Playing along a harmonica

numri a C harmonica sounds good if your playing the blues but instead of blowing out you draw the air in and your brother playes in the key of G major using the chords G C D B Am and Em, if your just mostly blowing out use the chords C F G Am Dm and you can also use a E major,they also make chromatic harmonicas the ones with the button you push to change the notes 1/2 step up or down the word chromatic means half steps

The application of theory to the harmonica are addressed very well by a couple books by David Harp.  I mean, how can you not trust a guy named Harp on the subject of harmonicas?  Anyway, the first is a guitar case sized book called "Music Theory Made Easy", available from Amazon.  The second is "Instant Blues Harmonica"  - hint: it's not really instant. 

Anyway, both books are very useful for understanding how to apply the harmonica to both lead licks and backup.  He covers the difference between straight harp (which is played in the key of the harmonica) and cross harp (which is played in the fifth of the key of the harmonica).  He lays it out a little bit at a time, in easily digested chunks, and builds your knowledge much more quickly than you'd expect. 

Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty play mostly straight harp.  Sonny Terry, Huey Lewis, Bruce Willis (yeah THAT Bruce Willis) play mostly cross harp.  Neither is right, wrong, better, or harder.  I prefer straight harp for myself most of the time. 

Thanks for the reminder.  I need to pull out my books and brush up on my harmonica playing.  I've let it languish for a few years.  I've got a felt sack full of harmonicas that taste like Crown Royal and macanudos.  Time to clean them up and play them. 

- Zurf

Even the very, very best get the wrong key harmonica..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh44QPT1mPE

Quite amusing to start and then he performs one of the purest and best live performances I have aver seen!

I'd definitely go with a G harp to start. Heart of Gold is played with G harp(by Neil at least). I've tried 10 or so different brands and the Hohner Special 20 seems to be the easiest to play and lasts longer than any other brand, for me at least.
         Careful with this harmonica taste, it can lead to addiction and lots of $$$(haha).

       You'll also wanna get yourself a halo, or harmonica holder, so you can play guitar and harp together. I'm gonna recommend the Hohner halo. I've used less expensive halos but they wear out in no time. The Hohner halo usually costs around $15. I play almost every night and mine(halos) last me around 3-4 years, unless they get stepped on by some silly drunk guy(me! heha)

Peace and Guitars and Harmonicas,
SouthPaw41L

Chromatics allow you to play an entire scale, sharps and flats.  Diatonics miss a few.  Or maybe it's the other way around.  The kind with the button on the side let you play entire scales with sharps and flats, the kind without a button on the side don't.  You can "bend" notes to pick up a few flats.  That's an intermediate technique at which I am only spotty.  You kind of have to swallow the note to do it, which is as good of a description as I can give even though I expect that it's entirely worthless. 

The kind that don't have complete scales DO have complete "blues scales", which is what makes them popular for blues.  Especially those that are specifically keyed for the playing blues.   They're also useful for Country, because most country uses a pentatonic scale rather than a complete scale for riffing.  Rock mostly uses a pentatonic scale based on the blues scale rather than the major scale.  All of these are playable on a standard harmonica. 

The jazz players use the kind with the button on the side because they need all the notes to play arpeggios and riff on those crazy jazz chords.  Or some of them play multiple harmonicas at once, where they'll jump from one harmonica to another in mid-riff to pick up a few notes that they need.  That's a crazy good harmonica player there.  Saw one guy who could do The Orange Blossom Special like that - and speed race a fiddle player doing it.  Very cool.

Anyway.  The kind with 10 holes and no button in "C" and "G" will get you far. 

- Zurf

Careful with the chromatic harpoons if you have herbiage around the mouth - as some of us do.

Using the chromatic slide can trap a tendrill or two and you can either wrench the hairs out of your 'tasche or be left with a half pound of harmonica swining from your lip.

On the first thing, if you come across such a program, please post.  That would be wonderfully useful for practice.  I've been wanting to figure out how to use the recorder thingy I've got so that I can lay down some 12 bar blues strums to practice harmonica and bass riffs to.

I'm a puckerer.  I never have got the hang of the tongue blocking.  Some say it's easier, but I just wind up with a harmonica full of spit.  It takes some practice to build the muscles for a good pucker.  You'll be getting two or three holes for a while.  Your first big "HEY COOL MAYBE THIS WILL WORK OUT!!" moment is when you get a good clean single note.  It takes a while.  Stick with it.  Same as a horn player, you need to get those lip and cheek muscles tuned to a new and relatively un-natural shape and feel.  What I used to do is to practice at traffic lights in heavy traffic during my commute. 

The next big moment is when you remember to switch suck and blow for a decent scale when you get to the seventh hole.  Or is it sixth.  I forget until I get a harp in hand and start playing along. 

Above all, don't try and be Sonny Terry in five minutes.  Just relax and have a good time learning something new.   

- Zurf

Hey Numri,

For an alternative to GuitarPro, you should check out TuxGuitar. It's basically a open-source (free) version of GuitarPro which also plays PowerTab files as well. I wrote a topic in the Chat Corner if you need the link to the website.

As far as Transposing songs to match your harmonica,...may I suggest this site...

http://logue.net/xp/

Hi all, thought I'd toss in my two cents on harmonica accompaniment for guitar.

Here's a cool tip for finding the right key for playing cross harp: start with whatever key your harmonica is in, and then count up four whole notes.

For example if you have a harp in C, counting up four notes gives you G -- C, D, E, F, G   using G as your root chord, try playing a 12-bar blues progression using the I, IV, V format. In this case G, C, and D

You can do it in reverse, too. If the song is in E, for example, count back four whole steps to A. So the chords are E, A, and B (I, IV, V) and you should select an A harp

Without getting into too much music theory, the root chord (or tonic) is position I, position IV is the subdominant chord (the key your harp should be in), and position V is the dominant chord.

numri - to accompany C-key harmonica - 2 easiest choices are:  Guitar in C.  C harp:  4blow (degree I); 5draw(degree IV); 6blow(degree V).  Resolve verse (finish) with 4blow.  Pretty easy because DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO are found in holes 4-7.  This is first 'position' (also called straight harp).  Second choice:  Guitar in G.  C harp:  2draw(I), 4draw(IV), 4blow(V).  Resolve with 2draw.  This is second position (also called cross-harp).  Unfortunately, the harp player will need to study up.  The harmonica has been called the easiest instrument to play and the hardest to master.  Check out this link:  http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/.  Chromatic harps (with button):  each note is raised one semi-tone (sharped) when button is pushed in.  Don't know of one that flats with button.

Very wise, Grasshopper.