Actually, it’s more like relearning the thing. When I was a young’un, I actually played half-way decently. But the “young’un” days are far past, sadly, and I don’t recall that much of the instrument.
What would be a good website to get info? I’m not interested in print books since I’m overseas and don’t feel like waiting around for them in the mail.
And a couple of questions:
For a ditonic C key harmonica with 10 holes, what are the 10 blow notes and the 10 draw notes?
I am in the process of trying to teach myself harmonica as well, and I would be interested in any information anyone might be able to share. In regards to the drawn and blow notes, a book I am using while trying to learn says that blown notes from the 1st hole up are C, E, G, C, E, G, C, E, G, C and drawn notes from the 1st hole up are D, G, B, D, F, A, B, D, F, A. Whether or not that is true, I can’t say, but it is all I have to go off of.
Hope that helps Monty , and please if you have any advice or come across any tips pass them my way if you can. Also, what kind of (brand, price, ect) harmonica are you using? I bought myself a little cheap one, 10 hole Diatonic in the key of C, might be similar to yours.
This guy’s page has more free information than you’ll ever need about the diatonic harmonica.
The only thing I have to offer is for God’s sake, be sure to get your hands on a quality harp.
When I started out, I used the cheap-o harmonica that was included for free with the intro book I had bought.
Suffice it to say, I got what I paid for
Some thoughts:
I would recommend a harp with a plastic comb, instead of a wooden one: IME, plastic holds up better to cleaning, and doesn’t cost much if any more.
They make harmonica holders, or ‘racks’, which allow you to play another instrument (like piano or guitar) simultaneously.
You can play the same harp in two different keys. A C harp will play in the key of C major in the first ‘position’. The same harp will play ‘blues’ in the key of G in the second position. (You can actually play in several more keys, but two is all most players can do). The site I linked to explains this in more detail.
I think it was on that site that I read the following truth about the harmonica: it’s fairly easy to get to the first rung (IMO, one of the easiest instruments to do this with). But it’s hard to get really good at. But here’s the deal: most people can’t tell a mediocre harp player from a great one. This is something very nice to know when you’re starting to learn harp. But a little frustrating after you’ve reached the first rung and want to get better!
Small world, minlokwat: I play music (featuring my mediocre harp playing) every week at a restaurant in your town!
To piggyback, which ones precisely are good harmonicas? Where can you get a good one online? What’s a good book (I’m not overseas)?
I hate to hijack these things but that is pretty freakin’ cool.
I haven’t been in every establishment that features live music but there is one chain restaurant, the name of which is derived from a famous Jimmy Buffet song that offers a decent line-up.
Could this be the one?
I’ve been trying to play the harmonica for about two years now and I just don’t get it.
I can look at a song’s tablature and play it but that’s about it. I can’t “jam”, write my own songs, or play anything by ear, and I’ve hit a wall with reading material. It seems like I can flawlessly execute the first 20 or so pages of any harmonica book and then they start to use music terminology that I am completely unfamiliar with and concepts I can’t seem to grasp.
“To play the blues, just stay in the key of D on the GF flat sharp scale draw 2 1 bend in the traditional mixolydian. It’s fun and easy!”
Learning materials for this instrument are ridiculously bad. I hunted down a DVD at the library called (something like) “Instant Blues Harmonica: The Fun and Easy Way!”
It was so unhelpful I actually watched it a few times just to laugh my ass off. First of all it was only about 10 minutes long. The whole thing consisted of a guy dressed like a homeless Jake Blues who looked like he was filming himself with an old camcorded in a basement. He demonstrated how to hold the harp, then played a single note, then demonstrated the train whistle (without explaining it), then jumped into a solo worthy of Magic Dick. That was it. Roll credits.
Needless to say I’ve never played another instrument and I know virtually nothing about music. It’s damn frustrating.
I’m so bad that my wife made me stop playing when she’s in the house.
Harmonica has to have the worst presence on the web in terms of learning material. You want to learn Piano? Guitar? Whistle? Any number of other instruments? There are zillions of tutorial sites, sites with tablature or sheet music, MP3 examples, animated graphics, you name it.
Harmonica? Not so much. I don’t know why. I actually bought one a couple of years ago thinking I’d teach myself on the internet like I did with the Irish Whistle. I just couldn’t find any really good teaching resources.
Brandon,
Mine’s probably the same as yours. I got it at the PX at Camp Walker. The harmonica came with the little book.
I think I’ll swing by Home Plus and pick up a nice Hohner model when I get home tomorrow.
I’ve a silly question now about those double row models. How do you play those?
Oh, and thanks to everyone for the tips and links!
Are there places, by the way, where you can buy a good harmonica besides music stores? (Of course I could order one online, or make it to the local stores, but they close pretty early on weekdays and have funny Saturday hours.)
I know the one you’re referring to, but no, this is a mom and pop place.
I recommend Lee Oskar harmonicas. Plastic combs, top quality, easy playing. They’re slightly on the expensive side–about $25 a pop–but they’re 10 times better than Hohners, IMHO. Be sure to get the “Major Diatonic” model–that’s the standard harp. (The others are special tunings.) My preferred source is Coast to Coast Music. Harp Depot is also good.
To play the blues, suck on the lower end of the harmonica, and hold that sound in your mind for a second. Think to yourself “that’s my key.” (I’m not sure how much you don’t know about musical terms: do you know what it means to think “that’s my key?” I mean in terms of hearing the music, not in terms of reading it.)
Then start asuckin and ablowin some more, keeping that key in mind.
If you slip and start getting the non-“bluesy” feel instead, just stop, and start over from the top.
Way back when I used to pretend to play, it took me a while to get the feel for the “bluesy” mode of harmonical playingt. But eventually I got it.
I now describe what you need to do as “concentrating more on sucking than blowing.” There’s way more to it than that, of course, but this gets you started.
-FrL-
No, not at all. I think it would help if I understood it, though. Could you please explain?
I still can’t figure out what a key is. Or a scale. A lot of books say stuff like “Draw 1 through blow 6 is the blues scale. Put any notes on this scale together and you’re playing the blues!” Uh-uh, not me. It just sounds like I’m noodling cluelessly (which is exactly what I’m doing.)
I like both Lee Oskars and Hohners. Of the Hohners, I would recommend the Special 20 and the Golden Melody. Some swear by the Marine Band and Blues Harp (both which are wooden). I don’t like the Blues Harp at all, but the Marine Band is quite good. The only problem with it is that it has a tendency to swell and rip up your lips right good if you play it a lot. Some people also like to soak their wooden bodied harps for tone. I don’t recommend doing it to a harmonica you plan on playing for awhile, because it has a tendency to throw the instrument out of tune and do other weird things with it after awhile (particularly, swelling the comb and, once again, ripping up your lips.) That said, it does seem the wooden harps have a nicer tone, but both the Special 20 and Golden Melody both last longer and are easier on your lips.
It’s weird, harmonica is the one instrument I play completely by ear. If I hear a harmonica lick I can reproduce it on the harp without thinking. I find it to be a very intuitive instrument. With every other instrument I play, I always know exactly where I am and what notes I’m playing–it’s impossible for me to completely divorce myself from the notes, but with harmonica, I just hear it in my head and play it, even though I have no clue what the notes themselves are.
It’s hard to explain something like this over a bulletin board–it would be better if we were in the same room and I could play some music illustrating what I’m saying. Pointing you to music clips online won’t suffice, because I need to be able to hum and otherwise point out particular aspects of the music.
But let me see what I can say:
Hum the first line of “Mary had a little lamb” to yourself–just up to the word “lamb.”
Now think about the third note you hummed (hum the tune again up to the word “had” if you need to to focus in on that note). To yourself, sort of “mentally hum” that note while humming out loud “Mary had a little lamb” again.
Do this a few times, and you should start to be able to understand what I mean when I say the following: the “had” note (the note you hum when you hum “had” in “mary had a little lamb”) sort of “feels” like it is the “main” or “foundational” note of the rest of the phrase you’re humming. That note is thought of as the one that the song sort of “begins” and “ends” on. (In this case, the song actually doesn’t begin on that note, but notice it ends on it! As a rule of thumb, with simple melodies, the last note of the melody is the note which has the role I’m describing.)
That note–the “had” note–is what we call the “tonic” of the “key” that the song is in. Once you’ve discovered which note has the role I’ve described in whatever song you’re looking at, then by naming that note, you thereby name the key the song is in. (You also have to add “major” or “minor” after the name of that note but let’s not go there right now.)
Try it with some simple tunes. Do it with “Mary had a little lamb” a few times til you think you have a feel for what I’m talking about. Then try some other tunes. See if you can tell me which note (identify the note by naming the word) in “Row Row Row your boat,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (sorry for the childish songs but they’re the only tunes I can think of off the top of my head which I know to be simple enough to present no complications) is the “tonic” of the “keys” you hum these songs in. I also don’t know which other songs
I’ll stop there, just to see if I’ve explained things clearly enough so far.
I hope it’s somewhat comprehensible. Like I said, it’s hard to do this without being there with you able to demonstrate what I’m talking about.
I’ll say this, though: Once you get a feel for what I’m trying to explain, it should be pretty easy for you to get a feel for how to play a bluesy sound on a harmonica. It’s just a matter of realizing which note that you’re playing is the tonic of your key. That will give you the feeling of a “foundational note” for your tune–a note to start and end on, anyway, for starters–and that should lead to an epiphany after some playing around.
-FrL-
That final sentence fragment should have been deleted, sorry.
-FrL-
Thank you, Frylock. I bow to your valiant effort, but the above is true. I’ve checked at all the local colleges, music schools, in the phone book, etc and no one in this berg seems to give harmonica lessons.
I definitely need to sit down with someone and talk about it and be able to ask questions. I wish my grandfather was still alive. He could really jam.