SHORT HARP TIPS
(Getting Started on the Diatonic Harmonica) by Jack Ely
(Also known as - Marine Band, Blues Harp, Short Harp, Richter
Tuned, 10 hole, Tin Sandwich, French Harp, Pocket Piano, etc.)
All these terms refer to the little 10 hole diatonic harmonica.
There are many styles, brand names, models, special tunings, and
keys available. Costs vary from $5.00 to over $60.00. Many of the
lower cost harmonicas are good values.
HOLDING THE HARMONICA:
The harmonica is held in the crotch or "V" formed between your left
thumb and index finger. The highest note (tone), or hole # 10
should be to your right. The heel of your right thumb rests and
pivots on the length of your left thumb and raps around under the
harmonica forming a sound chamber, left fingers lay along the
length of the harmonica, the right fingers form a cup, meeting or
slightly overlapping the left finger tips.
The sound of the harmonica can be altered by opening up your hands
(sound chamber). Open hands give a brighter, louder sound. Closed
hands give a mellower, richer sound. Rapid opening and closing of
the hands or fingers will produce a wavering sound (hand vibrato).
The hand position can infinately vary the sound of the harmonica.
Hand position is not he only thing that can change the sound or
tone of your harmonica. (See VIBRATO).
PLAYING A SINGLE NOTE:
Playing a single note comes with great difficulty for some. Relax,
you may be trying too hard. Embouchure (the method of placing the
lips and tongue to a wind instrument) must be precise yet supple).
There are two methods prescribed and much debate over which one is
proper. Method #1, Tongue Blocking, is where you place your lips
over four holes and block the air flow to the left with your
tongue, allowing air to flow into only the rightmost hole to
produce a single note. Method #2, Pucker, is where you cover only
one hole with your lips as though you were going to whistle. The
tongue does not touch the harmonica. I suggest that beginners use
the method they find easiest and most comfortable. However, I
strongly urge you to learn both methods as you develop. Method #1,
Tongue Blocking, seems to produce a better (or at least different)
tone. You may or may not be able to hear the difference. Tongue
blocking lends itself to playing double stops (3rds, 5ths, and
octaves) by blocking out unwanted notes with the tongue and
allowing air to flow past the tongue on either side to play more
than one note at a time. These are more advanced techniques you
will want to develop later. CRUTCH: Blow a mouthfull of notes and
tilt the harmonica upward while still blowing (relax). This will
produce a clean, single note. Not the prescribed method, but it
proves that it can be done. Some players do tilt their harp upward.
Diatonic Tips - Page 1
LEARN TO READ MUSIC:
If I may borrow a tip from a recent seminar by harmonica virtuoso
Stan Harper. Stan strongly urges us to learn our instrument. The
tone, vibrato and all the other neat stuff will come later. All
these techniques are worthless if we cant play the instrument. The
best way to learn our instrument is to learn to read music then
practice scales and drills. Then you will truly progress and
improve your playing. [A distinguished gentleman carrying a violin
case asked a scruffy looking hippie how to get to Carnegie Hall,
the hippie replied "Practice man, practice".] Why learn a half
dozen play by number systems, or continue struggling along playing
by ear, when there is an international standard for reading music.
IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) you should develope music reading &
theory skills in order to play the diatonic harmonica just as you
would to master the chromatic harmonica. Serious chromatic students
should learn to play scales in any key, including chromatic scales,
on a "C" harmonica. This is not easily done on the diatonic. This
does not make the diatonic any less of a musical instrument. There
is more of a need for a knowledge in the areas of chord make-up and
progressions, blues scales, modes, etc. (Stuff I don't intend to
cover in this document). Not to scare anyone but I believe it is
more difficult to learn the diatonic, properly, than chromatic.
Even the most accomplished diatonic players use harmonicas tuned in
different keys. Want to change keys? Change harmonicas. So a tune,
progression, scale, riff, etc. learned on a diatonic can be played
in any key by changing harps. This does not make the diatonic any
easier to learn or teach. The diatonic harmonica (normally) is
tuned differently from a chromatic. The diatonic scheme is called
Richter tuning after the man who developed it. This tuning,
developed in the 1800's lends itself to blues and country/western
playing. This, I'm sure, was not Richter's original intent. Maybe
it had something to do with the way stringed instruments were
tuned. I do know that it gives us blow and draw chords on the low
and high end of the harmonica. We'll get more into that later.
There are many techniques or styles to learn on the diatonic
harmonica and it can't all be written down in standard music
notation. With all that said I still believe one should be able to
play the "C" scale and some simple melodies on the diatonic by
reading standard music notation. Developing this ability as
beginners will only help as we learn more about the layout (tuning)
of your harmonica. For those who would eventually study the
chromatic harmonica it will be a step in the right direction.
PLAING THE "C" SCALE
(You will need a DIATONIC harmonica in the key of "C").
The first thing you need to do is locate the "C" note above middle
"C" on your harmonica. This is easy, the first blow note is middle
"C", THE SECOND "C" NOTE IS found in hole # 4 blow. (Note: count
from the left up to hole 4). The holes are numbered from 1 to 10 on
the top cover plate). It may help if you cover the first three
holes with your finger or even a piece of tape. Practice until you
can play this note clearly. Soon you will not need to use your
fingers or the tape. Now look at the chart below.
Diatonic Tips - Page 2
DIATONIC HARMONICA LAYOUT KEY of "C"
__ Middle C __ C above
| (blow) | middle C
V V
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
+---++---++---++---++---++---++---++---++---++---+
BLOW | C || E || G || C || E || G || C || E || G || C |
| || || || || || || || || || |
draw | d || g || b || d || f || a || b || d || f || a |
+---++---++---++---++---++---++---++---++---++---+
^ ^
|__the "C" scale __|
Holes 4 through 7 contain the C major scale. That is the notes...
C (do), D (re), E (mi), F (fa), G (sol), A (la), B (ti), C (do) - or
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C (just like the ABC's except you start with C).
It will help if you take the time to draw the following exercises
on a piece of blank manuscript paper (Music Work Sheet). You will
find a blank work sheet at the end of this lesson.
Hole # 4
| THE FIRST HOLE (4)
V Notes C & D
+---+
| C | <--- blow Draw this diagram on a
|---| blank music work sheet.
| d | <--- draw
_ +---+ Now play the C (blow) &
| ---------------- the D (draw) notes.
| Alternating C, D, C, D etc.
| ---------------- until you can play them
| clearly and smoothly.
The Staff-| ----------------
| Look at (read) the music,
| ---------------- don't play by ear only.
| Think the notes as you play.
|_ ----------------
O
Ledger Line --> --O-- DO NOT PROCEED FURTHER
UNTIL YOU HAVE MASTERED
C D THIS EXERCISE.
Note the line below the staff in the above diagram. This is called
a ledger line. You will have to draw this in so you have a place to
put the "C" note. Ledger lines are used to locate notes which fall
above or below the standard five line musical staff.
Now draw a diagram for hole # 5 beside your picture of hole # 4.
Practice the E and F notes until you can play them clearly.
Now play holes 4 through 5 in sequence. Play (and read) C, D, E, F.
Practice these two holes until you master them, do not proceed
until you can play C, D, E, F clearly and smoothly.
Diatonic Tips - Page 3
To save space I have drawn all four holes needed to play the "C"
scale below. Continue drawing and then practicing each hole
separately.
Draw hole # 6 now and practice. Play holes 4, 5 and 6. Can you play
them smoothly and clearly now? O. K. proceed to hole # 7. This will
complete your diagram. It should look like the one below. Practice
hole # 7. Now Play holes 4, 5, 6, and 7 in sequence. Read from the
music you have just written. Play smoothly and with an even tempo.
Think the notes as you play. Tap your foot to keep time. Not too
fast, speed isn't important here. CRUTCH: Look at the music (your
diagram). Notice that BLOW notes are on a line of the music staff
and DRAW notes are on a space. So, if a note is on the line you
BLOW. If it is on a space you DRAW. Easy, huh!
OOPS! What happened when you got to the B note, it's on a line!
Well. this is where the crutch breaks, or at least bends a little.
The rule flip flops here. The BLOW/DRAW/LINE/SPACE reverses. So
when you get to the B note you just reverse your thinking. You Draw
A, slide up to hole 7 while continuing to DRAW and you get the B
note. Then BLOW C and you have played the C major scale. Practice
this EVERY day.
Below is a diagram of the C scale on the diatonic harmonica which
is tuned in the key of C. Complete your drawings mentioned above
from this diagram.
Keep in mind that holes 1, 2 & 3 and holes 8, 9, & 10 are not
shown here. We are not concerned with them just yet. Later on we
will study the layout of these holes and find out that they are
tuned differently and why (or at least what can be done with them).
This tuning sets the diatonic harmonica apart from the chromatic
harmonica. This is what makes the diatonic harmonica unique and a
very versatile and interesting instrument.
Hole # 4 Hole # 5 Hole # 6 Hole # 7
+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ Note: C, E, G
| C | ........ 1 ........ ........ 2 ........ ........ 3 ........
Play-> Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Taaaaaaa Taaaaaaa Taaaa Taaaa Taaaa
Value-> half note 1/4 note 1/4 note tri - pl - et
VIBRATO EXERCISES #2
(Without the harmonica) Say AHhhhhhhhhh. Now chop up the AHhhhh
with little coughs. AHhAHhAHh etc. Practice this while exhaling and
inhaling. This will probably make you choke or gag and cause your
eyes to water, especially on the inhale. If it does, you're doing
it right. Gradually increase the speed of the "cough" and
concentrate on smoothing it out and eliminating the cough sound.
(Maybe this is where the term throat vibrato comes from because you
can feel it there). As you smooth out and eliminate the cough sound
you can feel that it is your diaphragm that is doing the work. Now
try this while playing a note on the harmonica. It is easiest in
the low register, high notes are harder to get vibrato on, so start
out with the low notes and you will see (hear) results quicker. An
E (blow 5) and F (draw 5) on a 10 hole are probably the easiest to
get vibrato on. Notes lower or higher come with a little more
difficulty. Eventually you should be able to get vibrato throughout
the range of the harmonica, then you will have good tone. Vibrato
should not be too fast, moderate speed gives best results.
Experiment with both methods above. Find out which example works
best for you and then practice daily. Good luck and good vibrato!
SUMMARY
This completes this section of DIATONIC TIPS for now. Many of the
techniques you learn through study of this material will be useful
on the chromatic and other harmonicas. I have attempted here to
give you some information not available in most other harmonica
methods. This is by no means a complete method in itself. Study
from other harmonica methods, listen to recordings and develope
your style. I don't think there is any single method and there are
no shortcuts to becoming a musician. Remember the three rules of
musicianship; practice, PRACTICE, P R A C T I C E !
I hope this material helps you. I would be interested in any
comments or suggestions you might have.
SPECIAL CREDIT
I would like to thank my favorite mentor, Julian Hall, of Chicago,
whom I met and studied under at a Murad - Pedersen Harmonica
Seminar in Akron. His teachings and encouragement not only improved
my playing but gave me the desire and ability to pursue teaching
harmonica myself. A dream which was a long time in coming true.
Jack N. Ely
Diatonic Tips - Page 8
(Use this MUSIC WORK SHEET to draw your practice exercises)
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Diatonic Tips - Page 9
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