Harmonica Questions?

Tauriq

Hey had a harmonica when I was 6 and needless to say it was the thing that made funny sounds. 9 years down the line its in some long forgotten place and I actually want to learn to play.

How much for a standard harmonica? Nothing special just something to test out.

If it exists is there anywhere in the Cape Town area that offers lessons?

nick

I bought a Hohner Blues Harp for around R150, think they range from about R80-R??? depending on what you are looking for.

remember you need to buy one in the key that you wish to play so essentially you'd need an arsenal of them ?

as for lessons, no clue unfortunately

FatBoy

Greg Smith of The Boulevard Blues Band offers lessons, I found him on facebook a while back and he said he does. Try a search and ask the man, I want to go at some stage this year as well.

FatBoy

We discussed harps in this thread as well.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/your-gear/in-the-beginning/msg4122/#msg4122

Tauriq

Thanks for the speedy reply. I heard somewhere you can start out with a harp in the key of C and expand once you get more serious. Is there truth to this?

Thanks for the speedy replies.

LMinnie

Hey Tauriq

Theres a place in Paarden Eiland called Bert Kostner Percussion..

I bought a book-dvd-Harmonica combo pack for R150,I had never played a harmonica before that and within 2 hours i could hold a tune..

Give them a bash .

Bob-Dubery

Tauriq wrote: Thanks for the speedy reply. I heard somewhere you can start out with a harp in the key of C and expand once you get more serious. Is there truth to this?

The standard blues harmonica is available in several keys. Depending on what you want to play a harmonica in a single key may be useful in more than one key. If you were playing blues for example, a C harp would work in A.

There are also chromatic harmonicas - one harp, play in any key. These have a slide on the side. They're probably not very "rock 'n roll", but I think they're pretty cool. Stevie Wonder plays a chromatic harp, and I think that out of all the things he does the harp is what he does best. Larry Adler was (is?) a masterful player. He plays the solo on Sting's "The Shape Of My Heart", and it's a marvellous example of lovely tone and also, which applies to most instruments, making use of the spaces between the notes and not just the notes.

Heath

Harps are fairly inexpensive , i think i paid 180 for my suzuki blues band in the key of c , also get the book complete idiots guide to playing the harmonica , really good book , funny as hell so it's an easy read , and covers everything from the basics to the really funky stuff with a cd of examples , after a few hours reading the book i was playing some basic tunes . Harp is an easy instrument to learn and a helluva lot of fun , but a bitch to master.

Nitebob

Sorry to dredge up a very old thread...but I saw a harmonica giving the full range of keys, by "in the right key" do you mean octave. Because if it ranges from C to B...am I missing something. Considering getting one to do some filling on my compositions...

AlanRatcliffe

Nitebob wrote: Sorry to dredge up a very old thread...but I saw a harmonica giving the full range of keys, by "in the right key" do you mean octave. Because if it ranges from C to B...am I missing something. Considering getting one to do some filling on my compositions...

Most harmonicas (and specifically the blues/folk harps) are diatonic - i.e. they are tuned to the notes of the major scale in a specific key. So you need the right one for the key you are playing. Also if you are playing in a minor key, you need the harp that is tuned to the relative major key (so if you are playing in Am, you would use a C harp).

You do get chromatic harmonicas (characterised by the button on the side that changes the note being played), but they are a lot more difficult to play and there aren't many who use them.

deefstes

Nitebob wrote: Sorry to dredge up a very old thread...but I saw a harmonica giving the full range of keys, by "in the right key" do you mean octave. Because if it ranges from C to B...am I missing something. Considering getting one to do some filling on my compositions...

Nitebob, there are essentially two types of harmonicas, diatonic harmonicas and chromatic harmonicas.

The most common ones you'd see are all diatonic which means they are tuned to a certain key. And no, that has nothing to do with "octave". If a harmonica is tuned to the key of C it means you can only play notes that fall within the key of C (in other words no sharps or flats). So no matter how hard you try, you won't get a D# note out of that harmonica, it doesn't exist. Another harmonica might be an E harmonica in which case the only notes that you can play on it are E, F#, G#, A, B, C# and D#.

A chromatic harmonica has a sliding plate along the mouthpiece which can assume one of two positions. There's a button on the side of the harmonica with which you can adjust the position of the plate. The plate redirects the air that you blow (or inhale) through a different channel with a different pitch reed. With these you can play any note in the chromatic scale. I've never actually played one of these so I don't know exactly how the notes are adjusted. Soemone else can correct me if I'm wrong but Im half expecting that the harmonica will be tuned in C and then any one note can be raised by a half tone by pressing the button.

Another comment in which I might be wrong so anyone else, feel free to correct me, but I would imagine one would be better off to start out by trying to master a diatonic harmonica before trying to master the chromatic harmonica.

Now a question from my side, what do you guys mean by a "blues harp". Is there a difference between a blues harmonica and any other diatonic harmonica?

Nitebob

Sounds difficult to play.... :-\

Nitebob

Right...now I am confused... The one Hohner harmonica (think it is the 509?) has a range from C to B, including sharps. This means it is only minors, 7th's etcetera that cannot be played. Which sounds fine to me, because neither can a bass(?) I might be wrong though. My knowledge about bass does not extend past FL Studio. So for a filler, or some kind of solo, I shouldn't be too concerned?...

AlanRatcliffe

Nitebob wrote: Right...now I am confused... The one Hohner harmonica (think it is the 509?) has a range from C to B, including sharps. This means it is only minors, 7th's etcetera that cannot be played.

Let me see if I can explain this (I'm not a teacher and my own theory grasp is tenuous at best, but I'll try anyway). Don't confuse chords and scales. The chords in a key are built using the notes of the scale. So if you are in the key of C, all the notes found in the chords in the sequence will be found in the C major scale.

The Key of a diatonic harmonica (C, G, F, etc.) is the root note of the scale it is tuned to (which, once again, includes all the notes played in the chords within that scale). So if you are playing in the key of C (e.g. using the chords C, F and G7), you will use a C harmonica and none of the notes will be wrong).

Minor keys have a relative major key (and vice versa), which have exactly the same notes (so the A minor scale has exactly the same notes as the C major scale). So if you need to play in the key of Am, you will use a C harmonica. The simplest way to work out your relative major is that it will always be three semitones higher than the minor. So for instance the relative major for E minor, you will be G and the relative major for G minor will be A#/Bb.

deefstes

Nitebob wrote: Right...now I am confused... The one Hohner harmonica (think it is the 509?) has a range from C to B, including sharps. This means it is only minors, 7th's etcetera that cannot be played. Which sounds fine to me, because neither can a bass(?) I might be wrong though. My knowledge about bass does not extend past FL Studio. So for a filler, or some kind of solo, I shouldn't be too concerned?...

What Alan said, and also:

You say your harmonica has a range from C to B, including sharps. Are you very sure about this? Are you saying that you can play on your harmonica the following sequence:
C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B - all 12 notes in one octave?

If that is the case then you have a harmonica unlike any type I know of and also then yes, you can indeed play minors and 7ths. In fact, if that is the case, there is no scale you cannot play.

But make sure you understand what Alan wrote because it appears that you are mixing the concept of chords and notes somewhat.

As a matter of interest, I've tried finding out what the difference between a blues harp and a diatonic harmonica is and found this Wikipedia article. I still haven't found my answer but it does appear that a "blues harp" is the most common type of harmonica and, if you have a fairly straight forward run of the mill Hohner, I would guess this article describes your harmonica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_harp

What you'd need to figure out first of all is in which key your harmonica is. If you're saying it has a range of C to B, chances are it's in the key of C but just make very sure that it does indeed span from C to B as that sounds a bit suspect to me.

If you have a blues harp in the key of C, this is what the notes on it would be: (image taken from the above quoted article)

The harmonica has ten holes and in each of the holes you get the top note if you blow and the bottom note if you inhale.

Ray

Maybe a chromatic harmonica.

Nitebob

Sorry guys... I feel generously sheepish now... I see there is a couple of sharps missing...

http://www.orangemusic.co.za/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=a944de5beba0673262f30acfc6445e44&keyword=harmonica

Bob-Dubery

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter-tuned_harmonica

GoeieGenugtig

Tauriq wrote: Hey had a harmonica when I was 6 and needless to say it was the thing that made funny sounds. 9 years down the line its in some long forgotten place and I actually want to learn to play.

How much for a standard harmonica? Nothing special just something to test out.

If it exists is there anywhere in the Cape Town area that offers lessons?

The approx price of a Hohner silver start +- R130. I would go this route if you are still unsure whether you want to play it.

Currently I play with Hohner Pro Harp +- R350 each. The difference is really significant, especially when doing bends. It is really hard getting the right pitch with a silver star

What style of harmonica do you intend to play? If you just play straight harp, i.e. band plays in C or Am then you use C harmonica. If you want to play blues licks then you would use F harmonica and play it from the second position for blues in C (fifth down).

I used Steve Williams "Simply Harmonica" book and DVD aprrox R150. Exellent for blues playing. I learned all the bends and other techniques in two weeks of hard practice. You don't have to worry about minor and major tunings as in blues it is common to have minor licks over major chords and vice verse.

If you bend well you can get any chromatic note from a diatonic harmonica, but it is not easy. You can bend to A# A and G# from the third hole, but it is quite hard to master.

If you go the DVD route, get a harominca in the same key, it is easier to know when your technique is good and you pitch is correct. C is common for starting, but unfortunately the blues key is G.

Nitebob

Had to put some harmonica in a song last night, but since I cannot play it yet, I played it on the keyboard and added a tremolo effect. Sounded quite good... ?