Any harmonica players here?

[Cecil6243]

As in playing guitar with harmonica accompaniment? I'm going to teach myself to play a harmonica so I can play it with song's like Neil Young's Heart of Gold.

Never played a harmonica but it's doesn't look terribly difficult. But then nothing ever does until you try it.

For those of you that play a harmonica what would you rate the difficulty as in first learning?

[Goat Mick]

It’s not a difficult instrument to play but it’s very difficult to play well. The first skill you want to learn is to play a single note (or hole) on both the draw and the blow. After you master that you can concentrate on learning to play melodies, solos, etc.

[arwhite]

Blowing straight harp along with your guitar a la Neil Young is pretty easy and quite fun. Just get you a harmonica holder, pick the correct key harmonica, and off you go. You'll sound like an advanced amateur in no time.

But as Mick points out it takes some work to be really good. I'm not really good. I am good enough to entertain myself and others reasonably well at times.

Give it try. It's not expensive to jump off into it and it's fun.

[terrypl]

Originally Posted by Goat Mick

It’s not a difficult instrument to play but it’s very difficult to play well.

Agreed! But not that hard to play it well enough to entertain yourself with songs like "Heart of Gold." Make sure you have the right key harp (need G for that song), then just listen and try to copy. Takes awhile, but like with guitar, repetition is the key.

Some songs have a repeating riff, like Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels," which has the same riff at beginning and end. (Switches keys for a bluesy riff in the middle, but you can skip that if you want, or learn it later.) But "Heart of Gold" has three distinct riffs, so you have to learn each one. But none of them is difficult, just takes practice, and it's pretty satisfying to add the harp to your guitar performance!

Another easy one to try is Steve Earle's "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" because he plays basically the same riff every time. And he plays so sloppy that if you do too, it will sound OK.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Goat Mick

It’s not a difficult instrument to play

More accurate to say "It's not a difficult instrument to get sounds out of."

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

As in playing guitar with harmonica accompaniment? I'm going to teach myself to play a harmonica so I can play it with song's like Neil Young's Heart of Gold.

Never played a harmonica but it's doesn't look terribly difficult. But then nothing ever does until you try it.

For those of you that play a harmonica what would you rate the difficulty as in first learning?

Difficulty: low

Since harp is key specific, it's easy to figure out beasic tunes, and not that difficult to play "cross-key" tunes on the draw once you develop your proficiency a bit.

It's relatively easy for guitarists to add simple harp accompaniment to their playing, although it was easier when Marine Bands were 8 or 10 bucks a pop.

Do a bit of research and start yourself out on the right foot by picking up one of the better Harp braces. The Lee Oscar is well liked:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Denandannie]

Get the Marine Band in the key of G. Don't be fooled, it takes work to play well enough so people can recognize the melody. Learn using YouTube.

[TRW1]

Not to hijack the thread, but what type of harmonica racks are most using these days? I have used several brands, but am not totally satisfied with my current one. I initially added the harmonica to save my voice a bit and add some 'color' to solo acoustic shows.

Someone once asked me at a gig if I gave harmonica lessons. I replied, "Here's the first one: breathe out, then breathe in. You're halfway there." I love adding the harmonica to guitar, it's a lot of fun. But- you don't want to overdo it. I keep a G,C,D,E, and A harp in my gig bag, that covers most everything I can play including cross harp for some songs. Cross harp is a blast, it makes you sound like you're a much better player than you actually may be.

[Goat Mick]

I've tried to use about every kind of harmonica holder in the past 30+ years, but this one is the only one that has worked for me. I can actually get a lot of the licks and bends using it that I can get holding the harp by hand.

http://www.harplock.com/

[TRW1]

That looks like a great option, I'll have to check one out. Does it work well with other than SM58 mics? It would be awesome to not have the rack pulling my hair or sliding around on my neck. There is no worse feeling than needing your harmonica during a song and feeling it slip slowly away from you as the screws on the rack lose tension. This looks like a good solution.

Again, sorry for the hijack.

[ship of fools]

while playing harp is a ton of fun along with learning new songs and Neil has a great collection of songs to play with along with Bob Dylan has some great tunes to practice with.
But putting the two together well that takes some work. Timing is everything and its not something you are going to learn in a few months its going to take some serious time to get it right.
But once you do it makes it all worth while. I myself have never used a harplock but I have used an old fashion neck worn because that was what was available at the time.

[terrypl]

Originally Posted by TRW1

Cross harp is a blast, it makes you sound like you're a much better player than you actually may be.

I'm still in the self-taught learning phase, and find that playing straight harp feels way more intuitive, while cross harp feels elusive. Any advice on getting a handle on cross harp? (I know which key harp to use, just don't have an instinctive feel for it.)

[rgregg48]

"Any harmonica players here?"

Gee , i sure hope not!

[Goat Mick]

Originally Posted by TRW1

That looks like a great option, I'll have to check one out. Does it work well with other than SM58 mics? It would be awesome to not have the rack pulling my hair or sliding around on my neck. There is no worse feeling than needing your harmonica during a song and feeling it slip slowly away from you as the screws on the rack lose tension. This looks like a good solution.

Again, sorry for the hijack.

It's worked with every mic I've tried it with that had a ball grill. I had a Sennheiser with a longer grill that it didn't work with.

[gibpicker]

Anyone know of simple you tube tutorials about learning single note separation? I can twist/bend the reeds to sound like I know what i'm doing and most would think I play well, but if you can't play clean separate notes in and out consistently, it's really sloppy playing.