I just can’t be-
2B 2B lieve the
2D 2D 2D 3B loveliness of
2B 1D 1B loving you
Followed by the fill each time
And a miracle or two
And here is the fill. The lead part above comes first each time, followed by..
2B–3B 2B–3B 2B–3B 2B–3B I just can’t believe
2D–3D 2D–3D 2B–3B it’s true
Lead part, followed by..
2B–3B 2B–3B 2B–3B 2B–3B I just can’t believe
2D–3D 2D–3D 2D–4D* it’s true
*If you’re playing double stops, this is a technique called a Split (see below)
Here’s the pink part
Here’s the green part
Here’s the pink and green part
The Candy Man
So what’s all this about doing the splits? Well so far, we’ve been busy playing two notes which are neighbours on your harmonica. They are positioned side by side. We like to call these double-stops. But what happens if you want to play two notes which are further apart?
The answer is you cover the ones in between with the tip of your tongue and blow either side! (If you’re trying this on a Hohner Speedy four hole harmonica, you’ll need to pretend your a wide-mouthed froggy).
This technique is called note splitting. As you learn more about your 10 hole harmonica, you’ll become more familiar with three, four and even five hole splits. In this song we’re using a three hole note split.
Oh, the Candy Man can
And that’s it for now. Just like the Candyman, you’ve made the world taste good again!
So take a big bow.
Now, be sure to practice everything until it feels right, then show all your friends, family and grown ups what you can do.