Hi Guys, welcome to our Music Space blog post for the week! Today we had Peter Gelling in the studio, one of our very own writers and an incredibly multi-talented musician. He talked about his love for the harmonica, and different sounds of harmonicas – along with some great practicing tips! Let’s recap on the episode topics now.

The Harmonica

Each harmonica is tuned to a different key, with a certain number of notes available to it. In this episode of Music Space Peter brought in his 10 hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C. You have 2 sets of notes on the harmonica which relate to each other, called the tonic and dominant notes. Through these you can find all the notes that you need to play in 4 different keys on the one harmonica.

As an example, let’s take the harmonica tuned to C. The dominant key (or the 1st position) of this harmonica is C, G is second, Dm is third and Am is fourth. In each of these keys you have to play certain notes (whilst avoiding others) to make sure that none of the notes clash with each other, especially when playing with other musicians.

Methods for Practicing the Harmonica

When learning an instrument it’s important to set goals for yourself. Start with a long term goal, which you can break down into shorter term goals and finally break these down into tasks to achieve those goals. Base your course of study around these goals, ask yourself “where do I want to get to?” and “how am I going to get there?” This studious habit, however important, is only 50% of what is required when learning.

The other 50% of learning is to actually play. Shut off your thinking and analysis of every technique you have been learning and just play. Listen to what you are playing and who you are playing with; going by sound rather than thought. Playing, expressing and communicating is vital, if you don’t do this then you won’t develop as a musician. It’s just like speaking, if you don’t practice speaking then you won’t improve at it no matter how much you study the theory.

Listening is also important when approaching how to learn new songs as a beginner. Listen to the song, find out what key it is in and what techniques are involved to learn it. Then hum or sing the song to keep it fresh in your mind. Strengthening the memory link between listening and playing. This approach to learning a song can be used with any instrument, the aural side of music never changes from instrument to instrument.

What Harmonica Should I Buy as a Beginner?

It doesn’t matter what key you play in when you play on your own, but when playing with other musicians you will require a harmonica in a key that they feel comfortable with. Most beginner harmonica books come with audio and/or video recordings in the key of C. This is because harmonicas in the key of C have no accidentals (sharps or flats). When beginning, it is recommended to purchase a 10 hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C, along with an instructional book that teaches in the key of C. Don’t forget to always listen and imitate when you first start learning.

Different Sounds Of Harmonicas

The harmonica is capable of producing both notes and chords. A note is the sound produced by inhaling or exhaling on any one hole of the harmonica. A chord is a combination of three or more notes played together. In some situations it is desirable to play two notes together. This is called a double stop. Each of these possibilities requires a different technique to produce the correct sound. The easiest thing to play on the harmonica to begin with is a chord.

The harmonica is a very vocal instrument, many of the sounds you make can be influenced by your own vocal chords. Some popular sounds include the train (which you can hear in the video at 16:00), and the chicken (which you can hear in the video at 19:38).

You can also create variations on sounds using bends and vibrato.

How to Bend a Note on the Harmonica

You can bend a note on the harmonica when you are breathing in or breathing out, however it is easier to do so whilst inhaling. Whilst playing a note, use the back of the tongue and pull it up and back. As you would when you say “Your” or “Yo”! (See the video at 19:53 for an audio display of this technique).

How to Play Vibrato on the Harmonica

Hand vibrato or “wah wah” is an effect which is used to add expression to harmonica playing. If you have ever seen a good harmonica player, it is likely that you have seen them using this technique. To somebody watching, it looks like the player is waving or fluttering one hand back and forth while holding the harmonica with the other. The hand vibrato alters the flow of air through the harmonica, thus altering the sound. When playing the hand vibrato, the right hand is moving between two basic positions. The first is formed by cupping the right hand around the left in its normal holding position, as shown in the photo on the left below. The heels of both hands should be touching and the right hand fingers should curl up along the left hand little finger and around and upwards past the end of the left hand little finger and ring finger. This position results in the air being closed off by the two hands.

Harmonica Hand Position for Vibrato, Front View Harmonica Hand Position for Vibrato, Back View

To complete the movement for the hand vibrato, the right wrist is swivelled slightly around to the right. This results in the “cup” being opened up and allowing air through. The wrist can then be swivelled back to the left to close the cup again. It is this movement back and forth that causes the vibrato or wah wah effect to sound. (See the video at 20:36 for an audio display of this technique).

We hope you enjoyed this blog post and this episode of Music Space! We’ll finish off this post with an interesting little fact. Did you know that most dogs love to howl along with the harmonica? Check out this track that Peter Gelling produced, featuring the vocals of a very talented canine.

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Like the track? Check out the album.

About Peter Gelling

Peter Gelling is an Adelaide based musician, composer and author. While he is best known as a bluesman, he is classically trained and his talents extend to many genres. Peter is the author of many music instructions published worldwide by LearnToPlayMusic.com. You can continue learning with Peter Gelling, using his very own Learn To Play Music Book: Progressive Beginner Harmonica or Progressive Beginner Blues Harmonica.

– Continue learning with Learn To Play Music at LearnToPlayMusic.com