Harmonica tips?

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:06 pm

So in order to hold me over until I can buy some other instruments I really want (drums/bass) I went out and bought a harmonica and a tambourine today. Anyone have any tips for playing harmonica? How to hold it in your mouth, using tongue or not for single notes?

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:27 pm

http://www.google.com

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:56 pm

blue wrote:www.google.com

BRILLIANT!!! Why, we don't even need a Help and How To forum!

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:02 pm

Put it in your mouth, numbers up. Blow/suck. If the note squeals/has a weird metallic ring, loosen your throat and blow/suck less forcefully.

Seriously, dude, just play the damned thing for a while, and ask questions after you hit a wall.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:07 pm

you're not looking for tips, nor do you have a problem. your query is easily addressed by 30 seconds with google - it is not an esoteric issue specific or even really related to songfighting.

you might as well have posted "how do i play guitar" or "what is music" or "where can i find the internet?"

a useful thread would be "i have tried to play harmonica but i'm having problems with pitch" or "how do i get this particular sound?" or, even better "i have tried X, Y, and Z to get a good recorded harmonica sound, but i am really wanting the sound that artist X got on album Y. how did they do that and what am i doing wrong? here is an mp3 of what my current best effort sounds like and here is a link to an mp3 of the sound i would like to achieve."

if you are desperate for interaction, try IRC.

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:19 pm

Listen to good harmonica players. Go to your local blues club and watch what the good guys do, then go home and try to emulate their licks. Do NOT bring your harmonica into the club and try to play along. They hate that.

what kind of music are you wanting to play? What instruments are you wanting to play along with?

For blues style playing, you'll be pulling rather than blowing for your main key, so you'll be based in the fifth up from whatever key harmonica you have. For example, if you bought a 'c' harmonica, which you probably did, you'll be playing 'g' blues, because when you pull, it makes a big ugly g7 chord.

Going by that, you can generally select a harmonica based on what instruments you'll be playing with. If you're going to be playing blues with a guitarist, you want an 'a' harmonica, because every guitarist first learns to play the blues in 'E.' Get it?

Do you drive? Keep the harp in your car. Play whenever you drive (feel like a moron when you explain to the cops why you were speeding/running that stop sign/wrapped your car around a tree).

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:20 pm

KMS, here's an old thread you might find something useful in: http://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1172

Some of the links go to lessons.

Though the first line in Rabid's response is also a good way to learn. Or as Caravan Ray said more succinctly: Just blow in the bastard.

I still laugh at that.

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:03 pm

The first, immediate question I had is about blowing (or drawing) single notes. Is it better to block off the other holes with your tongue, or to blow it through a curved lower lip? If it's with the tongue, is it better to use the tip of the tongue or the width of the tongue?

Oh, and mine is a Hohner C.

I'm sorry I didn't start out with more specific questions. This is the first time since I was like 3 that I've put a harmonica in my mouth, so I have no real idea where to start. It's not like having a guitar where someone can say, here are 7 open chords, learn to play those and you'll be on your way.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:29 pm

kill_me_sarah wrote:It's not like having a guitar where someone can say, here are 7 open chords, learn to play those and you'll be on your way.

yes it is. please tell me you did bother to google. there are a hundred billion "how to play beginning harmonica" sites on the web.

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:35 pm

http://www.harmonicalessons.com/

http://www.volcano.net/~jackmearl/

http://www.harmonicacountry.com/

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/

...like those...

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:37 pm

if we keep changing his diapers, he'll never learn to poop in the pot.

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:07 pm

blue wrote:
kill_me_sarah wrote:It's not like having a guitar where someone can say, here are 7 open chords, learn to play those and you'll be on your way.
yes it is. please tell me you did bother to google. there are a hundred billion "how to play beginning harmonica" sites on the web.

You know you could, like, I dunno, not read this thread if it's bothering you so much. Are you just really determined to get past "dribble cup" or what?

a bebop a rebop · Post by **a bebop a rebop** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:12 pm

kill_me_sarah wrote:You know you could, like, I dunno, not read this thread if it's bothering you so much. Are you just really determined to get past "dribble cup" or what?

Taking into consideration your own post-per-day count, that's a pretty ridiculous hypothesis.

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:21 pm

a bebop a rebop wrote:
kill_me_sarah wrote:You know you could, like, I dunno, not read this thread if it's bothering you so much. Are you just really determined to get past "dribble cup" or what?
Taking into consideration your own post-per-day count, that's a pretty ridiculous hypothesis.

Thank you for venturing into my thread to make that astoundingly helpful comment.

Thanks to Leaf, deshead, rabid and sober for your helpful comments. Apologies to everyone else that I didn't pay for lessons before I posted a question here.

As a matter of fact, I did indeed research Google first, and what I found were varying answers to the questions I asked, which is why I thought I'd ask the opinions of my fellow songfighters. I didn't realize the purpose of a forum was to ask only questions you couldn't possibly find the answer to anywhere else.

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:24 pm

Leaf wrote:http://www.harmonicalessons.com/

Leaf, thiswas exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

bz£ · Post by **bz£** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:10 pm

kill_me_sarah wrote:As a matter of fact, I did indeed research Google first, and what I found were varying answers to the questions I asked, which is why I thought I'd ask the opinions of my fellow songfighters.

Yeah, but you didn't ask us for opinions. Your original question, as I'm sure you recall, was:

Anyone have any tips for playing harmonica? How to hold it in your mouth, using tongue or not for single notes?

And I suspect, if you stop and think about it for a moment, that you will realize that this sounds an awful lot like "I have no idea how to play this instrument, what should I do?" And, a few hours later, you say,

I have no real idea where to start

which seems to reinforce that idea.

You have to realize that this is a community of do-it-yourself-ers. Giving the impression that you didn't even try (whether you actually did or not) is not the most effective way to earn respect. It's also a community of smart-asses, and one of the best ways to minimize off-topic responses is to not get all angry every time someone posts something in "your" thread that you don't like. (It might also be helpful to not think of a relatively public forum as "yours.")

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:10 pm

...ironically, while your excessive posting does not bother me personally, (and dude, when I first arrived on the scene, I was no better, as my post count may atteste too) but two things should be considered:

1). do not judge contributions and value by post count.
2). Didn't you get that flash message board post link? ( I wish I had time to call it up but I'm running late for band practice).

Blue may be aserbic at times, but his point is totally valid. I googled that right after he said that...those were the first four links that came up.

Even still... you're ... a god, I can't call someone a ... you know. But still, you''re here to stay, that's obvious...so relax... chill into the scene abit.

Still, glad to google it for ya if it helped!

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:25 pm

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:27 pm

leaf wrote:Even still... you're ... a god

Wow, no one's every called me a god before

Well, not to drive this even further off topic but...

I realize that I could rely solely on Google searches to learn pretty much anything I ever wanted to know about anything. And I agree with blue on other things, so I'm not taking it as a personal affront. I guess I just don't really understand the good it does to tell someone, "go Google it". If the question is that much of a waste of your time, your time is only further wasted by leaving a comment like that. It's like stopping along the highway, walking up to someone struggling to change their tire and saying "you should read the manual" and then walking off. If you want to help change the tire, then help change the tire. Otherwise, just keep on driving.

Yes, I know absolutely nothing about this instrument. I bought it 5 hours ago. I just thought that someone else who had learned it might want to pop in and say "look when I started learning this, I did this wrong so don't do that" or "this was really helpful to me when I started". I wasn't looking for private lessons or anything, just a nudge in the right direction.

::steps off of soapbox::

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:41 pm

kill_me_sarah wrote:I just thought that someone else who had learned it might want to pop in and say "look when I started learning this, I did this wrong so don't do that" or "this was really helpful to me when I started".

Maybe googling was helpful to them.

Zing!

Get in IRC. It protects you from this kind of sillyness mainly because what's said there isn't permanent or quotable in the same way as ubb.

If you don't know how to get on IRC, I know for a fact there's a thread about it somewhere on the boards. Search function FTW!

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:45 pm

*Hoblit kicks soap box a couple of times..then picks it up and starts to rip it apart...then finally throws the torn parts and pieces in random directions.

Do0d... yeah..we get it

As the guy who finds himself the mediator in most situations..I can step back and see this from both sides.

The guy changing the tire doesn't need someone coming up to HIM to tell him to read the manual. Thats a terrible analogy. NOW, if the guy was flagging down every car until a few mechanics stopped in to see what he needed...then they realized he had the manual...then told him to read it...you'd be closer to whats going on here.

We're here for you. We'd like to share our experience with you. Not a problem. You're not wrong for asking. However, Blue is definitely on to something when he says to do some homework first.

Say I wanted to learn more theory. I can go hunt down Theory sites. Learn a scale or two.

BUT if I am struggling with scales afterwards..then I might come here and say..hey...do any of you have a method of playing scales that make it easier to remember certain keys?

This would be like... the guy changing his tire after looking at the manual...but the damn tire won't budge after trying to take it off. The manual clearly says to jack the car up...did that... states to remove lug nuts...did that.... damn tire wont' budge. So THEN I flag down a motorist for help. He suggests laying down behind the tire and kicking it a few times. HOLY CRAP...it works..the tire is jarred loose from the groove it was stuck on..tire comes off easily...then I proceed with the rest of the order of things.

Now...do you see? We aren't the manual... we are here to help with things that aren't so readily available in the manual. Your first post is asking for the manual. This is why Blue, as he is known to do, jumped all over you. Google has the manuals...we have personal experience

note: I loved his 'changing diaper never learn to poop in the pot' quip. Thats good stuff right there.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:05 pm

kill_me_sarah wrote:The first, immediate question I had is about blowing (or drawing) single notes. Is it better to block off the other holes with your tongue, or to blow it through a curved lower lip? If it's with the tongue, is it better to use the tip of the tongue or the width of the tongue?

Tongue blocking versus lip blocking (aka pucker) is really a matter of personal taste and dexterity. But there, now you've got some more terms to google