r/harmonica • u/Sothus2 • 2d ago
How do you learn harmonica?
I got a harmonica a few weeks ago and have been playing it whenever I had time to kill Ive been doing basic songs with single notes blowin in the wind, Shenandoah, and this land is your land. Those are fun but what is progression like. Exercises, practices, songs, in other words how do you learn to play it.
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u/cessna_dreams 2d ago
Great question, comes up here a lot. Yes, it's necessary to practice, develop technique, be patient. Yes, Harmonica For Dummies is instructive, it's a great book. Yes, you'll need to develop a number discrete, specific skills: single notes, bending, octave chords, trills, etc. Eventually, you'll need to know a bit of theory about chord changes, chord progressions, scales and positions. Not mentioned yet are the many instructional videos available. But I contend that the most essential equipment to learn the harmonica (or any instrument) are your ears. Listen to harmonica playing, listen very intently and purposefully. Listen a lot. There are so many styles of playing: the country style of Charlie McCoy, the acoustic chug style of Sonny Terry, the early recordings from the 20's & 30's, folk style playing of Dylan or Neil Young, the big four of Chicago blues harp (SBWI, SBWII, Big Walter, Little Walter) and their successors such as Cotton, Jr. Wells, Carey Bell, the white players from the '60's (Butterfield, Musselwhite), the west coast players (George Smith, Rod Piazza), the later players like Portnoy, Kim Wilson and others. My advice would be to sample various styles/players and see what resonates with you. Try to tap into curiosity and be determined to figure out how these players got so much sound from this little diatonic harp. It still seems impossible to me and I'm still trying to figure it out, after playing 50 years. I still gig in Chicago and I teach harp and it's still magical for me. But, for me, it started with listening, liking what I heard and curiosity about how to produce those sounds. It's like learning a language--it helps if you immerse yourself in it. The essential recordings are easily available--I would suggest you focus as much, if not more at this point, to listening and getting excited about the sound. Good luck!
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u/BumbleBearrrr 2d ago
I've been playing for about a month now!
Someone recommended Harmonica for dummies and I also am forwarding the recommendation!
The book teaches you truly how to play every inch of the instrument, including how to begin understanding music.
I'm in a place where I have screenshots of my favorite songs to play from tablature, and have been practicing those whenever I have downtime. Park the car, bust out a couple medleys, and be on my way.
I could be working on freestyle stuff but I'm not that far along yet. I have just figured out how to bend on command rather than fishing for it, so that is triply exciting!
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u/RedNeckness 2d ago
I was fortunate enough to have a friend who was a great harmonica player. We would gather at the flat, drink some wine, smoke some stuff, and Fred would play for an hour or so. After three months, I knew everything I needed or wanted to know. Not sure how much that helps, but Sonny Boy Williamson didn’t learn it from a book. Start by imitating a train. Add in the whistle from time to time. What do your feet sound like as they shuffle down the road?
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u/According-Hat-5393 2d ago
The feet sound like you should NOT "shuffle them down the road.." My Red Heeler/Catahoula mix would GO NUTZOID when kids kicked their feet at his face, and he really wasn't a "fan" of cattle "lagging behind" either.. I REALLY NEVER "TRUSTED" THAT dog around children-- but he would take on a 3,200 pound BULL, and send THAT FUCCKKER RUNNING at a HIGH RATE of SPEED!! But one night he just QUIT.. BREATHING... And then about 14 months later, my girlfriend/wife of NEARLY 9 years did the SAME FUCCKKING THING!! (The 2nd time it was in OUR BED, but "Patch" "passed" in the living room-- about 4 FUCCKKING FEET away..) And WHY THE FUCK didn't the "blood expert 'specialists' find anything" wrong" with my late girlfriend/wife 6 FUCCKKING DAYS before, when they did a "blood work up.." Then she just QUIT-THE-FUCK-BREATHING!! Gave her 3 HUGE breaths-- she nearly would have "popped" if she were a balloon..
Called 911 (and they got there in about 7-ish minutes in my TINY "college" town.. but they had LESS "luck" than I DID.. they "worked on" her body for nearly 50 minutes, then the tall blonde paramedic started asking me about DNR requests..
I GLARED HER RIGHT IN THE EYES, and SNAPPED, "GOD DAMN IT!! DO YOU REALIZE THE FUCCKKING PHONE CALL that YOU are FORCING ME to make right NOW??!!!
(I was forced to call her Mother..) 😔💔💜💞💑
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u/lord_quasi_ 2d ago
Learning the blues scale is really helpful. You’ll get practice with single notes and bending. And eventually tongue blocking
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u/Nacoran 2d ago
If you haven't already, work on working out some songs by ear. You can write tab out for them, but that process will really help your ear.
You are probably playing in 1st position... that's the key the harmonica is designed for, but there are other scales that use the same notes but use a different spot as 'Do' (as in Do Re Mi... also called the root note or tonic.)
2nd position is really neat because it moves a lot of the more important notes of the scale to draw notes, which are more expressives. 1st position usually centers around the 4 blow (technically you have 4 root notes in different octaves, the 1, 4, 7 and 10 blow). In 2nd position you focus on the 2 draw/3 blow (which are the same note). It's also on the 6 and 9 draw. It will be a G on a C harmonica. It's still a major scale, but it will let you move into your first minor scale once you learn to bend notes.
If you haven't tried it yet, try tongue blocking. Open 4 holes to your mouth and use the tip of your tongue to block three of them. (Towards the top and bottom of the harmonica you can either block fewer holes or switch sides). After you get clean single notes that way you can start to do some fun stuff with splits, where, for instance, you can play the 1 and 4 at the same time.
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u/anotherdamnscorpio 2d ago
Just sit down and play it. Pick an easy traditional tune to figure out by ear like Amazing Grace. By the time you get it, you'll have messed up a bunch and figured out a bunch of other cool stuff.
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u/DesperateBanana4019 1d ago
Start your harp journey here. Thousands of us started with this book and audio. Late 80s for me.
Country & Blues Harmonica For The Musically Hopeless
-Jon Gindick
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u/StonerKitturk 2d ago
Same as any other instrument. Take lessons, study hard, practice daily