All you need to follow my stepbystep harmonica course is a diatonic harmonica. Aug 21, 2008 ok so you just got a g harmonica and you want to know what harmonica notes it has. There are 2 pdf files to download after payment is made. Im going to show you what notes to target over a 12 bar blues. Please note that even expedited orders will be delayed. If i have a tab written for a c harmonica, can i use it with a g harmonica. Blues harmonica for dummies gives you a wealth of content devoted to the blues approach. Many years ago, when i got my first harmonica teaching gig at the guitar study center in. All the blow notes come are in the chord of the harmonica key more details on harmonica notes are here.
All examples are taken from my new ebook an easy guide to open tunings for blues guitar, which contains many more examples and ideas available at my website. This allows you to hit sharp or flat notes and adds a blues feel to your playing. As well as the instruments of the marine band series, other models which share the same playing characteristics include the special 20, big river harp, golden melody, pro harp and of course the blues harp. So for a c harmonica all the blow notes come from the c chord. So in second position any harp i chord 2d, 3d, 4d, iv chord 1b, 2b, 3b, v chord 1d, 2d, 3d. However mastering blues is a lifetime project, which starts today.
Fortunately, the scientific literature on note bending continues to grow. All blues harp instructors teach a version of this. Beginning blues harp leisure entertainment general scribd. Start playing and learning music for harp the fun way with christmas carols, coll. The richtertuned harmonica, or 10hole harmonica in asia or blues harp in america, is the most widely known type of harmonica. Depending upon your model, your notes may be positioned differently. Masters of the blues harp a harmonica transcription book. Flute, bb clarinet, bassoon, harp, violin, cello difficult 16 pdf 1 mp3 1. The minor pentatonic is used in a bunch of different genres but if we add one extra note it will become particularly wellsuited to blues music. Most people associate the harmonica with blues, music sounding like this. Ive been creating original blues harmonica tabs for more than 25 years. Once you have learnt the basics, you will be able to play blues with musicians everywhere.
Try a nice hohner harmonica blues harp is my favorite. And the harmonica has a natural genius for the blues, with its ease of producing the moaning, wailing. Blues harmonica target notes blues harp jamming, and improv instruction. The liner notes cover the recorded material in greater depth, as well as a discography of glovers favorite blues harp recordings. When you play the blues on your harmonica, you use short sequences of notes called licks and riffs as building blocks for longer musical statements. Delaney public domain 20 o carolan john kelly public domain 20 o carolan sir ulick burke public domain 20 o. You want to learn to play harmonica but how, oh god, how do you do it. The blues harp is designed for this specific blues sound, but thanks to the modular system it can easily be adjusted and changed to anything you want it to be easy, quickly, at any time. Harp n guitar blues progression, chords, riffs, shuffles and jams. Ar hyd y nos all through the night traditional welsh.
Blues harmonica target notes blues harp jamming, and. See more ideas about harps music, harp, sheet music. This session, recorded in 1965, is an introduction to the basics of playing blues harmonica. How to prepare for bending notes on the harmonica dummies. In 3rd, 5th or 6th positions by contrast, most of the. I surfed around the internet, looked through books and bugged the guys at the harmonica store and got you guys a few things. The charts below will show you all the bent and unbent notes on all twelve major key harmonicasnot including. This dvd is a workshop on techniques wh ile my other dvds support you in jamming once youve learned. When you include hole 5 it becomes a g7 chord which is perfect for blues.
These notes all come from the g chord, which is a very important one when playing in the key of c. Use repetition of a single riff, and pauses between these riffs, to create a more melodic feeling to your playing. Free free harp sheet music sheet music pieces to download from. Some blues players jimmy reed for example see sample below do much the same sound as crossed harp by bending the blow notes on the top end of the harmonica playing straight harp harp in the same key as the song. Glover stresses that the student should first listen to a wide range of players before attempting to play. Adapted from blues and rock harmonica by glenn weiser. This lesson is for people who feel like they are just playing the blues scale in various sequences rather than targeting the chords. Sep 06, 2017 there are just five different notes in this scale.
Many beginning players are confused about harmonica notes, particularly since some of them appear to be missing. Each easyharp tab pdf has his own audio file mp3 to help you in your reading and playing practise. These two techniques will add color to the songs you play. The chord changes are on a typical 12 bar blues format.
It is this sound, known as note bending, which has ensured the longlasting popularity of the harp in blues, rock and contemporary music and makes it a uniquely fascinating instrument. There are 47 strings on a harp, grouped in pitch classes. Not every hole note on the harmonica can be bent, and not every hole that you. Harmonica, classical harmonica, hymns on harmonica, spirituals harmonica, chicago blues harmonica, country blues harmonica and whatever else the cat drags in. The notes f and a were recovered in the lower octave a b for the upper octave. Beginner harmonica lessons single notes, bending, vibrato, breathing. Hohner 532bxc blues harp ms modular system diatonic. From the beginning, the harmonica has been an integral part of blues music. Blues riffs a riff is a slang term for a short musical phrase that is usually repeated or repeatable. You may count 6 notes in the tab but that is just because we repeat the root note again at the 6 blow. Flutter your tongue against the hole to make a trill, which is a slight fluctuation of the note tone. Low notes are on the left and high notes are on the. New york, i purchased a few of the commercially available instruction books.
Holes 4, 5, 6 and 7 will play the notes of the beginner songs. All you need to follow my stepbystep harmonica course is a diatonic harmonica aka blues harp in the key of c see amazon link above. The most common harmonica key is c, the notes on a c. Includes standard notation, harmonica tab, guitar chords, complete playing instructions and short biographies of the 17 artists. Masters of the blues harp a harmonica transcription book by. What is an open tuning if a guitar is tuned to an open tuning playing the open strings results in a major chord or less common in a minor chord. What notes to target over a 12 bar blues on harmonica. Blues harmonica target notes blues harp jamming, and improv. So with all the differences in notes on different keyed harps, how do you play a song using tabs on a harp that is a different key than what the song is written in.
Written for intermediate or intermediate advanced players, comprises pdf sheet music files with audio midi and mp3 files. Download and print industryleading free printable beginner and easy harp sheet music for students just starting out through advancing elementary school and homeschooling students. A pedal harp can play the c flat located two ledger lines below the bass clef up to the g sharp located four lines above the treble clef. With over 3,000 lesson videos, lesson plans for all skill level players, downloadable mp3s and pdf s, along with forum experts and contributors, bluesharmonica. So, all the blow notes on a c harmonica come from the c chord. You will need a harmonica in the key of c and well be playing in 2nd position. This is a very soulful tune, played at a moderate blues tempo.
The blues is a uniquely american art form that got its start from the collision of african and european cultures in the american south. Similarly, the draw notes on holes 1 to 4 are d, g, b and d. Hold the harmonica with one hand at each end, with the numbers facing you. If youd like a complete list of my tabs and instructional videos, organized as a searchable, hyperlinked excel spreadsheet that grades the tabs by skill level and tells you what harp key to.
All of the songs in this songbook require the skill to play single notes the ability to play only one note at a time. Until further notice we will only be able to ship orders on mondays and thursdays. Free beginner folk or pedal harp sheet music for your first year of music lessons. Using the method in this lesson, and others like it, you will soon create your own solos. Whether youre a beginner or advanced, the blues harp is the harp for you. Their construc tion enables playing techniques known as bending and overbending, which expand the range of available notes and create the legendary and unique sound. Figure 8 detailed how bending can be used to fill in the missing notes of the natural scale of the harmonicathe c major scale for the c major harmonica for example. Blues harmonica riffs beginner bluesharp instruction and. With the technique of bending, a very bluesysounding scale, called the blues. How to play the diatonic harmonica in the key of c. Because i consider playing single notes an intermediate level technique, even the simplest kids songs will be rated at an intermediate level essentially, i dont consider playing songs a beginning level skill. Thanks david, i realize this was kind of a foolish question.
Blues chart and cheat sheet for harp n guitar ebook and video series take the guesswork out of playing the blues on guitar and harmonica 2nd position, blues progression, blues scale, i iv v. The quicktime video lesson is supplemented by a pdf tab entitled blues and country scales. Robert johnstons 1987 article pitch control in harmonica playing in acoustics australia was followed by the use of ultrasound and xray fluoroscopy by physicians hank bahnson and jim antaki and most recently by mri images made by david barrett with a team of stanford scientists, which you can see on david. Blues harmonica tabs user guide free easyharp blues. This harmonica is based on the diatonic scale an eightnote scale. Editing is impossible, so good luck figuring out where some stuff belongs. Harmonica123 essential blues harp technique class pre. You will also need to bend lots of notes to get the blues notes blues scales which add to the characteristic sound. Harmonicas come in a variety of keys click here for more about harmonica keys and note names.
Nov 11, 2015 im going to show you what notes to target over a 12 bar blues. O carolan john moore public domain 20 o carolan mrs. Diatonic harmonicas are tuned to a single major scale and are available in different keys. If youre trying to learn a song and its not going well, move on to a different song. This articles shows the notes on a harmonica, and the reasoning behind their layout. This is no accident, and is the reason why harmonica blow notes are arranged this way. It is almost impossible to bend and control the blow notes on the bottom end of a harmonica. This is also a technique used in blues harmonica playing. This lesson has shown a way to do this there many other ways as well. Okay, so realizing that the root notes plus the 3 notes above the root blow or draw make up the triad chord, let me play this back to verify understanding. Though one such hohner richter model is indeed called the blues harp, the original blues harmonica was the marine.
Blues harmonica fundamentals slap small open circle above note head same as standard tongue block lips over four holes, tongue blocks three left holes, but the tongue starts off the harmonica, sounds the chord, and then slaps down to leave one note sounding similar to saying hal. Diatonic harmonica this is the most common kind of harmonica, usually a small instrument with ten holes, containing 20 notes, also known as the blues harp. It was the enormous popularity of his instruments in the usa which. Simple blues riffs are perhaps the most common way for one to begin improvising on the diatonic harmonica. Bent harmonica mastering draw bends on the diatonic harmonica. They are arranged in such a way that only the middle octave contains a complete eight note scale. Blues playing relies heavily on improvisation, that is, making up solos.
Nail your technique with easy video lessons click here. Robert johnstons 1987 article pitch control in harmonica playing in acoustics australia was followed by the use of ultrasound and xray fluoroscopy by physicians hank bahnson and jim antaki and most recently by mri images made by david barrett with a team of stanford scientists, which you can see on. Download blues harmonica for beginners pdf ebook blues harmonica for beginners blues harmonica for beginners ebook author by stanley roberts blues harmonica for beginners ebook free of registration rating. Both riffs and licks usually emphasize the notes of the chord being played in the background. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes 10 holes times a draw and a blow for each hole minus one repeated note in a threeoctave range the standard diatonic harmonica is designed to allow a player to. To hear this, blow the bottom four holes together, i. Chords like g7 or any other 7th chord will instantly give you a bluesy flavour on any instrument. Once you have all of the notes, rhythms and techniques down for the song, focus on the fine details such as dynamics, note textures, tone changes, vibrato usage. For music lesson study, public performance, or just for fun. This is helpful for both recovering notes of the scale and chord.
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