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JJ Cale Magnolia – Lesson on Guitar and Harmonica – Quick Facts

1. Appears on the album Naturally released in 1972
2. A number of songs from the album have been hits for others – After Midnight, Eric Clapton; Call Me The Breeze, Lynyrd Skynyrd; Clyde, Waylon Jennings
3. JJ Cale changed his name from John Weldon Cale to JJ Cale to avoid confusion with John Cale of the Velvet Underground

Guitar Chords, Lyrics, Harmonica Tabs

Magnolia music and lyrics are property and copyright of their owners and provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
The following is my transcription of my version of this awesome song.

Verse 1
FMaj7 C
Whippoorwill singing
-6 -6 -6 6 5

FMaj7 C
Soft summer breeze
-6 -6 -6 6

Fmaj7 C
Makes me think of my baby
-6 -6 -6 -6 -6 6 5

Fmaj7 C
I left down in New Orleans
4 4 4 4 4 4 5

Fmaj7 C
I left down in New Orleans
4 4 4 4 4 4 5

Verse 2
Fmaj7 C
Magnolia, you sweet thing
-6 -6 -6 -6 6 5

Fmaj7 C
You’re driving me mad
-6 -6 -6 -6 5

Fmaj7 C
Got to get back to you babe
-6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 6 5

Fmaj7 C
You’re the best I ever had.
4 4 4 4 4 4 5

Fmaj7 C
You’re the best I ever had.
4 4 4 4 4 4 5

Bridge
Am G
You whisper good morning
7 7 7 7 -7 6

Am G
So gently in my ear
7 7 7 7 7 -7

Am G
I’m coming home to you babe
7 7 7 7 -7 6

FMaj7 C
I’ll soon be there.
4 4 4 5

FMaj7 C
I’ll soon be there.
4 4 4 5

Repeat 2nd verse

Video Transcription

Hi, George here. Welcome to this video where I show you how to play Magnolia by JJ Cale on guitar and harmonica.

So let’s start off with the guitar chords. We have FMaj7 which is done like this. And C. Then in the bridge we have Am and G.
Now for a strumming pattern you can keep it pretty straight playing on the down beats 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4.
So when you’re going from the C to the F there’s a little run that you can play I’ll show you here. Start on FMaj7 for 2 measures and then C and on the 4th beat play C D E E F G A.
For the harmonica, we’re in the key of C. It’s starts off in FMaj7 but it resolves to C so I am using a C harmonica Hohner Special 20. Get the harmonica and holder at http://www.georgegoodman.com/georgesharpshop/
You can play that little lick that the guitar is playing on the harmonica. It’s a diatonic progression starting by blowing on the 4th hole then. Here’s the harmonica tabs for that: 4 -4 5 5 -5 6 -6.
OK, so why don’t we just put this all together and play through the song. I’ll put a harmonica solo that is the same as the melody and we’ll wrap it up after that.

Alright, Magnolia by JJ Cale off the album Naturally. We had 4 chords there and we’re in the key of C using a C diatonic harmonica. And, yeah that’s a pretty straight forward song so I hope you can use that to put that together. It’s a great song. If you don’t know the album, check it out. It’s Naturally by JJ Cale. It’s just a classic. It’s got lots of great songs on it – After Midnight, Call Me The Breeze.
And if you made it this far in the video then I think you must have enjoyed it so please hit the like button down below if you’re on Youtube, subscribe to my videos, send it off to Facebook friends, all that good stuff.
Alright, so have a great day, peace, see you next time.