This Thread is Dedicated to all of you that are just starting out. All of us members on the forum get asked the same questions over and over by Raw beginners just joining. And while none of us mind helping out, I'm afraid some get better advice than others simply based on how much time we have at the time you ask.
So I want this thread to be a place we can all add our best tips for beginners. Then we can simply refer new players to this thread and they can all get the best advice we have to offer.
Please ONLY add learning information. If you want to comment on a certain item contained within Please Start a New Thread. This will ensure that this thread stays an easy to follow learning tool.
Funky harp will give short lessons and quick overviews on each subject. Than you can go out and search each subject in more detail on other videos. Do funyharp 1- 20 ... dont worry about practicing the scales just yet. Just try to understand them if you can.
Here's funky harp 1-20 playlist. Make sure you watch them in order as started bellow.
Here when you get single notes down, play with this a bit. Try to stay on these two holes and mix it up. See what you can come up with. This is the essence of harp playing. IMO. Very Good exercise. Helped me out immensely.
Many questions about playing the harp as well as understanding music, keys, positions, etc. can be found in the "bible" of blues harp, Winslow Yerkza' s Blues Harmonica For Dummies.
"Music Theory Made Easy" by David Harp ( yes, really!) is a book I go back to frequently. It's geared toward harmonica players but is a good coverage for any musician. Being a non musician before taking up harp, I didn't find it truly easy but I find I can get answers to most of my questions.
1. Most important thing to get right - for anyone - beginner or gigging pro - is to follow Adam's advice on embouchere by dropping your jaw, opening your throat and getting lots of upper lip on that harp. He's made that point twice in his last few videos. 2 I'm with ya ME.harpdoc - Yerxa's book (and CD) is a terrific tool for learning yer way around the harp. I love chapter 7. 3. On yer suggestion I bought that music theory book - I've picked up a bit here & there but ya can't know enough IMO.
Last Edited by Sundancer on Nov 16, 2016 9:46 PM
I've bought my self a note pad, the type with a ring binder across the top. Like others I use Winslow " Blues harmonica for dummies " and I've also got a couple of Jon Gindicks books. Rather than carry all this around I jot down every thing I want to work on in the note pad along with other stuff I've got off the internet, tabs for songs, riffs etc. I find it easier to find what I want or just something for a quick practice. It also gives me a record of what I've done as I have a poor memory and need reminders. The CD's from the books are on my kindle which also makes it easier. I drive a truck for a living which means I often work long hours which doesn't leave much time in the evenings, so this way I can practice while the trucks being loaded or unloaded, some times it might be 15 minutes sometimes an hour or so. Also the books don't get damaged being dragged in and out of my bag. Just a thought I hope it might be of some use
Knight - Is hard to start but we all have to start somewhere. Only wish I had started many many years ago. Gindick helped but limiting imo. Dummies a great resource overall. But YouTube a godsend. Now with stuff from Gussow, Shellist and Ricci, etc. we all can move along so much faster.
Yes, keep organized. I wish I had done so earlier haha. Particularly if you do any tabbing / transcribing yourself - you will find a ton of envelopes and napkins lying around with supposed gold written on them.
I have found that when I write out a lick or two, that it is nice to have it all in QWERTY with a semblance of RHYTHM within them. No rhythm, no chance of remembering much about it later. Strongly suggest doing. And is great learning experience. And is not that hard once you learn how it works. Works for me anyway.
David Harp's notation for rhythm a bit odd but if it works, ok. I just like it all within one line since when putting it on a PC, the lines don't line up easy. And when additions are made, then even messier. All on one line much nicer.
My raw beginner advise is to first decide what type of musician you aspire to become. Also think about the situations you expect to play in.
I am a trained musician that once relied on sheet music or memorization for organized performances. But I strictly play the harmonica by ear. I did not use tab at all. I put notes and theory out of my mind as much as possible and just concentrated on sounds and developing instinctive muscle memory.
If you would like to take the by ear approach I recommend the following.
Start by finding the Solfege scale on the harmonica: do, re, mi, fa...
Play the melody of dozens of simple songs that you can clearly hear in your head like "Amazing Grace", "Home on the Range"... Try to get good at finding where the sounds are. Don't look at holes or try to keep track of numbers. Don't expect perfection but do try to hear sounds before you play them.
Focused on: embouchure, lip and/or tongue blocking, relative pitch, intervals, breathing, and producing good tone.
I do not regret my prior studies but my formal education never gave serious attention to playing by ear. I wish it had. Personally I have very little use for reading music now.
If you aspire to become a casual free form player, not the member of a group... I recommend a very short introduction to tab, a basic understanding of written music and theory then move away from that. Read about the "movable do" version of Solfege and concentrate on the ear method of playing.
Guys, i was attempting to keep this thread INFORMATION ONLY. A thread which a raw beginner could go through and it would be full of useful learning material. Not a bunch of chatter like every other thread. It just assures that each raw begginer that comes in here gets the best advice we all have to offer. As we repeat most of it wuite often, but may leave parts out each time.
If you want to discuss something would you mind starting a new thread?
Thanks.
I explained this above, but i realise not everyone reads a thread in entirety.
For the raw beginner, consider a somewhat unconventional approach to learning breathing patterns as presented by my original instructor, David Harp. Although I approach playing differently now, his methods were instrumental (pun intended) in creating my passion for blues harp.
Sorry guys but this is now the last place id look for the basics or beginner stuff.
Dont get me wrong, VERY useful and great advice from peeps but not easily readable....sorry.
Killa_Hertz I get what you were trying to acheive I'm afraid newbies will still answer questions asked before since it's not easy to find whether something has been covered before. Unless I've missed it there doesn't seem to be a search bar for the forum? On most forums you search some keys words and a liat of related threads come up.
Sorry to stick my oar in being so new juat trying to help.
Best regards
Last Edited by Timoteij on Feb 02, 2017 9:52 AM
No problem Tim. Really i wasnt trying to have it be an end all be all. But just a few helpful hits for people who are just getting a harp and dont quite know which way is up.
Also the top few posts of mine are ones that I constantly repost to new players. So atleast here i have a list already done that i can simply repost the link to.
Btw there IS a forum search. You have to put your mouse over the l8nk that says "blues harp forum" and a list will come up. One of these is forum search. I agree it should be at the top of every page, but ..... what r ya Gonna do? Lol.
P.S. feel free to stick your oar wherever you please. That's what the beginner forum is all about. 8^)
Thank killa I thought it was odd having no search function. Im on my smartphone 100% of the time so still having trouble using/seeing it. Do you know how to access it from a smartphone?
Breathing is one of the many important concepts mentioned above. HOW you breath is as important as embouchure (mouth shape), how deep in your mouth the harp is, etc.. Read any Barbecue Bob post on the Main Forum and you'll see that, in his opinion, playing SOFTLY with PROPER BREATHING is the MOST important aspect. (BBB likes to EMPHASIZE certain points :-).
So here's another exercise for a raw beginner. Place the harp deep in your mouth covering, say, holes 3,4,and 5. Now breathe in (don't "suck" air in). See how gently and slowly you can keep drawing air in maintaining what ever pitch/chord you get until you can continuously draw air in at the same pitch for a full 30 seconds. Was that easy or hard? If it was easy, try to go longer. Work up to there if it was hard.
Later, you can try that on single and bent notes but for now just focus on breathing.
