(Part 2) Top products from r/harmonica

> knowing this - what would be a realistic time frame for me to go from beginner to intermediate? if I practice 30 min 5 days per week. I suppose intermediate to me means knowing how to play some basic songs and maybe be able to play around well enough with someone else who's playing guitar or something. Others may have different ideas of what intermediate means.

At good levels of practice, it won't take you more than 3 months I think to learn how to play something like "Heart" with enough timing and precision that you can play with a pianist. Maybe one month if you really focus on just this song alone (as opposed to learning organically and learning all of the various beginner stuff).

You'll of course need to find a pianist (or another musician) to play the 2nd part of this duet with you. And that may take longer :-p. Feel free to play it on top of some Youtube videos though.

You'll spend a few days learning how to produce just a single note, building up the muscles for proper embouchure (lip-position and mouth shape). And then you'll need a few weeks of practice (eventually, you'll be able to pick up songs in just days, or even hours of practice. But learning songs is a multi-week experience for a beginner).

The timeframe is different for everyone of course. In any case, once you achieve beginner proficiency, you'd be able to play any song in a beginner book. I dunno, it takes maybe... 3 days or so for me to play a typical song in the American Harmonica Songbook with good proficiency.

-------

IMO, "intermediate" level harmonica means playing the blues bends with precision, a couple of overblows, tongue-blocked chords (and chords in general) with precision, and decent tone throughout. That'd be more of a 2-year sort of thing, from scratch, if not longer.

It'd be something like a few days 20-minutes a day practice to get your first 4-hole bend out. Then months learning the 2-hole and 3-hole bend... just practicing those notes five notes (F, F#, G#, A, B#) and learning to hit them from various points. Then a few weeks practicing the Blues Scale until you can play it with speed and precision... and of course studying up the music theory to know what all of this stuff means.

This is the level that I'm hoping to be. But I definitely know its a long-slog to study and practice technique over-and-over again until I can do it. The jump from beginner to advanced-beginner / early intermediate is difficult. Especially since I'm actually kinda satisfied with myself playing a ton of various beginner songs. (I mean, I have ambition: I want more. But when I start fail to hit a bend accurately... I just go back to a beginner song and make myself feel better. Even if practicing an easy song doesn't really improve my skills).

In any case, its a marathon to learn all the techniques of a harmonica. There are many techniques, and each one takes weeks to accomplish, months to hone, years to master. Just gotta take it one step at a time.

------------

I guess its hard to say for sure. Really, some songs are harder than others. If you just want to play the Harmonica part to "Piano Man", yeah... you can probably do that within a month from complete beginner status. If you want to play some Bluesy tune improved with a Guitar player?

Erm... yeah. That takes a solid ear, study in improv theory, music theory, and lots of technique. 2 years minimum, maybe 3 or 4.

Intensive practice can yield good results if you're sensible.

Temper your expectations.

• You learn at the pace you learn; you won't get good overnight.
  
  
• Treasure your victories, however small. A win is a win.
  
  
• Be patient with yourself.
  
  Pace yourself.
  
  
• Break up your practice into shorter sessions so you don't burn out.
  
  
• Work intensively on one small thing at a time.
  
  
• Break your learning into "chunks." It's easier to work on one chunk at a time and then string them together.
  
  
• Work on something, go away for awhile, then come back again, but don't wait too long. Learning can evaporate if left too long, but can be strengthened by short intervals between working on the same thing.
  
  
• Alternate practice with other activities so you stay fresh.
  
  Don't give up.
  
  
• Frustration is always greatest just before a breakthrough.
  
  
• Consistency will get you there in time.
  
  Learn from the best
  
  
• Get a good harmonica book or video course. (I humbly submit that mine, Harmonica For Dummies, with 408 pages, tons of audio examples along with online videos and animations, is one of them).
  
  
• Learn about good learning strategies. I recommend Daniel Coyle's The Little Book of Practice.

I dont know any as I taught myself based on my knowledge of other instruments. I would recommend if you are going to do it to spend your money on a real book sixth edition to get a bunch of jazz melodies/chords and irealpro to practice soloing over them. I think the embouchures pretty similar so you shouldnt need much besides forcing yourself to actually use the slide (jazz tunes tend to go through a few keys so you will get a slide workout). Some of the guys on slidemeister have strong opinions on chromatic books if that peaks your interest.

If you ever want a theory book I recommend: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Music-Concepts-Applications-Vol/dp/0070654743

Its serious but I learned so much. One thing that might help you is looking up functional harmony. Its basically the theory of what chords lead where. It changed everything for me because I learned to imply other chords on top of simple progressions while stilling moving with them.

A is optimal because it is not too deep or too high, and it's cross position (blues position) is E, which is very natural for the guitar to play blues from.

Edit: this book is good stuff and it is in the key of A https://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Portnoys-Blues-Harmonica-Masterclass/dp/B00005KJ36

Edit: also check out this site http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/

This book has quite the collection: Cowboy Songs for Harmonica if you want to learn to play them. I’m sure you could also find them online/YouTube/etc

If you're willing to pay a little bit more ($178) then I'd recommend the Hohner CX-12. Its my favorite chromatic out there at the moment. It's THE most airtight chrom under $500.

But if you want to stay in your price range, You can look at the Chrometta-12 for $108 or the Educator 10 for $56. The educator 10 is so cheap because it doesn't have windsavers. You won't have to warm it up before you play it, but you also will lose quite a bit of airtightness.

You might also have some luck with SWAN harmonicas, although I've never played one so I can't give you too much advice there.

http://www.amazon.com/Play-Harmonica-Instantly-Alfred-Publishing/dp/0936601671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304022971&sr=8-1

I used this book when I was first starting out. Nothing unique about the book, they all pretty much outline the same stuff. Work on hitting one note at a time. Blow first, then draw. pm me if you have any specific questions.

This book has really helped me.

The Natural Blues and Country-Western Harmonica: A Beginners Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/0825699231/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GkFiDbFE8KW3K

I'm working through this book. I'm not sure if other members will have a better recommendation.

Get a C scale harmonica.

And check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Blues-Harmonica-Ed-Improvisation/dp/0918321727/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1345528043&sr=8-4&keywords=david+harp

Paul Butterfield - Blues Harmonica Master Class: Book/Online Audio https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793581303/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_G5gPCbM33VETC

I keep one of these handy for emergencies:

https://www.amazon.com/Hohner108-Mini-Harmonica-Chain-Major/dp/B0002F4WDE

https://www.amazon.com/HOHNER-C-12-Hohner-Harmonica-Case/dp/B0002J4JTW

A standard holder that sits on your shoulders will cost around $20, even at a small store with jacked prices or a large store with jacked prices. If you are paying more, it probably isn't worth the money.

For example, this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Irish-American-Fiddle-Tunes-Harmonica/dp/0931759102

Really though, all these melodies can be done an octave higher and get the same goal. All the Paddy tuning gives is opening up the lower octave for faster tunes. For your ballads you can even get away with bending for that missing note a paddy gives. The Paddy tuning was originally conceived for the fact consistantly hitting that bend in faster playing sounded horrid.

Just look at the notes available on a regular Richter and compare it to sheet music. Don't be afraid to bend in folk melody playing, at least if you're not accompanying anyone.