So the time has come for finals, and I'm writing a paper on blues harmonica. I come before you all as a perishing neophyte and ask for help. If you'd like to contribute, and be cited as a primary source in the process, then I'd like your thoughts on the following:
If you could give an aspiring harmonica player one piece of advice, or share with them what you consider the most valuable lesson you've learned, what would it be?
Thanks so much to anyone who wants to contribute. I do appreciate it greatly.
My advice to a beginner would be to purchase a keyboard to play along with note for note when learning single notes and bending.
Last Edited by on May 19, 2009 1:46 PM
Start out with a decent harp in the key of "C" first. Most of the tutorial books with CD's are written with a view to you playing along in the key of "C". Once you've cracked bending on the key of C it's just a case of making slight modifications to your technique when you play in other keys.
Start out with a plastic combed harp because if you take to harp playing, you're going to play a lot, and they will be more comfortable for your lips.
Don't limit yourself solely to the blues. Other types of music will also help you get the maximum out of the instrument.
I know you only said one piece of advice but theres a lot more to it than you'd think. ----------
listen to as much as you can , also not just harp players , listen out for sax , guitar , organ , anything with a good riff, hook , melody etc once you've got the basics ,get out and play with other musicians , and learn about how the instruments fit into the whole sound. with blues , it's as much about rhythm and feel, swing! There's no competition , just do it at your own pace and above all enjoy it!
Last Edited by on May 19, 2009 6:13 PM
Nail down good tone and then when you try to learn licks start with them as slow as you can do them correctly. As you practice them over and over add speed as you can while still making them sound as perfect as possible. Most of all enjoy the journey.
I would agree with GermanHarpist and snakes. I started with Portnoy's CD and can do just about everything on it, tounge blocking scales etc. Thought I was ahead of the game...maybe advanced begginer. Then I ordered one of Adam's beginner lessons. I had the notes and was playing the lick in a day or two. It is now a month later and I am still working on getting that one set of licks to sound like Adam does. Tone and subtleties are all the difference. I guess my advice would be get a $20 digital recorder, thats how I found out I sounded like a guy playing a group of notes versus Adam playing the blues.
Last Edited by on May 21, 2009 8:12 AM
Guys, thanks so much. I'm using all these in a final section simply entitled "Words from the Pros." Thank you all again for the advice; I most certainly appreciate it.
On a slightly related note, you KNOW you love something when you dissect the life out of it and bang out 20 pages about it and, to relax, come back to the exact thing you're writing on.
I've lost count of the number of times I've given up because of what I couldn't do. Focus on what you can do, relax and the rest will come in time. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
I can offer a combination of a lot of the above, looking at it from the viewpoint of things I wish I had done a long time ago.
Right from the first, get a few lessons from someone who plays well AND is a good teacher. It has taken me nearly a year to get over the bad habits I developed in terms of embrasure and lip pursing that gave me thin tone and poor tonal control. The harmonica, visually, is such a simple instrument and seemingly easy to play, that a neophyte will assume that it must BE easy to play. it isn't- at least to say, it isn't easy to play well. A scalpel is just a knife, but not everyone can do surgery by picking one up by the correct end.
Start with a quality instrument. When you think that a good sax can cost thousands, the investment in three or four, $50-$90 harmonicas is trivial. If that sound like a lot, it isn't. it will pay great dividends in the long run.
Find some really simple harmonica instrumentals and learn from them. They are probably not as simple as they sound (back to the good teacher). Use your MP3 player and isolate 4, 8, then 12 bars of some easy riffs to emulate. Listen, then listen some more, then listen again. As an example: listen to the solo in "My Babe" by Little Walter ten times in a row. I guarantee you will hear some things in the tenth play you didn't hear the first time.
Of course, all this depends on some musicality of the student. It is difficult to learn music AND an instrument at the same time. When you are concentrating on what hole to blow or draw on, AND the embouchure, and dynamics of playing, etc., it is difficult to think about the music itself.
You can spend a lifetime hanging around those ten little holes.
Speaking of which, a local teacher heard me playing and tried to talk me into teaching a harp class at one of the local schools... Even with a credential and nearly 20 years of teaching experience, I am not sure that I can or want to, nor where to begin even if I thought I could...
I don't always push my offerings but here I think it's appropriate.
I believe the best harmonica deal you can get is buying one of my harps. Not only will you have a great harp to learn on, I give a free lesson. The lessons are always at least an hour and have been as long as 4 hours.
I just did a session with Zack P today and got him doing things he never thought possible. I can do that with anybody on this board.
if you're interested my email is groovygypsy at gmail.com
Yep, do it guys. I'd say a complete beginner should do some stuff on a cheaper harmonica first. But, when the single notes come out, GET a GOOD harmonica, set up! The notes bend so much easier, overblows come out, and blow bends. The reeds will choke if you play too hard. It's sort of a very strict teacher, a custom harmonica can be. And, guys, is $85 for his cheapest harmonica. Add $5 for shipping and pretty much it's buy a harmonica get a lesson free or if you want to see it like this, buy a lesson get a harmonica free.
1) Frame your practicing within several horizons: where do I want to be one month from now? One year? Five years? Be satisfied with incremental progress, or even no apparent progress, on any given day. Just put the time, keep the creative flame alive, and allow the results to come.
2) Don't confuse notes with music; notes are a way of getting at music. Learning how to play music becomes, at a certain point, learning how NOT to play--i.e., learning how to leave space between phrases in a way that creates music. The guy who plays the most notes per second isn't automatically the best musician. That rule is only in effect among 14 year olds. Grow up.
3) Master the tradition, then find your own voice. When you've learned how to really, really "get" the sound of some great player, it's time to put him aside. In fact, your future development depends on doing that. Great parrots aren't great musicians. They're great parrots. Don't be a parrot.
Last Edited by on Jul 26, 2009 8:28 PM
Say thanks to ALL the ones who are willing to devulge the Blues Harp secrets that would otherwise be very hard to nearly impossible to figure out. Starting with the allknowing Kudzurunner. I for one would not be in a band with out there knowlage. They like what I do even though I know I need way more experience. Picture the guy on the Joe Filisko add for his instructional dvd. That would still be me.
By this time, I'm not sure I have an original response, but I'd lean on the advice of Grillslinger and Buddha paraphrased - take it slow and master the techniques you're trying to learn, and get an experienced instructor early to ensure you're not making it harder than it should be, or developing bad habits. After that, everything else can be goals or milestones.
Work on timing and rhythm. Tap your foot as you play. Rhythm is the heartbeat of music. Even if you can't get single notes yet, you can work on timing playing chords. Here's a another piece of advice- one that I learned the hard way-if you're having a party at your house, keep your harps out of sight or else a drunk might pick one up and try to play it.
Last Edited by on Jul 27, 2009 4:32 PM
In the light of Rosey56's recent 'exasperated' thread I bump this thread with no apologies.
Good advice from all esp. Kudzu and a word from Buddha (RIP), in fact here he is with a lesson on vibrato. Rosie, Chris had a very pragmatic approach to the harmonica and demystified it in a very unique way.
1. Record yourself - a great way to learn what you REALLY sound like. 2. Get a metronome and use it to develop timing (and stop using it once you're happy with how YOU apply rhythm to the song) 3. Play with others whenever you can - harp teachers, harp peers, guitartists, bass players, drummers, bands (even backing tracks). Sharing is a great boon to learning. 4. Have fun! Disciplines (like scales) are useful and necessary, but so is 'noodling'!
After you've mastered the basics of blues harmonica, however you manage to do that, start listening to a lot of recordings by great blues and R&B sax players, try to learn at least one new lick or bit of phrasing a day from them, and slowly work that stuff into what you do--first in the woodshed, then at your local jam session and your gigs.
This is exactly what Little Walter did.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jun 16, 2013 6:27 PM
forget the licks and tricks. first learn a bunch of simple blues vocal melodies from the greats. add the licks after you're solid with the soul. ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
1) Buy a decent sealed-combed harp in the key of A (SP-20, Manji, MB Deluxe, etc.) 2) Keep it with you everywhere you go. 3) Make friends with it; play it whenever you have a spare minute or two. 4) Learn some melodies; learn where the notes lie. 5) Get Jerry Portnoy's CD set and live with it until you are comfortable with all the lessons. 6) Join a band. ---------- SilverWingLeather.com email: mlefree@silverwingleather.com
Kudzurunner: "The guy who plays the most notes per second isn't automatically the best musician. That rule is only in effect among 14 year olds. Grow up."
I can't believe I didn't comment on this first time around. OK here is my sagely advice:
Don't get all bent out of shape and frustrated if you just can't get that 3d 1.5-step bend, or 10b full-step bend, or 6 overblow, or anything else you are working on. Rather than kill yourself, or your harp, trying, have the discipline to put it aside and go on to some of the million other things you need to learn. Find progress where you can. Just remember to re-visit the those unattained challenges every once in a while. You'll be pleasantly surprised that those mountains will yield to you, once you have built up enough acclimatization on the lesser peaks. ----------
@mr so&so - agree 100%. As a child I spent a year or more trying to master a single song on the piano. It was never perfect and I refused to move on until it was. What a waste of time; it caused me to give up on piano altogether.
When I took up harp I decided to constantly work on new things and frequently revisit the old, exactly like you described.
