Everyone is playing blues, folk, pop. Maybe jazz. Maybe Celtic tunes which lands well on the harmonica.
But I am wondering if anyone is playing/trying to play genres which do not seem to be suited for the harmonica: electro, hip-hop, whatever. I have a friend who has been working for sometimes on adapting Fela Kuti “Zombie” on the harmonica (but OK he might be the best harmonica player in Japan).
Sometimes I have urges when listening to a song to play it on the harmonica, often with little success. Unlike my friend, I have been playing for only 2 years and am in the process to switch to tongue blocking. So my lack of technique, licks and experience is a major limiting factor. At the same time I feel that if I wait to master a lot of technics before diving into genres which might be hard to adapt to the harmonica, I’ll wait forever.
Currently I started to work on the lo-fi hip-hop track “Feather” from legendary Japanese DJ Nujabes. I managed to figure out all the piano notes and bought a Db harmonica for that and I am working on playing it properly at slow speed. But I will then have to adapt it at some point because simply looping the same 20 notes even for a minute is going to be boring. That works for the song, but that is not going to work for me alone on the harmonica.
Anyway I am curious to hear from everyone’s experience, what you are successfully able to adapt and not. And how do you approach/adapt such songs.
@toogdog both are great. Although I am not in heavy metal at all it is great playing! Do I get it correctly that in the first one you are “reproducing” the lead guitar and the relaxing one, you play along?
I technically play mostly rock and country music (which both used to have strong ties to the harmonica) with a little bit of gospel and blues sprinkled in there, but I personally don’t identify with a specific genre label because I was often gatekept from identifying with one solely for my influences. Many years ago, a couple harmonica players on Facebook told me that I can’t identify as a blues or country harmonica player mainly because of who I cite as my biggest influence, Terry McMillan.
TL;DR, I always loved how Terry could make the instrument have this big, soulful “voice” to the point where it sounded like the harmonica was in tears. Not only did he have a very warm and powerful tone, but the way he used throat techniques like vibrato and growls to create this emotional sound that made me want to pursue music and have that kind of style whenever I played. Even when I was in my blues phase, I still wanted to incorporate some of Terry’s phrasing into my own style as a lot of his licks were essentially blues harmonica with a country accent. “Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til The Sun Comes Up)” by Garth Brooks is an amazing example of what Terry could do with the instrument.
However, certain people in both country and blues harmonica viewed Terry as not being a good harmonica player. For the blues purists, he was dubbed as “not real blues” because he wasn’t an exact copy of Little Walter or a post-war Chicago bluesman. For the country purists, he was “too bluesy” to be considered to fit their rigid definition of country playing (old time fiddle tunes, pre-war folk music, and mimicking Charlie McCoy). Both camps of purists tried to enforce rules onto me about what I should use and how I should play instead of letting me develop my own sound for years. Even if I shared anything positive that happened to me as a musician, I’d get called insults and smear campaigns were made about me.
There’s people out there who still try to label me as not a real blues harmonica player because of my influences, but I actually don’t label my sound at all. I’ve always said about the harmonica that it’s a personal instrument. What I mean by this is that it is defined by what you want use and how you want to play more than following strict guidelines set by others. A lot of harmonica players have this certain perspective that everybody should have the same influences, gear, playing style, et cetera as them and anybody else who deviates from that is considered to be “not authentic”. However authenticity isn’t about following rules so strict that you lose your own sense of identity on the instrument, it’s about sounding like yourself despite what others might do to control how you play.
Thank you everyone for sharing. I guess the main two approach are to either replace one of the song’s instrument by the harmonica, or add the harmonica by playing along.
Has anyone tried to arrange a song to make it a harmonica solo?
I am kind of exploring that at the moment with DJ Nujabes Lo-Fi Hip-Hop. A lot of the riffs (piano, sax…) repeat themselves over and over and that won’t make an interesting harmonica play. So I am exploring picking up several riffs from different of his songs and somehow combine them together. But I lack too much experience. I don’t own enough licks to come up with some nice transitions and I lack experience and music theory to understand when to transition and how (e.g. what chords to go to for a transition), etc.
I was inspired by a native American flute player this weekend, so I am on a minor quest to find or create some native American music on and for the harmonica. I will keep you posted on my success or failure in this arena
I play a wide variety of songs that fit a a harp well. I look for tunes that require I move up and down the harp quickly and rhythm is essential, Moon River is a simple tune but the rhythm takes some time to play right. I am trying to learn the sound track from the Dances With Wolves. It is on U Tube and played by Victor Durain. This one is a beast as the rhythm changes often, bends are played and single note play essential. El Condor Pasa by Robles is another tune that will test your single note play and rhythm as well as high end draw play. I pick a tune based o what I need to improve on the most. I take a beating but win the war. D W W sound track is still a work in progress but given the amount of time I have been play it I am satisfied so far. EPC is down pat and initially I just wanted to one line down right. Point is work on what you feel is your weakest link. If you are tired and figure out one thing in a practice session I think its time well spent. The harp played well requires different things like bending, single note plat, etc. Ever time you master a given aspect it is another link in your chain, the longer it is the better, I speak only for what helps me the most.
There are two ways to approach this. 1. Apply the style that is already “you” to other genres. 2. “Learn” their structures like scales and rhythms. I’ve been doing a whole bunch of #1 for 60 years (under the radar) winning national awards and having at least one album go platinum. So yes, it can be successful even by industry standards. Here’s one example. Scroll to movement 1 “Filisko’s Dream.” Corky Siegel Music — Symphonic Blues A Life-Long Musical Journey by Corky Siegel from 1966 culminating in 2024 and beyond . With the same idea I’ve toured extensively with the Indian violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam, but I wasn’t playing Indian Classical, I was bringing the blues mode to the Carnatic mode. One of these works is with Bollywood star singer Kavita Krishnamurti on this recording. Hope this opens up possibility for you - Corky
Hi Keroro. I found out that there’s no such thing as a purist when it comes to music or art. That concept is really only a sociopolitical perspective that unfortunately limits people’s experiences of the richness available in the arts, for audience and player. What’s important, ultra important, is that each of us does what each of us does without compromise. Our individuality is our greatest gift and the greatest gift we have for the world. If we follow, the deepest desires of our minds and hearts and bodies regarding our art, we are then deeply connected to what we are offering to audience and ourselves. I believe, and I experience this constantly, that whether people say it or not, they want us to share that. I could go on forever on this topic, but I think you get the idea. And thank you for what you do. - Corky
@Corky_Music It is always wonderful to read your truely inspirational advice that comes from actual experience. I’m sure everyone here agrees and is grateful for the fact that you take the time to share your wisdom with us. Kind fact based advice with no agenda other than sharing aquired knowledge is so rare.
@Mugen I had a project doing harmonica with hip hop some years ago: Spotify
I play a ton in funk, reggae, and fusion genres. @Carlos1 Konstantin can play ANYTHING. He’s one of my favorite living harmonica players for sure. @Corky_Music Love Filikso’s Dream! Thank you so much for sharing that. Nice bend control bro!! That one blow bend 5 or 6 minutes in was especially impressive. And of course the final draw bend. Beautiful stuff. Have you and Dr. L subramaniam recorded together as well? I’ve been really into trying to emulate Carnatic music on the electric guitar recently.
Thank you all. Thank you Luke. Check out the surfer music by Dick Dale. He was playing middle eastern music on his guitar in the 50s and created a bunch of hits in that genre. “Richard Anthony Monsour, known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known as ‘The King of the Surf Guitar,’ which was also the title of his second studio album.” Also check out Vishnu Mohan Batt. For the album I highlighted I’’m playing on only one track and that’s with both Kavita and Subramaniam. Subramaniam wrote the work for me in 1999. And then they turned it into a Kavita feature. And FYI: The 1st movement of Symphonic Blues No. 6, (I wrote in 2007) is called “Filisko’s Dream” because the middle notes on that harmonica are tuned in what I call “open” tuning. ie. the 5th hole draw is the tonic and you can bend it down to the 7th chord tone replicating 2 hole draw. The 6th hole is also tuned up. And I took a bunch of lessons from Joe in helping me to learn how to tongue block (Billy Branch showed me the first time). It’s funny, I got to play and hang with all the masters like Little Walter who sat in with me and Jim in 1965 but I stuck only with single notes all those years.
But I diverge. The point I make is that staying in your own mode and bringing that to other other genres, or learning the structure and mission of other genres and bringing that on harmonica (or any instrument) can be both successful or unsuccessful in music industry standards, but always successful as an artistic endeavor. LOL! You know what mean? LOL! Music is such a gift to us. Let’s never look a gift harmonica in the mouth. LOL!
And of course the final draw bend. 
Beautiful stuff. Have you and Dr. L subramaniam recorded together as well? I’ve been really into trying to emulate Carnatic music on the electric guitar recently.