I’m not actually blue I’m just enjoying playing my blues harp. Harmonicas are a wonderful fun instrument you can develop so many different sounds and notes from a harp. I’ve never seen another instrument that can blend into countless types of music and still sound right. From folk to classical, jazz to country it just works. It is also a deceptively difficult instrument to play. It is a very small instrument and many people wrongly assume that due to its size it must be simple to play and many don’t even consider it a “real” instrument. I would suggest to anyone who thinks this to pick one up and give it a shot. You’ll quickly learn it’s not as easy as it looks; it is a real instrument that takes practice and skill to play.
For what looks like such a simple instrument there are countless varieties available, a simple change in material to the subtlest of changes in shape can produce a wild range of sound. Each manufacturer, in fact each harp has its own unique feel and sound. A diatonic harmonica, which is what I play, is tuned to a single key with ten blow holes giving you 19 basic notes. There is a whole level on top of that, by using bends, overblows and overdraws you can play up to 37 individual notes. Never mind the nearly unlimited number of sounds you can develop by various methods and experimentation.
I originally started playing harmonica because I have the tendency to sing along when music is playing and I absolutely without a shadow of a doubt cannot sing. It was an attempt to shut myself up. For the most part it works. Something that surprised me was how many of my favorite songs have harmonica in them. Soft underlying tracks that I’d somehow never heard before suddenly popped to the front of these songs. The only instrument I played before picking up a harp was a bit of piano limited to nursery rhymes and Christmas carols. With my harp I can play along to nearly anything, it doesn’t always sound good and I’m constantly adjusting and learning but it is always fun. Learning to play harmonica has been and is a rewarding experience it has increased the range of music I listen to and given me a new appreciation for this wonderful art form.
I started out with a single special 20 Hohner harp in the key of C and Hey Jude. I don’t remember now how Hey Jude became the first song I learnt but it wasn’t a bad place to start. Now I literally have a drawer full of harmonicas and harmonica parts. My current everyday favorite is a Suzuki bluesmaster, these harps have a very crisp clean sound to them and I like the weight and feel of them in my hands. They are also fairly inexpensive. Harmonicas vary anywhere in price from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars. Blowing a reed on a 35 dollar harp isn’t so bad when put in that perspective.
I’ll leave off with a little note of trivia. Did you know that a harmonica was the first instrument ever played in outer space? A 4 hole Hohner little lady harmonica was used by Wally Schirra to play jingle bells while in orbit in 1965. I wonder how the acoustics sounded.
