Please help me dabble on the harmonica

Cafe Society
1

So I thought I’d buy a little $5 model to fiddle with as I drove back from the west coast. I didn’t but when I got home I found one lying around the house and whaddayaknow…it was the right key (F) for my favorite song Thunder Road.

So I started to fool with it and nothing sounded right then realized it wasn’t a very common key I guess. On my last trip I stumbled into a Guitar Center to see what they had and since all of the 20 (of the little cheapo ones) they had in stock were in the key of C I figured that was the go-to harmonica. Apparently not… now I have two that rarely sound right.

Am I missing something…other than a dif key. G maybe? That seems to be the key of my second favorite harmonica part Promised Land.
Also I searched the web a bit and all of the learn to play harp sites seem to be incredibly complicated. Maybe I just need to dig into them more.

2

Yes, F is not a super common key, at least in rock. The most common keys in rock are probably E, A, G, and D, but that is specific to rock. In folk, you should get more G, C, and probably F. Jazz will have more flatted keys, typically because of the horns involved. (The “base” key of brass instruments is often not C, but Bb or Eb.)

Now, the key of the harp does not necessarily dictate the music you will be playing in it. “Thunder Road,” as I am hearing the harmonica part in my head, is played in “straight harp,” so the key the song is in should be the key you want your harmonica in. Most blues and rock harmonic is played in a style known as “cross harp” or “second position.” This is where the key of the harp is a fourth higher than the song is. So, a bluesy number in E would be played with an A harp. A blues-rock tune in G would want a C harp.

So your C harmonica should be plenty useful in rocking/bluesy numbers in the key of G. I’m sure a good number of Rolling Stones songs would qualify. “Honky Tonk Woman” comes to mind. Oh, and I do believe George Thoroughgood’s “Bad to the Bone” is in G, so you’d want a C harp for that. And your F harmonica would be good for key of C blues/blues-based songs.

There is too much to cover here, so I would suggest starting with learning about either straight harp or cross harp. I started learning cross harp because I found most straight harp kind of boring, and I wanted that down-home bluesy sound, rather than the more folksy sound of the straight harp. But you do need to read up on those two styles/positions and learn how to use them.

One very basic thing is that in straight harp, you are playing more blow notes, while in cross harp, you are playing your draw notes more. On a C harp, for instance, playing any of the blow notes gives you notes from the C chord. When you are playing cross harp, the first four draws are all notes from the G chord (and if you add 5 draw, you get G7, a typical blues chord.)

What is your level of musical knowledge? I can get more into it, but it’d be easier if I knew what vocabulary I could use. And just ask individual questions. I’m not sure I could write up a cohesive beginner’s narrative on how to play the harmonica, but I could address specific questions better. I’m not an expert, but I do play basic straight and second position harp (with occasional forays out to other positions.) Technically, you can play a diatonic harp in any key you want, but that’s very advanced technique, and only relatively recently has it become popular. Typically, you’ll find most pop harp in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd position.

3

I’m in the same position as the OP. In anticipation of getting some harps for Christmas, I got a harmonica rack —but no harps! So I’m going to get my first harp (a C, on recommendation from a friend who plays) and start seeing what I can do with it. I will undoubtedly chime in with my own questions soon.

4

If I had to pick two keys to start with, C and A would be them. Then I think a G harp or D harp.

5

Cost is the only reason I have 6 harps (C D E F G A) instead of 12 :wink:

One day I’ll get Bb, Eb and maybe F#. Wouldn’t find much use for B, Ab, or C#.

Yet …

6

Try that C harp out on “Like A Rolling Stone”. Dylan’s wheezy style is easy to approximate.

7

Ab actually isn’t that bad. That’s Eb blues, and there’s plenty of that, especially with 1/2 step downtuned guitars.

8

I had some friends when I played Open Mic nights who would down-tune for Guns’n’Roses songs. Later they would play some blues, and it would take me a few bars before I realised that we were a semitone out, and I’d have to stop. :frowning:

9

I keep a Hohner Marine Band harmonica in my backpack. I also have a Hohner Special 20 on my book shelf, and a cheap ($5) Hohner Blues Band in the glove box of the Jeep. (All are in the key of C.) I also have a Mississippi Harmonica Company Old Time Harmonica harmonica that I’ve never used, but they sell them cheap at convenience stores around here so I bought one on a whim. My dad had a couple of Hohner Chromatic harmonicas. I remember him playing them ‘Folk’ style, as he wasn’t really into Blues. They’re at least 50 years old and need to be overhauled – which last I checked, cost about $200 each and I only found one guy who does it.

Here’s the thing: I don’t have time to practice. I’d drive the SO (and probably the cats) crazy if I practiced in what free time I have. So the best I can do is play the standards; such as When The Saints Go Marching In, and Oh, Susannah. I can play the harmonica part of Love Me Do and the ‘duh-DUH-duh-duh’ part of Mannish Boy. I really want to learn to play Blues. Lacking time to watch hours of videos and trying to copy the harmonica parts, I need some one-on-one instruction. I’ve checked with the local music store, and they don’t have lessons. I’ve thought about posting an ad on Craigslist, but I’m pretty sure the SO would think that’s ‘weird’.

Eventually I’ll learn to play well enough to pull the Suzuki M20 Manji out of the drawer, where it’s been waiting for me to learn to play well.

10

Are you able to bend notes?

11

I should expound–bending notes is the key to learning the basics of blues harp. Once you get that down, you can do some reasonable blues wailing just sticking to the first five or six holes of the harp. But it’s getting that bend down, and that takes a lot of trial and error and is a lot something you kind of have to figure out on your own and how a bend feels in your mouth. The 4 draw bend is probably the easiest to practice on. (At least that’s the first one I figured out). Once you figure out the basics of the mouthshape on bending, then you have to learn a bit of muscle memory and control so you can have your bends hit the notes you want. 4 draw really just has one scale note you can hit, a half step down (so C# on your C harp, as 4 draw is a D), but the 3 draw bend has three scale notes: Bb, A, Ab, and the unbent B. That one takes a lot more practice and control to hit (and the lowest note of that bend, the Ab, will usually take people awhile to get a deep/low enough tongue position to get it all the way down there.)

ETA: IIRC, the way I learned how to bend was trying to make a “yuh” type sound while drawing on the 4 (or the 3), and eventually the correct part of the back/middle of my tongue dropped and bent the note. Once you know what it’s supposed to feel like, you can start to control it. There are also blow bends for the higher notes (and really advanced techniques called overblows and overdraws which, with draws and bends, can actually fill in all the missing notes on a diatonic harp), but you can do blues fine with only knowing the draw bend.

12

I’ve done it using Harmonica For Dummies (or something similar), but I don’t have it down due to lack of practice. About the only time I have to practice where I won’t annoy anybody is on my two-day-per-week, 115-mile commute. And then I really should be paying attention to operating the vehicle.

.

13

pulykamell:

Sounds like you’re the SDMB go-to guy for mouth harps. This thread might be a good ‘Ask the harmonica player’ thread. If you don’t mind, I’ll ask.

  1. When did you start playing, and how long have you been playing?

  2. What style of music do you play?

  3. What is your opinion of the very inexpensive Hohner Blues Band?

14

I’m not going to oversell myself as a harmonica player. My main instrument is the piano/keyboards. Harmonica is just something I know enough to be able to play a harmonica part in a song if I needed to. I can improvise basic blues fine, but I would not call myself a harp player. (Harmonica is kind of a funny instrument for me, as it’s the one instrument where I really don’t think about the notes–I just know where they are when I need to play them. Like I couldn’t tell you what notes I’m playing on a harmonica without thinking about them, whereas with a piano I am always absolutely aware of what notes I’m playing. I couldn’t *not[/] know what notes I’m playing.)

  1. I started in the mid-90s. I was most into it from about 1994-2000.

  2. When I play harp, I feel most at home jamming along with the blues.

  3. I’ve not played the Blues Band. While I’ve not played the one you’re talking about, I’ve played a few real cheapie harps and they can be a little finicky when it comes to controlling bends. That said, the Blues Band actually has a good reputation for a cheapie harp. I would say my favorite all-purpose harps are the Special 20 and the Golden Melody. I have heard great things about the Hohner Crossover, but haven’t played it yet. The Marine Band is an all-around classic, but tends to tear up my lips. I started with the Hohner Blues harp, but I’m not really a big fan of it. And I’ve also had the Hohner Pro harp, and I’m not a big fan of its tone, either. Golden Melody and Special 20 are my favorites. I’ve played a few Lee Oskars as well, and I’ve liked what I’ve played, but I’m not as familiar with them.

15

Thanks for the answers.

I’ve made a couple of bookmarks to harmonica instruction sites, and I pulled out The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Playing The Harmonica and 101 Harmonica Tips. The sites I’ve bookmarked seem to be selling lesson DVDs, but I’ll use them as a jumping-off point to see what I can learn.

Naturally, this thread pops up in the first four weeks of the month, which is my busiest time! :stuck_out_tongue:

16

Hah. Yeah, like anything else, you need to make time for it. I lived with roommates when I was initially learning the harmonica, so I’d just play along on my 20-minute walk to work, or while I was driving in my car, or at those rare times nobody was home. (Or I’d slink off to some far corner of the house where I’d not be annoying anyone, or just go off to a park and play into the air there.) I’ve never taken lessons–you don’t really need them for the basics (plus I didn’t know any harmonica players until I met Howard Levy of the Flecktones at the cafe I worked at.) Just time and dedication.

17

I might have to study a lesson in one or both of the books before the SO gets home from work, and then practice when she’s not around or while I’m driving. The first 80 miles aren’t too bad. I can load the CDs into the car’s changer.

I’ve only looked at two of videos so far. Both have guys that enjoy showing off their virtuosity, which isn’t helpful. One (admittedly, the other wasn’t quite an introductory video) shows how to hold a harp and suggests practicing single notes, then practice the ‘train’ (draw ‘ah-tick-ah’, blow ‘ah’) at slow speed for about a week. Single notes I can do, and I play tunes I know when i can’t ‘get’ or else am not in an amenable situation to practice ‘technique’. I can do the train, slowly; but it gets boring quickly. I need to do some reading/viewing on how to do certain things (e.g., bending) so I can practice those.

So I have some harmonicas in their individual plastic cases that have been gathered over the years. I thought it might be a good idea to put them all in one place; you know, like a ‘case’. Hohner makes a 7-harp one that looks good – only try to find just the case! It seems they all come filled with even more harmonicas. I found one on Amazon for $128 (IIRC) – just for the case. I found just the case at another site for $29. Today I ordered Hohner’s ‘Piedmont Blues’ harmonica set in the case. I don’t need the instruments (which are plastic), but I get the case for $20. :smiley: Maybe I can find a gang of seven children I can give the harps (A, Bb, C, D, E, F and G) to.

18

No time to read all the great replys so far but one question…what’s with the key of the harp being dif from the key of the song?

… and if I go to a harp tabs site and they list songs in G does that mean they are in a different key and you want to use a G harp?

Also… how in the world does a performer identify the harp on a dimmly lit stage. I saw Steve Forbert a few weeks ago and he must have had a dozen on a table next to him. He did look closely when he went to grab a dif one but there must have been something more than the imprint on the metal that my two have.

19

I’m not sure what you mean. I’m not sure how the harp sites work, but looking quickly at some online, they either seem to tell you what key harmonica to use, or sometimes they tell you the key of the song and the key of the harmonica used.

For example, this site lists Dylan songs, their key, and their harp key. Dylan plays a lot of straight harp, so where you see one key listed, that’s both the key of the song and the harmonica he is using. If he is playing a different position, then you will see the key of the song listed first, and the harmonica key after the slash.

20
  1. I like your musical tastes.
  2. Here’s the deal with cross harp (basically re-stating what I see pulykamell already said):

Harmonica is designed so that, when blowing, all of the notes that sound are notes in the chord of the key of the instrument. Thus, with a C harmonica, all blow notes are either C, E, or G. When sucking (draw), the harmonica plays a different set of notes, that mostly align with the dominant 7 of the key of the instrument (so, with a C harmonica, the draw will give you notes in a G7 chord, plus one other). This happens because there are two sets of reeds in the instrument, one that vibrates with air moving in one direction, and one that vibrates only when air is moving in the other direction.

This setup is very handy. Play “straight harp” style (blowing to get your tonic), and you play in the key of your instrument (in this case C), with access to the dom7 (G7) when you draw.

But, if you make the draw your tonic (G), when you blow you get the IV chord ©. This has a more bluesy sound, because the scale you get based on the tonic for cross harp has the flatted 7th.
I apologize in advance for the poor explanation.