How to Begin Playing Harmonica

How Do I get Started?

Don't spend a lot of time worrying over which harmonica to buy. As long as you select a diatonic harmonica from a reputable manufacturer you will be ok. We carry Hohner and Lee Oskar and have found that both of these manufactures build excellent harmonicas. I would suggest that you avoid "cheap" harmonicas (this includes the $5-$10 wonders you find in discount stores). A very good diatonic harmonica is not expensive ($20-$40) and the difference in price from a cheap harmonica is well worth the money.

Beginners should start with a diatonic harmonica in the key of "C" major. Most beginning harmonica instruction books are written in the key of "C". Diatonic harmonicas are relatively inexpensive and they allow you to develop your playing technique, breath control, and sound variations (vibrato, close/open hand, etc.) without worrying about hitting a button for sharps and flats. If you like playing the diatonic harmonica you can always try a chromatic instrument later. Much of the blues and rock harmonica you hear is played on diatonic harmonic and by far is the most popular and easiest to master.

You will also need to purchase an instruction book on beginning harmonica.There is a fairly large number of beginner books to choose from. Most of the ones seem OK, but I strongly suggest getting a book that comes with a CD or cassette so you can hear how the songs should sound.

Our music department has a good selection of instruction materials.All of the beginning harmonica books have something useful to teach, and different people will find different authors and approaches more (or less) helpful.

Which Harmonica Is Best??
The question "which is best" has no answer because no one harmonica is clearly and universally heralded as "the best". Harp players have their favorites and you will develop yours also. Overall a number of harmonicas qualify as equally good. See our selection of Harmonicas by clicking on this link Harmonicas

Hohner: Very good to Great Harmonicas

Diatonic: Select the "Marine Band" and avoid the "Pocket Pal" and the "Blues Harp". Both the "Pocket Pal" and Blues Harp" sound OK but neither match the great sound or "draw" quality of the "Marine Band". Supposedly the "Blues Harp" has thinner reeds and lends itself to better bends, butmost players don’t notice a big difference in the bending capabilities of the Blues Harp and the "Marine Band" sounds much better.
Chromatic: The Chromatics sounds great, plays easily, but you will have to learn to work with the key shift.

Lee Oskar: Excellent harps.
Oskars have a plastic body which you will find easier on your mouth (running up and down the harmonica on riffs) than wood.Oskars have a bright sound (tuned a notch up to441) accurate note tunings, and good volume. They have tight construction and seem to last a long time. Oskars have slightly wider holes with corresponding narrower "walls" between them than the Hohner.

NOTE: Don't get caught up in the "wood" versus "plastic" harmonica body discussion. At a beginner to intermediate level, both wood and plastic bodies play equally well and sound equally good. If you develop into a professional level player, and can push the limits of the instrument, then evaluate the subtle differences in sound and timbre.

Do You need to Know How to Read Music??
Good News!!! You don't absolutely have to know how to read music to learn to play the harmonica. This miracle of modern music training is made possible thru a technique called "Harmonica Tablature". Harmonica Tablature uses a numbering scheme of one number for each hole on the harmonica, and either arrows (up and down) or plus/minus ("+" or "-") signs next to the numbers.....or circles (around the number), to indicate whether that hole on the harmonica is "blow" or "draw". Each number relates to a specific hole on the harmonica and each hole plays specific notes on the musical scale....so if you can't read music you can just read the numbers.

The C Major Diatonic Harmonica has 10 holes....each hole plays two notes, one note when you "blow" and a different note when you "draw" (draw means to suck in air).

(Example: Hole #4 plays the note of "C" on blow...and the next note up the scale which is "d" on draw)

Some tablature methods use +4 and 4 (instead of up/down arrows) to illustrate blow and draw. Other methods use 4 and -4 to illustrate blow and draw. One harmonica tablature method uses a circle around the number. No matter which method is used....all harmonica tablatures work in a similar fashion. After seeing a few harmonica tablatures you will feel right at home with them. Most all beginning harmonica books use some variation of harmonica tablature.

The sheer number of beginning harmonica books and songs in each book should keep you busy for quite a while before you reach the point of wanting to (or being able to) play stuff that isn't written in harmonica tablature.

Having just said that you can learn to play without knowing anything about music notation, let’s consider the obvious that playing the harmonica is music after all, and therefore knowing something about music notation (notes, rests, beat, tempo, etc.) will come in pretty handy. You don't need to become music major, but understanding a few musical basics will prove immensely helpful.

Music Basics You Should Learn

Understand how to count the beat for each song
Determine how long each note is held (eight/quarter/half/whole notes)
Figure out the tempo (how fast or slow the song goes)
Understand the concepts of "rests" and "tie notes"...and how they are counted

It is much less important to be able to "sight read" the musical notes and determine solely from the music staff which note equates to which hole (blow/draw) on the harmonica. You can rely on the Harmonica Tablature numbers for that. You will however, either need to understand enough musical basics to figure out tempo, rhythm, etc.......or have a recording of the song so you know how it sounds. (Now you see why having a harmonica instruction books with a cassette or CD is very important and helpful). Eventually you will reach a point in your harmonica playing where you will need and want to know more about music.

Good luck in adventure of learning to play the Harmonica