The harmonica is a versatile instrument that is easy and most of all is really fun to learn and play. It is commonly used in many music styles and genres like blues, rock, folk, country and even polka.
Many popular artists continue to prove how the harmonica can add layers of sound to their songs. From the Bob Dylan harmonica playing in his folk music days to the Billy Joel Piano Man harmonica solo to the Neil Young harmonica styling on many tunes including his classic hit Heart of Gold. The harmonica has left its mark in the hearts and memories of generations. Rock harmonica has been used by many bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the J. Geils Band.
Of course the blues and “blues harp” harmonica have influenced many modern music styles. Names like Howlin Wolf, Little Walter Jacobs and Muddy Waters are legends to many fans. Later Paul Butterfield and John Popper of the band Blues Traveler have carried on the art. Blues harmonica for beginners is exciting and fun to learn.
- Blues harp fans check out Blues Harmonica for Beginners book and CD.
The biggest reason why the harmonica is such a popular instrument is because it is just plain fun to play. Our goal on this site is to make harmonica for beginners easy and fun to learn. It doesn’t matter if you an experienced musician or if your just someone who always wanted to learn. Its easy! With a few basic tips and a little effort you can make some great sounds. Once you start and find that you can play music that sounds good you become hooked. Especially when you don’t need to spend hours studying and trying to learn music theory or how to read sheet music.
It doesn’t matter what your age. There are many programs for seniors that teach harmonica for its health affects including better breathing and cardio vascular health, decreasing snoring and sleep apnoea and it has even been used to help prevent depression.
It is a very easy instruments learn to play by ear. It has been said that Stevie Wonder learned to play harmonica when he was 5 years old then he went on to have a huge music career.
You can learn a familiar “lick” or “riff” or even a whole song without a lot of effort. With a little practice you can have friends others that hear you say things like “Wow, when I heard you playing I thought it was coming from the radio or a cd or something”.
Keep looking at this site for lots of great info to get started. Look at Choosing the Best Harmonica for Beginners and Basic Harmonica for beginners lessons. Also a great help is the book Ablsolute Beginners: Harmonica with lots of pics and a cd to follow along with.
Life is meant to be lived -Enjoy it!
Wayne
wanna learn beatles licks on harmonica. how? thanks billy
Billy,
Check out my blog on reading beginner harmonica tabs if you don’t know already and try the site:
http://www.harmonicacountry.com/beatles/index.html
The site has a lot of Beatles tabs without an extreme amount of adds.
I totally agree with you. The harmonica is very fun to play. But you should go further and learn in a playful way. Focus on enjoying the music on your harp, not in learning “techniques”