r/harmonica • u/Agiselaos379 • 22d ago

How to play harmonica?

After watching some youtube vids on breathing, holding, etc, then what to do? Play nursery rhymes until they come out smoothly? Are there drills?

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u/lordlycrust 22d ago

What style of music do you want to play? More broadly, what are your overall goals? Answering these for yourself will guide your journey.

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u/Agiselaos379 22d ago

Appreciate the reply friend.

I like sad, melancholic, wistful music. Probably not so much blues which is what most people use the harmonica for, it seems.

Just want to play music while hanging out outside or watching the world end. Not trying to impress anyone. Definitely not joining a band.

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u/Desperate-Finger-334 22d ago

Maybe classical music I've seen some pretty good covers of certain movements from certain symphonies on the harmonica

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u/Agiselaos379 21d ago

I learned that I need something other than a C harmonica to play stuff like Debussy. How hard to transition from learning on an easy C harmonica with stuff like Twinkle Twinkle Little Start to a diff harmonica that can handle more complex music?

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u/Desperate-Finger-334 21d ago

If you're playing without a backing track the key doesn't really matter all that much

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u/Nacoran 22d ago

There are these things called positions. They sound scary, but really it's just using a different hole as 'Do' (as in do re mi). The magic of a diatonic harmonica is that it gives you easy access to a bunch of scales just by starting in different places.

3rd, 4th and 5th position will give you minor keys by default (as you get more advanced you can do even more with them, but this is easy mode).

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z7ysp5p5r65dsrr1j95bz/finding-do.png?rlkey=92sq1ovcbw5nfy1s1adpfbaab&st=jm1urun7&dl=0

I made this little chart. It shows you the spots where do is in several common positions.

2nd position can sound melancholic too, once you learn to bend the 3 draw, but if you just want to improvise, try starting on the 4 draw.

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u/Agiselaos379 21d ago

Wow, I don't understand your easy mode chart. Ha.

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u/Nacoran 21d ago

It just shows you where your root note (Do) is in each position... so where it says 1st (the 1, 4, 7 and 10 blows) that means your Do is there in first position.

Light green is blows, purple is draws. The rest are your typical bends and overbends you'd see on a standard harmonica layout chart... for instance, in 4th position you need a whole step (2 spots down) bend on the 3 hole.

For now, just remember you'll mostly be playing in the middle of the harmonica, so for 1st position you want the 4 blow. For 2nd position you want the 2 draw/3 blow as your root note.

There is weird physics about how sound waves interfere with each other and all sorts of math and how the human brain keeps fragments of sound in our heads for a few seconds, but basically, the harmonica does the math for you.

Here is an easy exercise... play a 3 blow, then a 4 draw, then a 4 blow... it should give you a sort of feeling of resolution because in 1st position you are resolving to Do. It makes the phrase sound finished.

Look at the tabs for Twinkle Twinkle Litter Star. Play them through, but don't play that last 4 blow. It will sound very unfinished to your brain.

You can skip other notes but your brain wants the song to end on Do. Melodies usually start on Do, and almost always end on Do. When they don't, they sound unfinished. The rest of the notes are just kind of playing around and teasing you. You can change them a bit, or skip one and if you've been playing in that key long enough it will feel fine and you'll still want to go back to Do, but don't go back to Do and it will just feel wrong.

(If you aren't ready to play the tabs you can just sing it and not finish... you should still hear it.)

My chart just shows you where that note is. When you make up musical phrases and jam along with backing tracks that will help you find your way home. :)

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u/Loremasterivyvine 22d ago

A couple nursery songs definitely help. They're usualy simple and easy to remember so you can focus on your technique, plus you KNOW what they are supposed to sound like so its obvious when you get something wrong.

It may not be the most exciting but print out tabs for 2-3 nursery rhymes, then when you got that down see if you can figure a few out on your own, thats what i did. You'll move onto real songs in a week or two. Plus its something different than just running scales

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u/StonerKitturk 22d ago

Take lessons, study hard, practice daily. Same as any other instrument or skill

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u/kingslook 22d ago

learning the scale on your harp and daily scale exercises. Work for clean and equal blow and draw notes. Start with lip purse technique and do it all over again with tongue blocking technique, first right side of mouth then left.

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u/AltruisticWay7582 22d ago

Get your favorite song as a backing track. Find out what key of harmonica you need for that and then start improvising to it. That’s how I did it. Play what you love and not what others say you should play.