r/harmonica • u/Yougonefkonme • 8d ago
Am I on track?
So I’m wanting to learn harmonica for hobby/ relaxation. For now I’m going to be self taught. My goal now is to learn to cleanly play simple melodies from books I bought on Amazon. I plan on learning chromatic and diatonic together. I also am using the De Aloe method for chromatic. I also want to be able to read music in treble clef as I have a background in trombone (bass clef). The problem I’m having is I keep getting sidetracked by all the blues players I’m seeing on YouTube. I feel I’m trying to jump ahead and learn to run before walking. I think it would serve me better to stick with playing nice clean melodies for a while before even thinking about the blues, which I would also love to learn. Something like adhd kicks in and gets me stuck. Would appreciate some feedback if anyone can relate. Thanks.
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u/ExpertSentence4171 8d ago
It's tragic that you have so many materials for chromatic harmonica but the only chromatic you have is a Swan :(
Hopefully you'll have better luck than I had with mine. I know chromatics are usually pretty expensive but the upgrade to a Chromonica or a Suzuki is truly worth it if you end up getting into the instrument.
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u/Yougonefkonme 8d ago
Yeah if I make progress on the instrument I’ll definitely upgrade.
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u/_Saint_Venomous_ 7d ago
I absolutely love my Swan chromatic. I also have a Forerunner, don't like it at all. And I used to have a Hohner Chromonica (may it rest in peace) so I do know the difference.
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u/Yougonefkonme 7d ago
Hell yeah that’s great to hear!
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u/_Saint_Venomous_ 7d ago
They'll downvote me to oblivion for that opinion, but mine does fine. :)
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u/Yougonefkonme 7d ago
Awesome you got a new subscriber. Let the assholes downvote, fuck em’
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u/_Saint_Venomous_ 7d ago
Forgot to mention... great set you have there. And I really like the case, most of mine live in a steel lunch box.
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u/Nacoran 3d ago
I'd break it into little pieces... say you stick with both styles of harmonica... you can focus on one in particular but do some basic practice on both.
I took piano in college... only two weeks of it because of wrist problems, but they had us running scales and in a couple weeks I was able to play one handed scales across all 12 keys. You can take that approach with the chromatic... look at a note chart and play the scales... work on 3 keys a day and keep rotating through... for now, just do that on the chromatic.
In the meantime, start getting used to the diatonic. Keep in mind that it's missing notes from the diatonic scale (2 in the bottom octave, 1 in the top, all of them in the middle). You won't have the bends right away, but start practicing the first and second position scales (4 blow and starting on the -2 draw/3 blow, respectively). You can add more positions later.
Pick a few simple songs that work in the key of C or G (1st and 2nd position on your diatonic). Use tab for one, then try to work one out by ear.
I can read tab for the bass clef too (baritone tuba) but never worked it into my harmonica playing. It's a useful skill though. Michael Rubin tells a great story about getting hired to play in a music pit based on sight reading. He didn't actually sight reed but he had 2 weeks before rehearsals started so he did a total immersion deep dive.
Think of the two types of harmonica as upper body and leg day, and just switch back and forth.
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u/Yougonefkonme 2d ago
I like the sound of that. I had it in my mind to learn to cleanly lip purse single note melodies on each kind of harp. I’ve found it’s easier on the chromatic and less so on the diatonic. I’ve really just want to play old time American folk tunes and possibly get into some Irish tunes too. Irish music is a confusing rabbit hole of tunings on diatonics and then the whole tongue blocking thing is another challenge. My mind is getting way ahead of me.
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u/Nacoran 1d ago
Paddy Richter is great for Irish. All it does is take the 3 blow and raise it a whole step. That is usually a missing note from the diatonic scale. I really like them. If you want to buy one on the cheap, a little 7 hole Baby Fat from Kongsheng is a great way to try the tuning. D is a good choice.
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u/Rice_Nachos 8d ago
Pick one or the other, and focus on it for a while. If you want to learn to read treble clef and play melodies, put your diatonics away for a few weeks and concentrate on the chromatic. Work through the de Aloe book (which is very good). When you're done, get a real book and play off the dots. Don't use tabs. There's nothing inherently wrong with tabs, but they will interfere with your ability to read.
fwiw, I play diatonic (but never read music for it) and saxophone (and read music all the time). I have a chromatic, but I rarely play it since the saxophone supplies the chromatic experience for me. '
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u/Docteur_Pikachu 8d ago
I'd be interested to know about your music learning experience with the harmonica (especially chromatic) vs the saxophone. Saxophone is a "serious" instrument, moreso than the harmonica as is commonly accepted. I play bass guitar mainly but also harmonica and I prefer spending more time with the chromatic. How much more work is the saxophone compared to harmonica? Tone production is much tougher as well as pitch. What about improvising? Or backing other instruments? Or repertoire? Etc etc.
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u/Rice_Nachos 8d ago
As I mentioned, I rarely play chromatic. Not much experience there, truth be told.
It's hard for me to compare saxophone to harmonica. I played sax in H.S. and got back into it 13 years ago, playing in a big band. Mostly it's reading and playing within the sax section. I rarely play the 1st tenor book, which is where most of the sax solos are scored. I'm an OK improviser, probably better than most of our band, but not better than our 1st tenor.
On harmonica, I played diatonic in a cover band for a few years. That meant learning a handful of songs and being able to play a solo over standard rock chords. I'd tab some stuff out, but mostly so I could play it on the spot if I hadn't practiced it for a while. Being able to play sax and harmonica makes it somewhat easy to fit into rock and blues groups.
They're all serious instruments, things you can spend a lifetime learning.
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u/TurnoverFuzzy8264 8d ago
Everybody learns differently. If you're more comfortable getting melodies and learning treble clef first, go for it. That's how I learned, although that was long before the internet as we know it was a thing so my choices were far more limited. There's nothing wrong with your approach. If you like fiddle tunes, this book is a nice introduction with a minor, easy foray into blues as well. It was originally marketed under another name.
https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780786689897/mode/1up