Playing "Help-Me" in the Style of Sonny Boy Williamson II

Keith P. Graham

Published by Keith P. Graham at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Keith P. Graham

Sonny Boy

One of the greatest blue songs ever written is "Help me" by Rice Miller (the second Sonny Boy). I am a fan of this great harp player and I enjoy listening to his work. New harp players often overlook him, as his style is more acoustic than electric, and he doesn't sound like Little Walter. However, he is always listed at or near the top of favorite players by anyone who has struggled very long to play the harp.

Sonny Boy had a unique style, based on country blues, but with a sophistication that only becomes apparent when you pay attention. He sounds sometimes like John Lee Williamson, the original Sonny Boy, whose name he took. Sometimes he sounds like Howlin’ Wolf, who was a great harp player in addition to being a great slide guitarist. Sonny Boy played with the Wolf, and there is some discussion as to who is actually playing harp on some of the recordings. Mostly Sonny Boy sounds like no one else except Sonny Boy.

Rice Miller, who later would call himself Sonny Boy Williamson, was born around 1911 or 1912 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. His birth name was Aleck Ford. Sonny Boy would have many names over the years.

He got the name Miller from his stepfather. In his twenties he travelled around Mississippi and Arkansas playing harp. At this time, he met Robert Junior Lockwood, who plays guitar on many of Sonny Boy’s songs.

In 1941, Miller was the host of The King Biscuit Hour on a radio station in Helena, Arkansas. Miller used the name Sonny Boy Williamson, who was very popular at the time. Whatever the reason, Rice Miller would claim the name Sonny Boy from then on. On the radio, Sonny Boy played records and improvised songs on the harmonica. His band was called the King Biscuit Boys and there is a famous photo Sonny Boy fronting the band.

Sonny Boy moved to West Memphis, Arkansas and lived with his sister who was married to Chester Burnet (Howlin Wolf). In the 1950s he went to Chicago where he recorded 70 songs for Checker Records.

Help Me

In 1963 Sonny Boy recorded “Help Me”. The credits are Sonny Boy, Willie Dixon and Ralph Bass. The lyrics may be by Willie Dixon, but they have that Sonny Boy style. Willie Dixon wrote many of the great blues songs of that era. Ralph Bass may have suggested parts of the song and maybe even the bass line. Lafayette Leake was probably playing the organ but it could have been Billy Emerson. Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy of Blues Brother’s fame played guitar. Milton Rector played bass, Al Duncan was on the drums.

"Help Me" is a great song. It has that "Green Onions" bass line. Sonny Boy was always borrowing Sambas, Cha-chas, and other rhythms from popular music, and Help Me uses the riff from the popular Green Onions by Booker T. & the MGs.

I am particularly impressed by how Sonny Boy can shift between playing a lick and then singing and then back again without hesitation.

Another great thing about "Help Me" is Sonny Boy's use of "chugging" to emphasize the beat. One of the easiest things to do in harp playing is to chug the 2 and 3 holes. Just open your mouth a little so the 2-3 holes are open and draw quickly saying the word "CHUCK-CHUCK". You can let a little 1 hole in, even a little 4 hole. It's hard to do it wrong. But, with the harp, all the notes are good notes, so it's not what you play, it's when you play it! Listening to Sonny Boy play, you notice he's playing a counter rhythm to the "Green Onions" bass line.

I am using the Help Me on "The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson" on Chess, disk 2. Sonny Boy is playing in the Key of F using B-flat harp.

Notes on tab

I use a simple graphical tab. The arrows pointing up are blow notes. The arrows pointing down are draw notes. Bent notes are show with a bent arrow.

Three Hole Draw looks like this:

The Three Hole Blow looks like this:

The Three Hole First Bend looks like this: