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I picked one up today. I love blues and country and I wanted to learn an instrument that isn't so taxing on my posture (I play the piano) - something i can just fiddle with while slouching around. so yeah, anybody play? If so, what tips have you got for a budding beginner?
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Jun 9, 2015 09:56
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:30 |
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I sort of casually play the harmonica, and as with everything else for me the most significant factor in learning was simply looking to some of my favorite harmonica riffs/licks and trying to figure them out bit by bit. For me that's lots of diatonic stuff by Beck (Mutations) and Led Zeppelin (I-IV). You'll notice that a lot of blues/rock type stuff is really imprecise, just broadly blowing/drawing 3-5 holes at a time. Still, precision is good to learn, so practice puckering your lips as to blow into only one hole. Youtube tutorials can help you with this. The other important thing is knowing when to breathe or when to draw. This is something that's mostly down to practice and just jamming out. I like playing with this one a lot to figure out breathing patterns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL6yb-6cO5s I have a cheap-end harmonica that makes bending a bit difficult compared to the nicer models, so I generally just kind of avoid it. snorch fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jun 14, 2015 |
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Jun 14, 2015 16:28
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yeah I've been doing scales over and over trying to hit just one note at a time, its frustrating because some days i can do it no problem and other days, out is fine but in makes a total racket. aLso it leaves me breathless. buuuut i'm definitely improving and i think I'll consistently make clean notes in a few weeks. Bending looks easy and sounds simple to do but I can't do it at all.  I've been practicing 'A whole new world' (the aladdin song), 'Greensleeves' and the solo for 'Out on the weekend'. when i listen to a lick i like it just sounds so complex.
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Jun 15, 2015 00:24
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I've been playing the Harmonica for a while now, although not as often lately because I've been in a pretty sound-sensitive situation. I never got great, but I have fun riffing, and know (knew) some songs. The most useful thing I can think of besides breathing and practicing, is there are a wealth of videos on youtube. I found Adam Gussow's stuff on there useful enough that I ended up paying for lessons (video file + pdf with tabs) on his site, but there's a bunch of free stuff out there from people, especially just to get the basics down. My one caution with youtube would be if there are multiple techniques for the same thing being said in different videos, pick one and just stick with it. Hopping around based on what one video or the next will slow you down a bunch. E: also any excuse to post this is a good excuse, I love this dude's stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp_RklNtFeg surc fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Jul 31, 2015 |
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Jul 31, 2015 06:36
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opus111 posted:Bending looks easy and sounds simple to do but I can't do it at all. Pick a single hole to draw from (you'll find that some will be easier than others). Imagine you just got served a fresh pint of beer, but it was a bad pour and came with 2 inches of head. Position your lips to sip (draw) from the harp (harmonica) as if you were trying to get the beer (air) from "down there".
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Sep 24, 2015 20:49
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Hey I play that harmonica. Or rather, I just started like a week ago. I can almost play Oh Susanna, poorly. Go Harmonica!
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Oct 6, 2015 15:40
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I do now, I just ordered one. I have a couple years of sax playing under my belt but gave it up years ago. I don't really have the cash for a sax lying around but I've been wanting to play some music for awhile.
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Nov 23, 2015 22:32
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I just bought a harmonic a few weeks ago. It came with a voucher for a free month at https://www.bluesharmonica.com which normally costs $17/18 a month. That's about the top end of what I'd be willing to pay, and I'm not sure I will subscribe once the month is over, but I've definitely learned a lot more through using the site than I would have just plugging away by myself.
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Nov 25, 2015 12:12
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mr.dandelion posted:I just bought a harmonic a few weeks ago. It came with a voucher for a free month at https://www.bluesharmonica.com which normally costs $17/18 a month. That's about the top end of what I'd be willing to pay, and I'm not sure I will subscribe once the month is over, but I've definitely learned a lot more through using the site than I would have just plugging away by myself. My $6 harmonica came with the same thing so maybe just keep ordering different harmonicas and signing up for the lessons 
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Nov 29, 2015 17:54
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 02:30 |
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I looked around a while to avoid bumping an old post, but it's relevant and there was no harmonica thread sooner I could find so here it is: Anyone here a real harmonica king and mind telling me the least amount of cash I need to spend to play this as closely as possible? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-X53ze5O0 Seems simple, but you'd be surprised how hard it is to find advice on it. http://www.slidemeister.com/forums/index.php?topic=737.55;wap2 This guy claims it's a Hohner 270, which I think is a 180 dollar chromatic. I found another thread with a guy online even more obsessed with harmonicas who says you'd definitely want to play it with a chromatic, but then he had three different theories on which key it was in, if I remember he said you could do the bending and the "double notes" properly in a G, F, or Bb. I remember very little about musical theory so I'm just going by what I've read. Finally getting to a point: Any advice on which chromatic can play those three notes as closely to the original as possible without spending $180, 100, or preferably under 50? I only want it for this one song, so if it can't play blues, rock or Irish folk music that's fine with me. Might just grab an $8 Chinese plastic comb harmonica, but since it's so simple as is I'd rather spend 30 or 50 or whatever the minimum is to get it right, bend the three notes, and play both at once, whatever the gently caress that means. Thanks!
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Sep 13, 2016 21:50
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