Welcome To The Harmonica Blog!
Posted by: John
This blog is for harmonica players and fans of the harmonica. I started a blog a while ago called Roots, Rock ‘n Blues and found out pretty quickly that there’s a ton of info out there for guitar players, but very little for players of the tin sandwich.
Being a harp player myself, I’ve been on the lookout for good resources for harmonica players and have found a few, but decided to create a place where harp players can come and feel at home. That is my mission here and I expect you to let me know whether I’m fulfilling that mission or not.
This is a work in progress and your feedback and input are more than welcome. If you have questions, please use our contact page. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Enjoy!
October 31st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Sounds like a good plan, this blog thing. I am a relatively new player (by ear) and need some info.
I was listening to a Blind Mississippi Morris CD.
Can anyone tell me what kind of harp he uses. I love some of the things he does, but I know I couldn’t make the same sounds with simple 10 holers.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I checked out a few Blind Mississippi Morris videos on YouTube, not having heard any of his CDs yet. He appears to be playing standard 10-hole diatonic harps. It’s possible he’s playing chromatic on the CD. Chromatics sound a lot different from diatonics, although once you’ve heard both you’ll recognize either one right away.
The really good players can get sounds mere mortals can’t because they’ve developed superior tone. That has little to do with the type of harp they play and much to do with how they play it. They’ll still sound different playing a diatonic vs. a chromatic, but either will sound much better than the average player.
Thanks for the question.
John
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I have taken up playing the harmonica, and I have made progress. I perhaps know 10-12 tunes, some of which took a painfully long period of time to learn. Ok here is the question, when learing a new tune is it better to learn it a few bars at a time getting those right over and over, or does it make more sense to just play the tune thru & thru until it becomes learned?
Thanks
Mike
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Hi, Mike,
Thanks for the question. Different people learn things in different ways so you pretty much have to try both and see which works best for you over the long run.
I set the obvious goal of playing the tune all the way through with no hiccups, but I don’t worry too much about playing it exactly note for note. I’m more concerned with getting it to flow from beginning to end. If you can get it down note perfect, great, but to me, that’s secondary.
I want to get the feel of the tune and play enough “right” notes that people can recognize what I’m playing. When I get to that point, I figure I’ve got the essence of the song down. From there, I can either work on the parts I don’t have exactly right, or improvise around those parts and put my own stamp on it.
The reality is that most people will not know that you didn’t get it exactly the way it sounds on the recording. Other players who have studied the same song will know, but as long as it flows and what’s in there sounds like it belongs, they’ll dig that, too.
Take care,
John
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 am
John:
That is a ton of help, and I will try it that way. It has seemed to me thatI am at time making this much harder than it has to be. I am going to try it your way and see if there is an improvement.
Again many thanks!
Mike
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:59 am
Hi, Mike,
Cool, you’re welcome. The main thing is to enjoy playing and be patient with yourself. The world class players didn’t get that way overnight, either!
John
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Hey John was looking for a harmonica blog and found yours. My questions is this. I recently received a diatonic harmonic (key of C). I know very little about the instrument, but want to learn. I’m more interested in playing the blues, but am having a hard time getting it to sound like anything related to the blues. What tips can you give me? Should I just learn standard songs (oh suzanna) and the likes of these, or should I attempt to learn the blues right away? I have found several sites that provide tabs for a very wide variety of songs, folk, country, hymns, modern rock ect. But those really don’t interest me much. But again, would that be better for me to learn and master single notes first? Thanks for your time.
Jason
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Hey, Jason, welcome!
Learning to play single notes cleanly and accurately is something you’ll want to learn to do. Oh, Suzanna and the like are great for that, but that gets old if you’re not into that genre.
Classic blues harp is a combination of single notes, bends and chords and you’ll need to learn all three, but single notes are the place to start.
Next, you’ll want to learn which notes on the harp you can bend and how to bend them accurately. Blues relies pretty heavily on bent notes. Actually, Oh, Suzanna is a good tune for learning basic bends, too, as there a couple of 3 and 4 draw bends you need to get the right notes.
Chords can be two notes side by side, or two notes spread apart, the middle holes blocked with your tongue. The latter isn’t really prevalent in blues playing, although it can be useful at times. More often you’ll be playing a single note and letting the adjacent note bleed into it to get a rougher sound.
Finally, the key to classic blues harp is to play in what’s called second position. Oh, Suzanna would be played in first position, generally, meaning that the root note is the 1 blow, i.e. the key of the harmonica. You have a C harp, so the 1 blow is C. If you start on the1 blow, the way the notes lay out you can play Oh, Suzanna-type tunes or German oompah chords and it sounds appropriate.
For blues, the root note in most cases is the 2 draw, which on your C harp is G. If you’re playing in second position on a C harp, you’re playing in the key of G. This is also called “cross harp” and it’s the reason blues harp sounds different than just playing tunes on a harmonica.
Finally, listen to as much blues harp as you can and work on making it sound as much like the recordings as you can. Especially, listen to the older players, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, and Carey Bell, to name a few. Notice the big deep tone they get. Most beginners sort of kiss the harp and it sounds thin and reedy. Open your mouth up and shove the harp back between your teeth. You can block the unwanted holes either with your tongue, which most of the old school players did, or with the sides of your mouth as a sort of deep pucker. Focus on making the sound start inside your body rather than the front of your mouth. Just like singing from your diaphragm for a deeper, richer tone.
I hope that helps.
John
March 28th, 2010 at 10:57 am
John~
Thanks for answering my question. I really appreciate the help. I look forward to learning more from you.
Jason
March 31st, 2010 at 12:42 am
No problem, Jason. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Take care,
John