I have been playing harmonica, and the blues for about one year now. The harmonica is such a lovely instrument, because there is so many ways you can use it on.
I started out with a cheap harp as yours also in C, and since a harp in key of C, is a great key to start with, i used it for some months.
Like you, i had no idea what to do with this fellow, but luckily my good friend could play some "happy melodies", like "mary had a little lamb" and so on. He showed me how to play Mary had a little lamb, and then i was left on my own trying to find out more about this instrument. I went on the internet and just type "harmonica tabs", and that's what i found. I used harptabs.com for the 1-2 first months i played, but i quickly found it it's way better just to use your ears, rather than looking at numbers. That's one thing that will get you better quickly. So i learned a few "camp-fire songs" such as "Kumbaja my lord" and so on, and oooon. But i wanted to learn how to play the blues. So my advice to start with is; learn some simple songs, like "oh susanna", and just try to get clear notes. That's VERY important in the start, in my opinion. I tryed to learn some of friend how to bend notes, but it was too difficult for them, when they even couldn't just play 1 single note clear. Because this is your first harmonica, your mouth is not used to do these "moves"
. You have to pucker up, and just try, try, try, and try to get a CLEAR single note.
The next step is learning how to bend notes. It took my a while before i got it down, and you have probably heard this many times before, BUT follow this rule like nothing else matters; PRACTICE PRATICE PRATICE! - if you're learning how to bend a note, just keep trying and repeating. It's better to just play 10 minutes(depending on how much time you want to put in this, personally i use alot of time on a regular day on just jamming) each day, than playing 1 hour one day, and then 1 hour a week later. There are many good lessons on youtube generally, also on how to bend. What i did was just watching a bunch of these, and taking a single thing from every video, and put it together, to bend a note. Every man/woman have their ways to learn it, because there really is a few metodes how to get it down.
Now when you got this down, and you have probably played for a few months (depends how much you practice
) it's time to listen to some old records of the blues harmonica legends. As some of the other guys here listed above, Sonny boy Williamson II, Sonny Terry, Little walter, James Cotton is SOME of the players you want to listen to. Listen cearfully, and take bits and pieces of them all and put it together to your own style of playing. Also search on youtube or other places for jam-tracks. You'll be using a lot of time playing along with jam-tracks.
On youtube there is a lot of harmonica "teachers", but two of my favorites, is a guy named Adam Gussow (Kudzurunner is his name on youtube), and Jason Ricci (who plays in the band; New Blood). I recommend you watch their lessons, because they have ALOT of great lessons out there.
After you've been playing some months (ofc. it's up to you when..) you'll probably want a new harmonica IF you have a cheap one. "Okay! but what to get?" you're probably wondering. There is alot of great harp brands out there, but i will just name a few which really stands out. I got my first "real" harp after i had been playing for about 2-3 months. It was a Hohner Pro harp in D, and a month later i got one in A. I now have a Hohner Marine Band in E, the two pro harps, and a Hohner Blues harp in C.
Hohner is a great harmonica brand, where i really like their Marine bands, and i've heard the "Special 20's" is really good too. Also, there is the Big river harps, and so on and so. Hohner have alot of great harps out there, so i would diffently check them out if i was you. Some other great brands would be; Lee oskar, Suzuki, Seydel, Bushman and so on.
I can't tell you what key to get, because that's up to you. But if i should recommend one is would be an "A" harp, because it's simply is a great key when you're playing harmonica (If you're playing 2nd position (Cross-harp, it's where you use alot of bend notes, and mostly use holes 1-6).
Also when you have mastered the bend notes, you could go jam with people! If you have a friend who can play guitar or Bass, it's great, because you learn alot just of jamming.
I'm not saying that this way of "practicing" is the best, i'm just telling what i did in the start, and later on.
Alright, i hope that helped out abit, i'm sorry if there is any typos, but bare with me, this was loong post
Feel free to ask any questions.
Keep on harpn'
- Benno