Harmonica resources??

river_driver

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
868
Reaction score
2
Location
The Big Scioto, on the Banks of the Ohio
About once a year I decide I'm going to learn to play harmonica. So I buy one (because I can't find the one I bought the year before) and fuss around on it for a day or two before setting it aside. Mainly I think it's because I'm trying to do it without any instruction, and that clearly isn't working!

So... can anyone recommend any teaching/learning resources? Honestly I'm partial to books (or book & CD sets), but if there are good online resources I'll give them a go as well!

Thanks!
r_d
 
Harmonica for Dummies - Winslow Yerxa - great book, plenty of variety to get you interested, good first book.

There is also Blues Harmonica for Dummies, which I would expect to be good also, as it is authored by Winslow Yerxa, a well know player.

These I picked up 'used' - quite good.
Jon Gindick - A Beginners Guide (The Natural Blues & Country Western)
Steve Williams - Simply Harmonica
David Harp - Blues & Rock Harmonica Made Easy

Loads of info online - you could drown in it. :)

A couple of Harp forums to take a look at -
http://www.harmonicaclub.com/forum
http://www.slidemeister.com/forums/index.php
 
Last edited:
LOts of great lessons on YOutube
 
If you're looking to play lead on harmonica while playing rhythm on the uke, this won't help you much beyond helping you get comfortable with the instrument's fundamental demands, BUT....

"Get Chugging: How to Play Rhythm Harmonica" by Ben Hewlett and Paul Lennon. I wish I'd known about that book when I started playing harmonica.
 
My harmonica learning story: After I started playing guitar in the mid-sixties when I was 15, I got interested in playing the harmonica, so I bought one and read the instruction sheet on where to place your tongue and blow out of the corner of your mouth, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get it.

I dabbled at it off and on for years and years. Then in the early eighties, working as a propman at Paramount Studios, I was assigned to a pilot starring Al Molinaro (Happy Days) and Lye Waggoner (Carol Burnett Show). One day when we were on a break from rehearsal, Lyle pulled out a harmonica and started to play (really good), then Al brought out a ukulele and played along, and the casting director stepped in with a soft shoe (he was a retired dancer).

When they finished I made a beeline to Lyle and told him I've been trying to learn how to play for years and just can't get it. He said he will show me the same way he was shown when he first learned it. He took my hand and put the flesh side in his mouth and played it like it was a harmonica. BAMM, that was all I needed, I got it instantly, pulled out my harmonica and started to play. Simply it was just keeping my tongue soft up against all the holes except the one at the very right corner of my mouth. It really didn't take much to get good clean single notes. Any chance I got in breaks, I would play.

A few weeks later I was working on another pilot and one of the young actors heard me playing off in a corner. He came over, pulled out a harmonica and started playing blues, I mean really good. I was awed and asked how to do that. He explained about cupping the tongue inside the mouth to create a cavity, then uncup and cup to bend the notes. Again, didn't take me long to get it.

I hope this gives you a little insight to playing.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the replies so far!

I don't have any interest in playing harmonica and uke at the same time. At this point, I'd just like to be able to play nicely embellished melodies unaccompanied, and be able to sit in with a combo on harmony.
 
Top Bottom