Harmonica

[Dave Sloven]

Anyone here play harmonica?  I got one in the mail yesterday - a Hohner Marine Band Deluxe in the key of D - and it seems deceptively easy to play (maybe my talents lie more in my mouth than my hands?).  Following tab though is not so simple.  I'm trying to learn to play 'The Wizard' (hence I got one in the key of D, as that is what was specified on blacksabbath.com).

http://www.black-sabbath.com/vb/showthread.php?22207-Harmonica-Tab

I'm of course not even close to playing like this guy but it was useful to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMmYfFXra5I

Just wondering how many others here have given harmonica a crack.

[Kiichi]

I do a bit sometimes. Got a really cheap Honer blues set. Gotta upgrade now, but for the start they were ok.
I mostly do it Bob Dylan style and play those folky solo parts when playing acoustic and singing. Dylan style playing really is easy as heck, anyone with a bit of musical feel can learn to play that style in a matter of a few minutes really. The basics that is of course, there is a lot of nuance even in Dylans playing and much more in general playing.

I heard a blues player say if you wanne play a fine harmonica, play slow. Truth there if you ask me. My favorite harmonica part ever is at the end of "Girl from the North Country" by Dylan. The song generally hits home with me and then comes this simple harmonica part with that painfully drawn out screaming note which just takes me and does not let me go.

I really dig harmonica for playing improv to myself and others, itīs just so easy to wip it out and do something which sounds good.
Really getting into folky stuff more and more (real folk to pop folk, so Dylan to Bon Iver). Gives me room to play electric and mostly explore acoustic intruments.
Would love to do some kind of small acoustic combo, 3 or 4 people, all multi instrumental and singing. Could be hella fun for me.


Btw, the Honer Marine Band are just the nices Harmonicas I have ever played, good choice. I am gonna get me a set for X-mas I think =)

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I did get it just as a fun thing to get out at parties etc, but I'm really enjoying it and will probably play it a lot more than that.

I have the deluxe version, which has a very nice feel on the the lips and basically has a lot of changes that people were making to their Marine Bands anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T30waNqM20M

It certainly is a very nice harmonica.  It didn't come in the 'sexy box' though - more recent ones have replaced the box with a more functional tough zippered case with the Marine Band Deluxe printed on the top, even if the ebay sellers generally use the old photos still because the first one looked more pretty.  Here's a photo of mine with the case.

[King Zog of Albania]

I used to play a lot of blues harp, the golden rule there is suck don't blow.

This advice can be applied to other activities.

[Dave Sloven]

I don't know if its just me and my big lungs - I think being able to whistle helps - but I've pretty much got the hang of this after a couple of days.  I find it hard to believe that some people have been persuaded to buy custom pitch harmonicas rather than bending notes, I wish guitar would come this easy to me!!  I can get the swing of 'The Wizard' better on this harmonica that I've never studied before than I can on the guitar  :?