by: Kyle Vallone
As we go through out busy lives, we think about the things we would like to have done, would like to do or hope to do someday. You remember a parent or grandparent, an uncle, or a neighbor who you recall playing the harmonica for you and your friends.
Or you went to a show and heard someone playing a great blues or country line and wondered: How did they do that?
Then you went out and purchased a harmonica or someone gave you a harmonica and it sat in a drawer for years; and you always wondered how to play it. Occasionally, you would blow on it and make some scratchy sounds that the folks in the room liked for about fifteen seconds and then they asked or hoped you would stop.
The mystery of how to play continued.
When I started playing the harmonica back in the 1970s, it was pretty much a mystery instrument. I remember listening to Bob Dylan or Jimmy Reed and wondering how they did that. There were a few instructional books around. I remember I bought one that had a lot of classic blues tunes in it and a soft vinyl 45 rpm record so you could hear part of the recording. But in general, unless you had some education in music already, it was a primitive environment for the beginner.
Today, on the other hand, beginner harmonica players have a dramatically large amount of information available to them. Almost every instructional book on the market today comes with a backing CD or DVD. There is also a large amount of instructional material today on YouTube.
However, as with any other instrument, I would highly recommend you seek out personal instruction, either from a professional teacher or a friend who is an intermediate or advanced player who can start you on the basics. Then you can purchase either more lessons or instructional material as you advance. That is what I did.
The first three years of my harmonica playing career, I purchased lessons on an as-needed basis from a local harmonica instructor who was able to get me going with all the basic techniques to be proficient on the harmonica. But again that was a long time ago, without the help of all the multimedia tools we have today.
I remained a good harmonica player for years. But once the age of the Internet dawned, harmonica players from all over the world were able to connect and many of the mysteries of the harmonica were there for the aspiring harmonica musician to master.
Go to YouTube and search on the harmonica. Search on the web for harmonica groups like SPAH (the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica). There are a couple of nice blues and bluegrass groups on the web hosted by Yahoo.
But what it really requires to be a harmonica player, like anything else in life, is desire, the desire to work hard at your craft. This will require you to listen to people who want to help you and the patience to make the effort to put in the time to learn, and then go out and play.
If you do and are willing to make a long term commitment to the harmonica, the world will be your oyster.
