Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I could've sworn I just posted this under this (The Others) sub-group, but it didn't show up.Hmmm.
Anyway, I need the harmonica key for Tom Petty's song MARY JANE'S LAST DANCE. The chords in that section are Am- G-D-Am.
Thanks!!

Steve: try this link -
http://www.harmaniac.com/key_table.htm

Thanks Dave, but this tells me very little. It's not a case of knowing the song's key, then using a conversion chart, because the harmonica 'signature lick' wouldn't necessarily correspond w/ the 'correct' keyed harp-
PETER...PETER, HELP..I'M DROWNING...

After years of racking my brain, I stumbled across the solution on accident. Try a harp that sounds G major when you blow out (I call it a G harp but I think it's really D or something) and play the lick "backwards" and it will play in A minor. In other words, suck on the first note instead of blow.

Thanks Jason, i now think it'll work! I tried a G first, but didn't realize my G harp had a missing note or two, just from age. I tried it on an A harp and could at least access the correct notes, but it would've put the song in Bm. So if the song's in Am, the harp part can be played on a G harp. Thanks to all who tried to help!

My band does that song and I play the harmonica on it. I'll tell you the key of the harmonica later because I'm at work right now. The people that have commented on our version of the song say that it was exactly like the record. The first series of harmonica chords are sucked in and not blown.

Right. The first note was sucked, 2nd blown. I never realized harmonica was such a sexy instrument...
Would still like to hear what key you play it in, chris.

Glad to help. I like questions about chords and stuff.

I would love an mp3 of this song Gary.

I'll e-mail you one when I get home tonight (I'm still at work).

E-mail sent, Peter.

It's probably in the key of G, although it starts with an Am and the chorus goes to Em. Incidentally, the harmonica I use is indeed a "G". I have one of those chrome steel apparatuses that I hang on my neck while I play rhythm guitar to it. The drummer sings it because he sounds a lot like Tom Petty.

Theory-phobes beware....

Well, the verses and theme are in A Dorian, which is A minor with a raised 6th (which changes the D minor chord to major) so I think it's pretty safe to say the song is in "A minor" in street talk, anyway.

The brief diversion to Em & A maj for the chorus is not enough to warrant calling it a key change. It is interesting to note that those chords function as ii-V in the key of D major, which is what differentiates the rest of the song as A Dorian, and not straight A minor.

The "car crash" feel of the G chord at the end of the chorus merely sets us up to hear the verses' A minor chord again. It's cleaning the A major sound out of our ears before slamming us with an A minor again. Kind of like crackers in a taste comparison.

That's just my 2 cents. Disagreements are encouraged!

Yes, old boy, that IS true. But you see, the carpathian 7th feel is only implied on the first part of the verse, and by the time it gets to the payoff in the chorus, the Em has dissipated into a poor example of an Aeolian cadence, and not likely to resolve into anything remotely resembling a 13th. Unless, of course, you're using a capo on the eighth fret.
So, yes, you are correct! Pass the broccoli, please...

Hmmm ... I play an Em7 (020000) instead of an Em because it sounds 'better'.