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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| straight harp instruction | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15th, 2005 01:00 am |
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1st Post |
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MountainBanjo Approved
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I cant seem to find any decent instructional material geared towards straight harp, folkie-Dylany type of playing (I know Bob sometimes plays cross, but not usually). Everything is geared towards blues and cross harp. Am I just missing it, or is it so damn easy I dont need any instruction? (thats a joke). I do have an ancient out of print Mel Bay book on folk/country harmonica but its not terribly helpful.
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15th, 2005 10:02 am |
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2nd Post |
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Richard Hefner Administrator 
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It's not that it's so easy -- I think it's more because it's very limited in the sounds that are produced. The accent is on the blow notes in the highest octave and the really good sounds on a harmonica come from the draw notes in the lower octave. It is pretty easy to just practice the scales and learn some simple tunes in straight position and it will become easy for you to play simple melodies then without having to learn them from tab. But... If you really want to learn to play "straight harp" I would absolutely recommend the Lee Oskar Melody Maker. It will allow you to play straight harp with all of the advantages of cross harp. You have two full octaves to work with and are able to emphasize the draw notes in the lower octave, which you ordinarily can't do with straight harp. A Melody Maker that is in the key of G is like a "regular" harmonica that is in the key of C except for a couple notes. So if you learn to play "straight" on a Melody Maker, later on you can pick up a standard harp and play the blues without even really thinking about it since they're so similar. Here's a better explanation about the Melody Maker that I wrote a while back... http://www.ezfolk.com/harp/intro/intro.html If you want an idea of how it sounds, here's a song I recorded not long ago using the Melody Maker. It comes in about the 1-1/2 minute mark... Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (HiFi - LoFi) 
____________________ Richard Hefner MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15th, 2005 04:59 pm |
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3rd Post |
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kurtk Approved 
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A book/CD that I enjoyed a lot was the Jon Gindick book "Rock n Blues Harmonica". It is fun to read and contains some straight harp melodies (if memory serves).
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15th, 2005 08:26 pm |
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4th Post |
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MountainBanjo Approved
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Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately I just ordered several "regular" harps in different keys to compliment the ones I already have, so I cant afford a melody maker at the moment. i will certainly keep that idea in mind though. I have a few more basic questions. How do you play chords on the melody maker, or cant you? I realize that knowing cross harp will will allow me to make sounds I cant otherwise, but if I only want to play fairly simple Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Neil Young type straight harp stuff, is there really any need or advantage to cross harping? If I am playing a melody straight harp, in C for example, is it a no-no to blow a chord (which would only be a C chord, I guess, on a C harp) when I'm in the part of the melody that would be in the F(IV) or G (V) chord as played on guitar? Lastly, I have heard that straight harp is best for single note meolody playing, but I sure seem to hear a lot of second notes and chords creeping in in the type of music I'm interested in. I probably shouldnt dis the Mel Bay book I have either, it would probably be about the best help out there if I knew most/all the tunes in it (I dont) or had the accompanying LP (yes, its that old) and a turntable to play it on.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16th, 2005 05:30 pm |
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5th Post |
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Richard Hefner Administrator
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Hey MB... the harmonica isn't the same as a guitar or banjo as far as chords go. Ordinarily you just play single-note melodies. You wouldn't really take a C harmonica and play C, F, and G chords. That's not to say you can't play multiple notes. You can do that on either a standard diatonic or a Melody Maker or any other one. If you're playing more than one note you need to trust your ear as to whether it harmonizes correctly with the rest of the music, but then again you need to do that when playing single notes too. 
____________________ Richard Hefner MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17th, 2005 01:05 am |
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6th Post |
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Rex Approved
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This site has lots of first position tabs: http://www.dataflo.net/~mpurintun/ Most people learn to play in first position first and then learn second. On a standard C diatonic you have a C chord and a G chord on holes 123. In the key of C those are the I and V. In the key of G they are the IV and I. As Richard has indicated already the harp is a melody instrument. You usually do not play chords constantly like you would strum a guitar. But chords are nice sometimes. Learning to play your standard harps will be a real help if later you try country tuned or Melody Makers. The note layout is almost the same. Peace, Rex
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17th, 2005 01:19 am |
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7th Post |
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Rex Approved
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Just noticed you also asked about chords on a MM. You actually have more chord options with a MM harp or a country tuned harp. http://www.hunterharp.com/shrp5tun.html The MM is a bit different. The country tuned will actually give you the I IV V progression.
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17th, 2005 02:52 pm |
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8th Post |
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davebough Approved 
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One of the major values of playing a standard diatonic harmonica in second position is the availablity of useful chords. On your C harp when you play in second position (G mixolydian scale) drawing on the lowest 3 or 4 holes gives you a G major chord (I the tonic) because the bottom 4 draw notes are D G B D. Blowing on any 3 or 4 holes gives you a C major scale (IV the subdominant) because the blow holes are C E G C E G C E G C. Drawing on holes 4 5 6 or 8 9 10 gives you a D minor chord (V dominant minor) D F A. Using the dominant minor normally works well because in blues and rock playing minor thirds over major chords is characteristic. so use two harps. Play your melody on straight G harp for a song in G, and switch to a C harp to play the I, IV, V chords in G when the guitar player takes the melody. dave
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17th, 2005 06:31 pm |
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9th Post |
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MountainBanjo Approved
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I realize that the harmonica is different from banjo and guitar etc as far as chords go. I guess my question wasnt very clear, but I think I figured out the answer anyway. Thanks for trying. BTW, I learned that the old Mel Bay book I have has been re-issued under the name 'You Can Teach Yourself Harmonica' ao I CAN get the audio lessons now. There is also a DVD of the same name that goes through the same lessons, although its not by the original author.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20th, 2005 02:11 am |
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10th Post |
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MountainBanjo Approved
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One of the reasons I wanted to play straight harp is because the U-tongue method comes easily for me (I've been using it for 20 years to play one or two songs, very poorly) , and I've read that you cant bend using it, and other discouragements. Plus I read that bending is so hard in general, I guess I've been afraid of it. OK, Thats 2 reasons. BUt I recently read of several accomplished players who use the tongue tube and can bend just fine. Buoyed by this knowledge I've been practicing my bends and having reasonable good luck for a tongue-tubing beginner. So maybe I will learn a little cross harp too. I tried some tongue blocking too but that feels like playimg with a sock in my mouth.
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