Willie Brown's Crossroads harmonica riff

A quick-hit lesson on a six-note riff that Willie Brown (Joe Seneca) plays early on in the film "Crossroads" (1986) when he's happy about the fact that Eugene "Lightning Boy" Martone (Ralph Macchio) is going to break him out of the security nursing home where he's been languishing for years and take him back down to Mississippi.
This is a GREAT-SOUNDING riff! And, if you can do a couple of basic bends, it's not too hard to play. With Adam Gussow of Modern Blues Harmonica. Played on a key of C harmonica.
• harmonica blues power ...
• Adam Gussow - Sunshine...
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[@mackycarlson1969]

That movie is the reason I learnt the harmonica. I’ve been looking for something like this. Thank you so much!

[@tonycannon3906]

Brilliant little lesson Adam. Made me get my C out and have a play. Another riff in the bank. Thanks man. 👊

[@XrayBluesman]

Thank you!!! I watched this movie thousands times in my youth. Wanted to learn harmonica like that.

[@cold-smith-briggs7719]

Thank you Mr. Gussow. Great riff. Nice Blues Sound. Thanks for your precious time.👍🙏

[@charliesideshow8400]

Thank You so much, Adam! It's always such a pleasure to watch Your lessons!

[@bumleemumblepeg9366]

I love this movie, in my coveted dvd collection. Just watched it last week. Thanks Adam!

[@DocM.]

That's awesome unnamed person for recognizing that riff in Adam's video and messaging him about the Wille Brown Riff! 😄
Love ya Adam, thank you so so much for everything you've done for me and all of us! ❤️
~Doc Patty & The Lickity Splitz

[@wadesternator4787]

Thank you for posting this! I've been looking for it! And i believe that's rolling and tumbling probably wrong

[@bryanclark1058]

Thank you for this riff and video 🎼🎶🎙️😎

[@frankdavf4599]

Sultry vegetative environment Mr. Gussow!! Greetings from México.

[@CyberMediaBroadcast]

Thanks Adam! I'm learning a lot with your lessons and videos.

[@zugzwangzzyxx7764]

Great little riff, thanks Adam.

[@stefanvalentinotti]

Great Lession! Thank you Sir!

[@bigpapi2658]

YES!!!!!!! I love this!!!! Thank you!!!

[@lezscott7786]

Gussow always delivers the business. Sounds like blues cos it is Gussow. Hes the real deal .

[@rasokolik1]

thanks Adam!!

[@BilgewaterBilgewater]

This is magnificent! Please keep on uploading.

[@charliegregory4148]

Great lesson and That shirt👍👍👍

[@jacksonms212]

This is the harp rift that started me playing harp and the gitfiddle . It was crossroads that set all in motion .

[@FishingWithBottles]

Great movie!

[@meettheworld6241]

Hey, i know this is probably a long shot... but i live in pelahatchie, ms and am wondering if there might be any way that i could meet you in person and get a few blues pointers on the c harp from ya...

[@jerryguy2845]

Thanks Adam’

[@ikust007]

Thank you !

[@craigpenton6167]

thanks sounds really good

[@grizzled_yinzer]

Awesome lesson Adam. Nice mention of Phil Wiggins .

[@brucezhang4354]

I like it.

[@andydunn5673]

Thanks Professor

[@johndouma3407]

I saw that movie recently because my recommendations kept showing the excerpt where Willie Brown made the train sound. The harmonica playing in that movie is great. Does anyone know if all of the harmonica tunes were played on a C harmonica?

[@cerealkiller5688]

So relieved that Adam did NOT sell his soul to he devil....It's been on my mind lately.

[@anangelisproduction2374]

Brilliant lesson Adam I hope you teach the tongue blocking and head roll or hand roll to finish this Great lesson come on you got to
Also if you have time would you show us the
Riff by sonny terry from the song spread this news around been trying to get that riff since
I was 18 I’m 45 now so go for it please
Kindest Regards Nick From uk xx

[@tavarespablo]

Thanks for that Adam. Now that you metioned Phil Wiggins, could you do a video about his style? I've never found anything about him on youtube regarding to teaching his style!

[@DangerDangerfield]

Crossroads, the movie, Willie Brown, the movie Willie Brown crossroads get it

[@wayneberry8226]

You are good.....

[@xXSubScorpionXx]

Someone got the tab?

[@ffdross1934]

I'm pretty sure there's a Jimmy page riff on a zeppelin song that uses a very similar riff

[@chrisjaybecker]

I love Crossroads, but I hope that no one thinks that the Blues History in that film was real. The actual Willie Brown, the one that Robert Johnson mentions in Crossroads Blues, was a guitarist, not a harp player. To make things even weirder, the film's Willie Brown is mentioned to have used the alias Blind Dog Fulton, which is a slight-alteration of Piedmont guitarist Blind Boy Fuller. His group, The Smokehouse Boys, is a play on Barbecue Bob and Charlie Hicks Barbecue Boys from Atlanta, GA.

[@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726]

Excellent point. Yes, I have a long essay on the film in my book, "Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition." I do a deep reading of it, you might say, and I talk about the cultural work it performs, most notably in the way it responds to the transformations of the American blues scene in the early 1980s, when white artists (Stevie Ray Vaughan) first began to win blues awards that had previously always gone to black blues artists. I disagree vigorously with the film's rendering of Robert Johnson as devil-haunted. And of course the idea that Willie Brown is asked to sign an actual contract for his soul with one of the devil's associates is....silly. www.amazon.com/Beyond-Crossroads-Devil-Blues-Tradition/dp/1469633663/

[@tyronejohnson7979]

What about the Sonny Terry stuff in that movie.. an what Sonny did in color purple movie..the juke joint scene..

[@derekfrost8991]

Great scene, just too short.. :)

[@yoschieschmitt1929]

I thought the lick sounded somewhat familiar. 😀 You got me going: I will go upstairs and grab my C right away…

[@sneekerstattoo]

Been looking for this,and thankyou.but im fairly new to harmonica can someone explain what a 2 draw hole step bend is?thanks.

[@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726]

2 draw, whole step bend means you constrict the airflow in a strong but subtle way as you're inhaling on the 2 hole, and the note drops one whole step. On a C harp, it drops from a G to an F. The F is called a flat seventh, relative to the G, which is your tonic or root note.

[@sneekerstattoo]

@@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726 Thanks appreciate it!

[@to.lame.to.function5242]

I don’t know if you’ve already done it, but I’d like to see the harmonica solo from Good Time by Alan Jackson

[@carllock7588]

Thanks Adam. Question, Willie is tongue splitting the rest of that riff isn't he ?

[@joshsvoss]

Has anyone actually succeeded at playing this?? I can’t get my bends to sound chromatically precise enough or clean enough

[@joshsvoss]

I can’t get the 2 draw to bend all the way down to that note. Any tips?

[@regorRegor]

Try saying Kee Koo slowly as you draw on the hole. Check out John Gindick's videos.

[@joedominguez3288]

Having fun

[@jonwaters6725]

Sounds really good alright? I need to practice more? I'm not that good.

[@averyprice9422]

That cudzu is outta control here in alabama 🤣

[@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726]

Kudzu!

[@jakeanderson0998]

I like your glasses

[@mototrack9094]

Cool alright!

[@DangerDangerfield]

Crossroads Willie Brown got to have it Willie Brown crossroads the movie 1:55

[@ikust007]

Wasn’t in D key ?

[@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726]

Nope. th-cam.com/video/NaG5iLBSfQc/w-d-xo.html

[@johnknox1033]

👍😎

[@kerryc5821]

I thought Sonny Terry did Wllie's harp in that movie?

[@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726]

Three harp players contributed to the soundtrack: Sonny Terry (he played the opening strains; the film was one of the very last things he recorded); John "Juke" Logan; and Frank Frost. I'm almost 100% certain that this particular sequence ISN'T Sonny Terry--it just doesn't have his trademarked sounds--and Frost's contributions were all on-screen performances.

[@РоманБураджиев-р2ъ]

10

[@blacktree.vids.5976]

This guy sounds familiar

[@sciexp]

This is kind of rollin and tumblin... Maybe...

[@gussowsclassicbluesharmoni2726]

Yes, great point. I can't believe I didn't think of that, since I've played "Rollin' and Tumblin'" for quite a while now. Your insight helps explain the uncanny power of this simple riff.

[@fenderstratguy]

Did you hear about the dyslexic harp player who sold his soul to Santa

[@burntchickennugget8142]

Hahahahaha lol

[@nelsonhibbert5267]

Old MacDonald was dyslexic
E I E O E

[@blacktree.vids.5976]

This guy sounds familiar

[@blacktree.vids.5976]

This guy sounds familiar

[@blacktree.vids.5976]

This guy sounds familiar

[@blacktree.vids.5976]

This guy sounds familiar