Harmonica For Dummies

Winslow Yerxa is a widely known and admired harmonica player, teacher, lecturer, and author. He has written, produced, and starred in many harmonica books and video projects. He provides private harmonica instruction both online and in person in the San Francisco Bay area. He also offers classes, interviews, and lectures via the Harmonica Collective.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 4Part 1: Getting Started with Harmonica 7Chapter 1: What Is This Thing Called Harp? 9Considering the Harmonica’s Coolness 9Becoming the Next Harmonica Idol: What It Takes to Play 11A harmonica 11A little music know-how 11Your body 12Regular practice — and unstructured fun! 12Taking Your Talent to the Next Level 13Hanging Out in the Harmonica Village 14Sharing your music with others locally 14Visiting the repair shop and the accessory store 14Chapter 2: Becoming a Harmonica Owner 17Shopping for Your First Harmonica 18Understanding the construction of the ten-hole diatonic 18Tuning in to the key of the harp 19Starting out with a harp in the key of C 19Pricing a harmonica 20Determining where to buy a harp 20Safe and Sound: Caring for Your Harp 21Collecting Additional Diatonic Harps 23Purchasing popular keys 24Expanding your range with harps in high and low keys 24Adding Variety to Your Harmonica Kit 25Chromatic harps 25Tremolo and octave harmonicas 27Making Your Harps Portable with Carrying Cases 28Getting to Know You: Discovering How a Harmonica Works 29Making a five-layer tin sandwich 29Taking a closer look at the reeds that make the sound 30Locating different notes 31Chapter 3: Making Your First Harmonica Sounds 33Preparing to Play the Harmonica 33Picking up the harp 34Putting the harp in your mouth 34Breathing through the harp 35Moving through the holes 35Getting Acquainted with Some Musical Concepts 36Zeroing in on harmonica tab 36Counting with musical time 36Locking in with the beat 37Using beats as building blocks 39Developing Your Sound 44Expanding and sustaining your breathing 44Cupping the harp in your hands 47Nestling the harmonica in your mouth 50Playing some cool rhythms 50Chapter 4: Relating to Notes, Scales, and Chords 55Getting in Tune with the Singable Notes 56Understanding the curious phenomenon of octaves 56Naming the notes and creating a scale 57Using octaves to name all the notes 57Altering pitches with sharps and flats 58Measuring small distances with semitones and whole tones 59Sizing Up Intervals 60Counting out the size of an interval 60Determining the quality of an interval 61Finding the Key of a Song 62Stepping Through Scales 63Diatonic and chromatic scales 63Major and minor scales 64Modal scales 66Altering a scale with sharps and flats 66The Building Blocks of Chords 67Four basic types of chords 68Adding notes to basic triads 68Chord progressions 69Writing Notes Down 70Placing notes on a staff 70Writing sharps and flats on the staff 72Unlocking key signatures 72Finding harmonica notes on the staff 73Part 2: Starting to Make Some Music 75Chapter 5: I Hear a Melody: Playing Single Notes 77Shaping Your Mouth to Single Out a Note 78Forming the pucker embouchure 78Producing a tongue-block embouchure 80The Elements of Motion: Moving from One Note to the Next 81Exploring breath changes 82Finding your way with hole changes 83Alternating breath changes and hole changes 85Coordinating simultaneous hole changes and breath changes 86Exploring the Three Registers of the Harmonica 87Playing Familiar Tunes in the Middle Register 88“Good Night, Ladies” 89“Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” 89“Mary Had a Little Lamb” 90“Amazing Grace” 91Making Your First Multi-Hole Leaps 92“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” 92“Frère Jacques” 92“On Top of Old Smokey” 94Shifting up from the Middle 95“Bunessan” (“Morning Has Broken”) 95“Joy to the World” 96Floating in the High Register 97“Aura Lea” (“Love Me Tender”) 98“She’ll Be Comin’ ’Round the Mountain” 99“Silent Night” 100Chapter 6: Shaping Your Sound 103Enlarging Your Sound with Projection 104Using your air column 104Enriching your sound with the smooth swimming exercise 104Increasing airflow through the reeds 106Varying your volume with dynamics 109Projecting with your hands 110Starting and Ending Notes with Articulation 112Starting notes with your tongue 113Using your throat to articulate notes 115Initiating a note with your diaphragm 116Shaping the Tone Color of Your Notes 118Changing vowel sounds with your tongue 118Brightening and darkening your sound using your hands 119Slowly changing the sound 119Combining hand and tongue vowels 120Pulsating Your Notes with Vibrato 120Diaphragm vibrato 121Throat vibrato 122Tongue vibrato 123Hand vibrato 123Synchronizing and layering pulsation 124Chapter 7: Enhancing Your Sound with Your Tongue on the Harp 127Using Your Tongue to Combine Chords and Melodies 128Knowing the chords on your harp 128Accompanying melodies with chords 129Chasing the beat with a chord 131Reinforcing Melody Notes with Your Tongue 132Applying the tongue slap 133Popping chords with pull-offs 133Creating Chord Textures with Your Tongue 135Alternating tongue placements to produce the chord rake 136Lifting and replacing your tongue to play a chord hammer 137Rapidly alternating widely spaced notes with the shimmer 138Combining Widely Spaced Notes with Splits 139Sticking with a locked split 139Inching along with variable splits 140Playing Quick and Wide Leaps with Corner Switching 145Chapter 8: Bending Notes 149Knowing the What and the Why of Bending 150What is bending? 150Why bend notes? 151Getting Started with Bending Notes Down 151Exploring the roof of your mouth 152Making some helpful noises 153Creating your bend activator with the K-spot 154Playing your first bend 156If at first you don’t succeed: Practicing persistence 158Deepening Your Skills at Bending Notes Down 159Surveying the bendable notes 159Working through the four stages of bending control 162Bending draw notes down in the middle register 163Bending draw notes down in the heart of the harp — the low register 165Bending blow notes down in the high register 170Bending on Different Types of Harmonicas 174Chromatic harps 174Double reed harps 175Chapter 9: Positions: Playing One Harp in Many Keys 177Understanding How Positions Help Your Playing 177Figuring Out a Position 179Relating Positions, Modes, and Avoid Notes 181Rocking with Six Popular Positions 182First position (C on a C-harp) 183Second position (G on a C-harp) 185Third position (D on a C-harp) 188Fourth position (A on a C-harp) 190Fifth position (E on a C-harp) 193Twelfth position (F on a C-harp) 195Part 3: Growing Beyond the Basics 199Chapter 10: Fancy Playing: Developing Flair and Speed 201Mastering Melody from the Ground Up 202Seeing the scale 203Recognizing scale patterns 204Anchoring melodies on chord notes 209Simplifying the scale to five notes 211Adding Ornaments to the Melody 214Shakes 214Rips, boings, and fall-offs 215Grace notes 215Developing Your Speed 216Start slow and know each individual move 216Learn in small chunks 217Speed it up — slowly 217Think and play in larger units 217Chapter 11: Mastering New Songs 219Understanding How Songs Work 219The container: Structuring time 219The shifting backdrop: Chord changes 221The foreground: Melody 221Choosing the Right Harp 222What are the notes in the scale? 222What are the notes in the chords? 223Making It Up versus Playing It Straight 225Learning melodies 225Jamming on a tune 226Trial and Error: Playing Along with Random Music 227Chapter 12: Behind the Hidden Treasure: Bending Notes Up 229Considering the Coolness of Overbends 230Playing more licks, riffs, and scales 230Playing in more keys 231Exploring the Things to Know Before You Start 232How to choose a suitable harmonica 232Determining which notes overblow and overdraw 232Preparing your mind, body, and ears 235Getting Your First Overblows 236The push-through approach 236The springboard approach 238Achieving More Overblows 239Getting Your First Overdraws 239Raising the Pitch of an Overbend 241Playing overbends in tune 241Bending overbends up241Blending Overbends into Your Playing 242Strengthening your overbend approaches 242Smoothing your follow-ons 244Part 4: Developing Your Style 245Chapter 13: Rockin’ and Bluesin’ 247Getting Hip to the Blues/Rock Approach 248The Three Basic Chords of Rock-and-Roll, Blues, and Nearly Everything 249The Three Popular Harmonica Positions 249Relating positions to chords and scales 250Second position and the three basic chords 250First position 251Third position 251Playing Sweet Melodies in First Position 252“Kickin’ Along” 252“Youngish Minor” 253“Morning Boots” 254The 12 Bars of Blues 255Making a statement: Tell it, brother! 255Fitting the notes to the chords 256Exploring 12-Bar Blues with Second Position 257“Ridin’ the Changes” 257Driving the rhythm with “Lucky Chuck” 258“Buster’s Boogie” 259Adding Minor Chords to a Progression: “Smoldering Embers” 261Adding the Flat III and Flat VII Chords: “John and John” 263Burning in Third Position: “Tom Tom” 264Chapter 14: Expressing Yourself with Some Folk and Gospel Melodies 267Sampling Some First-Position Songs 268“Buffalo Gals” 268“Wildwood Flower” 269“La Cucaracha” 270Getting Acquainted with a Few Second-Position Songs 271“Since I Laid My Burden Down” 272“Cluck Old Hen” 273“Aura Lea” in second position 273“This Train (Is Bound for Glory)” 274Inhaling Some Third-Position Melodies 276“Little Brown Island in the Sea” 277“She’s Like the Swallow” 278Exploring Folk Songs in Twelfth, Fourth, and Fifth Positions 279“À la claire fontaine” in twelfth position 279“The Huron Carol” in fourth position 280“Poor Wayfaring Stranger” in fifth position 281Chapter 15: Fiddlin’ the Night Away with Traditional Dance Tunes 283Choosing Harps for Playing Folk and Celtic Music 284The tremolo harmonica 284The chromatic harmonica 285Playing Fast Fiddle Tunes 285Trying Out Some First-Position Tunes 286“Jerry the Rigger” 286“Soldier’s Joy” 287“The Stool of Repentance” 289Energizing Some Tunes in Second Position 290“Over the Waterfall” 290“Angeline the Baker” 292“Bat Wing Leather” 294Feeling the Excitement of Third-Position Tunes 295“Dorian Jig” 295“The Dire Clog” 295Part 5: Taking It to the World 299Chapter 16: Putting It All Together — Your Tunes, Your Band, Your Listeners 301Putting Your Tunes Together 302Selecting tunes for the harmonica 302Making it your own: Arranging a tune 304Adding vocals to your tunes 306Making Music with Others 306Setting some ground rules when you play with others 306Knowing when to lay out 308Playing in a duo 308Jamming with a band 309Strutting Your Stuff Onstage 310Looking good, feeling good 310Preparing for an onstage performance 310Overcoming stage fright 311Recovering from mistakes 312Taking center stage: Soloing 312Chapter 17: Amplifying Your Sound 313Getting Acquainted with Amplification Basics 314Playing through a Microphone for the First Time 314Playing into a microphone on a stand 315Playing with a microphone cupped in your hands 316Hearing yourself through the chaos 317Avoiding the dreaded howl of feedback 318Taking Amplification to the Next Level: Clean and Distorted Amplified Sound 319Getting better acquainted with microphones 319Altering a harp’s sound with effects 321Cranking it up with amplifiers, preamps, and speakers 322Connecting Mics, Amplifiers, and Effects Units 324Chapter 18: Improving Your Harmonica with Repairs and Upgrades 327Gathering the Tools You Need 328Following Good Repair Practices 329Making Three Simple Improvements 330Disassembling and reassembling a harp 330Flexing the reeds 331Smoothing sharp edges and corners 332Diagnosing and Fixing Problems 332Taking a harp apart and putting it back together 334Clearing obstructions from your harp 336Fixing reeds that are misaligned 337Narrowing reed slots 337Setting reed action 338Tuning your harmonica 342Part 6: The Part of Tens 347Chapter 19: Ten (Or More) Ways to Connect in the Harmonica World 349Take Lessons from a Pro 349Enjoy Harmonica Performances 350Seek Out Musical Events That Don’t Focus on Harmonica 350Let Loose at Jam Sessions and Open Mic Nights 350Contribute to Harmonica Discussion Groups Online 351Surf Informational Websites 352Use Paid Content Learning Sites 353Join a Harmonica Club 354Share Your Enthusiasm at Harmonica Festivals 354Sign Up for a Harmonica Seminar 355Advertise 356Chapter 20: Way More Than Ten Harmonica Albums You Should Hear 357Blues 358Rock 359Bluegrass/Old-Timey 360Celtic 360Country 361Gospel 362Jazz 362Part 7: Appendixes 365Appendix A: Tuning Layouts for All Keys 367Appendix B: Audio Tracks and Video Clips 373The Audio Tracks 373The Video Clips 380Customer Care 381Index 383