Harmonica.Com - An Instrument for
Everyone
Everyone Can Play!
The harmonica is the most "vocal" and
most versatile of all the wind
instruments.
Many thousands of people begin to learn how to play the
harmonica every year, but many people give up
in frustration.
Harmonica.Com is here to help you to learn to play the
harmonica, to have fun playing the harmonica, so to find
out how much fun the harmonica really can be, so take
a look around!
Harmonica
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A large family of harmonica instruments
There is a large family of
harmonica instruments - you may want to take
a look at all of these to see which kind of harmonica
you want to learn how to play. The main ones in the
family are:
Diatonic
harmonicas (also known as blues harps, mouth
organs, or just plain "harmonica")
Diatonic harmonicas are the best-known harmonicas in the West,
including the U.S., Canada, and Europe. They are loved
for their tone, their versatility and portability, and the fact
that they can fit into harmonica holders so you can play other
instruments with them at the same time. In recent years
breakthroughs in diatonic harmonica playing technique have been
made, such that they can be played chromatically (playing all
the sharps and flats). This is done by a combination of
bending, overblowing, and overdrawing, all playing techniques
(virtually) unique to the diatonic harmonica.
There also are special-tuned diatonic
harmonicas
- here's a demo of the Hohner
365SBS
Here's how to get
started learning to play the diatonic
harmonica
Chromatic
harmonicas
Chromatic harmonicas are set up so that the
sharps and flats of a scale are acheived mechanically, through
various combinations of button/slide-in and slide-out.
Chromatic harmonicas are widely used for playing classical and
jazz music, and also for pop, funk and blues. Famed
musician Stevie Wonder created a wonderfully distinct style of
chromatic harmonica playing.
Tremolo and Echo
harmonicas (double reed instruments)
Tremolo and Echo harmonicas are the most
popular harmonicas in the Orient. They have not just a
single row of holes like the diatonic and chromatic harmonicas
have, but instead have two rows of holes, one above the
other. Octave harmonicas have the upper row of holes an
octave higher than the lower holes. Tremolo harmonicas
have the upper row of holes slightly detuned from the bottom
row, producing a wavering, vibrato effect. The Tremolo
and Echo harmonicas produce a thick and beautiful sound without
the need for bending and single note techniques.
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How to
Play
How to
take care of harmonicas
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