Feedback on My Beginner-Friendly Harmonica System 🎶

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Hi everyone!

I’ve been learning the diatonic harmonica for a few years, and as a beginner, I often struggled with playing simple songs. To make it easier, I developed a visual system that uses colors to guide playing:

Red = Blow
Green = Draw
The idea is simple: follow the notes as they move towards a simulated harmonica base. Play the note when it touches the corresponding hole and hold it until it disappears. This method helped me a lot when I was starting out, and I think it could be useful for other beginners too.

To test this system, I created an arrangement of Oh! Susanna, one of the most popular folk songs for harmonica. The song is repeated three times in the video, each time with a different rhythm:

2/4 for a simple, traditional feel.
3/4 for a soft version.
4/4 for a rock version.
I’ve made two free videos for this song:

A video with a simulated MIDI harmonica showing how the system works.
Link: https://youtu.be/a3lFTYWJoGs
A video with the backing track only for independent practice.
Link: https://youtu.be/p7r0Mv2SKxc
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you think this system could be helpful for beginners? Any suggestions on how to improve it?

Thanks in advance for your feedback and for making this community such a great place to learn! :blush:

Best regards,
Gerardo

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I’m autistic and I have a problem with numbers, it was not so when I was younger but for some reason now I’m older I really struggle, I think this color coding system is frankly a brilliant Idea. I really do struggle to read tab, especially with all the other little symbols too., which I find all the more off putting. I will give this a go later and let you know how I get on.

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Thank you so much for sharing this, and for your kind words about the system! :blush: I’m really glad to hear that you find the color-coding helpful—it was designed to make things simpler and more accessible for everyone, especially beginners.

I completely understand how challenging traditional tabs can be with all the symbols and numbers. That’s one of the reasons I developed this method: to create a more intuitive way to learn and enjoy playing the harmonica.

Please take your time to explore the system, and I’d love to hear how it works for you! Your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps me improve what I share. Thank you again, and I’m here if you have any questions or need support. :musical_note:

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Amazing system!

I too have thought of how to better write down music that is understandable by myself and others.

Your solution is far better than anything I’ve come up with, so far :wink:.

My problem is that when I look at just about any music, I seem to get a disconnect with my brain. While I can play a decent version of O Susanna by touch and feel, when I look at the colors going into the holes, and try to follow, I get hopelessly lost.

This isn’t a criticism of your system, which is incredible, rather a reflection that we all learn a bit differently.

As I’m playing, I rarely think of which hole I am playing or whether I blow or draw. After learning the song by trial and error, my mouth seems to somehow remember what to do.

As for your program, keep at it, one of these days I’ll be able to make the connection, and I’m sure your system will work for many people!

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Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful feedback! :blush: I’m really glad to hear you think the system is amazing—it means a lot!

You’re absolutely right: everyone learns differently, and it’s fascinating to see how trial and error and muscle memory work so well for you. My goal with this system is to offer an additional way for people to learn, especially for those who might struggle with traditional tabs or need a visual guide.

No pressure at all—if and when you decide to give it another try, I’d love to hear how it goes for you. In the meantime, I’ll be adding more songs to the system, including pieces designed to help players practice bending techniques. Your support and encouragement mean so much, and I’ll definitely keep refining and sharing the system! :notes:

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Hi, this is really interesting.

Off the cuff, I see this as a fun “guitar hero for harmonica” thing to get people interested using a format they may be familiar with. There was a funny video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vBfzPfOq2I. There’s also similarity to the channel “Sheet Music Boss” which famously used a similar approach for Rush E: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qskm9MTz2V4

From an instructional design standpoint, it is too much too fast. Good music education materials go extremely slow and slowly layer skills on top of each other. One of the primary reasons people invent new ways of teaching these kinds of things is impatience, boredom with fundamentals, and wishing it would go faster. And through the process of inventing their own system, they end up building those skills…that they would have built anyway with good instructional materials. A great example would be the Alfred piano books that kids use (the Adult version is too fast for most adults). There’s songs in there that use just two notes. Some very methodical thinking about how you move from one note to the next is likely the key to making something like this work.

From a learning science standpoint, you’ll often see the idea “we all learn differently” used as a reason for building instructional materials out differently for different groups of people. My recommendation is to avoid those justifications, because generally learning research doesn’t bear it out. Google “learning styles don’t exist” for a robust explanation, or click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIv9rz2NTUk

Instead, I’d recommend justifying the design based on it being interactive, accessible and fun. Those are better justifications from a factual perspective.

From a harmonica player standpoint, I do wonder if something like this would have made that initial period simpler. Maybe it would?

Music education has a peculiar aspect to it - if you go “fun forward” then you end up with students who won’t push through challenges, and will instead focus on the things that are fun and make them feel powerful. This is especially true for blues harmonica. I know one teacher who won’t teach students pentatonic scales until they’ve already learned major, minor, and modes. Interestingly, most method books outside of guitar do the same thing. The reason? Once you teach them that scale, the student will think, “cool, sounds good, guess I’ve learned everything I need to know!”

So I think if you were to press ahead with this (and you 1000% should!!), you’ll want to think through those kinds of things carefully so that you can build a progressive course of study that gets people from zero to 1 in a slow and methodical fashion.

I’m getting long-winded, so if you are interested to know more, send me a direct message. You can also reach me through my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@PeterHogie

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Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback and for taking the time to share your insights! :blush: Your comparison to “Guitar Hero for harmonica” and “Sheet Music Boss” really resonates—it’s great to know the system feels familiar yet innovative.

You’re absolutely right that the version of Oh! Susanna I posted might be too fast for absolute beginners. For most songs in the method, I include versions that start at a very slow tempo and gradually increase to performance speed. For example, here’s a progressive version of Oh! Susanna that starts at a very slow BPM and builds up gradually:
:point_right: Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TjTXGxf6AE

Additionally, to support learners, I provide three key tools:
Simplified Progression Chart:

Version 1
Version 13406Ă—1844 337 KB

This chart helps beginners follow the note progression while listening to the backing track or practicing independently at their own pace. They can start with just a few notes or work through the entire piece as they feel comfortable.

Full Sheet Music with Visual Aids:

Spartito OH Susanna
Spartito OH Susanna1920Ă—1372 176 KB

This includes the traditional sheet music but with added visual cues below each note, showing the pitch, the hole to use, and whether to blow or draw. This bridges the gap between beginner-friendly tools and standard notation, helping learners build confidence with classic sheet music.

  1. MP3 Audio Tracks:
    I also provide MP3 files with both guided and non-guided versions of the songs. These allow students to practice with the guidance of the audio or independently at their own pace. This also helps them become accustomed to reading traditional sheet music while playing, which is no small achievement!

The goal of this method is to make the harmonica more accessible to absolute beginners, both young and old, and to guide them through their first steps with this wonderful instrument.

However, I must firmly emphasize that no method can replace the value of real teachers, like the incredible instructors we are lucky to have here on this forum, such as @luke and @JP Allen. Their expertise and guidance are essential for anyone looking to truly master the incredible potential of the diatonic harmonica.

Thank you again for your kind words and encouragement—I deeply appreciate your support! If you have more thoughts or suggestions, I’d love to hear them. :blush::notes:

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Sounds like you are well on your way!

In partĂ­cular I like this :point_down:

I also went through the second version and was able to follow it!

Amazing what a little slowdown does. The colors help me to anticipate a blow or a draw, and the position tells me where to go. I like it very much and see how it can be useful for others.

@Hogie.Harmonica, I love the video you posted on the Harmonica Hero spoof, and your commentary on Learning Styles is very insightful :thought_balloon: :memo: It definitely makes me think twice about the old adage that everyone learns “differently”. What we have always supposed to be isn’t always so

Oh,and by the way, Rush E is AMAZING. :+1:

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How would you do symbols for bends on this,and other effects. I find this interesting because I have struggled for years with standard harp tab. I’ve had a bit of a go at it find it easier to follow. I would particularly love to know how it would work for blues ( loads of effects in blues)

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The bends and effects are where things seem to get tricky. Based on @Luke 's advice, I like to think of things in intervals. This helps with the Blues Scale since it is just an another interval. As I understand sheet music, the blue note is indicated on the staff itself.

With all my tests and variations, standard musical notation still seems to be the most flexible and intuitive. The visual rising and falling of notes on a staff still seems to be unbeatable

Nevertheless, I’m sure we will all try our own ways. For now I’m intent on learning to be able to read music and to annotate what I write.

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Hi Andy,

Thank you so much for your kind words and for giving my system a try! I’m really glad to hear you find it easier to follow compared to standard harp tab—that’s exactly what I aimed for when I created it.

For bends, I use additional colors to represent them. For example:

  • Yellow: Draw bend -1
  • Turquoise: Draw bend -2
  • Orange: Draw bend -3
  • Brown: Blow bend -1
  • Blue: Blow bend -2

These colors help clearly indicate the type and depth of the bend, making it easier to identify and play accurately.

If you’d like to see a practical example, I recommend this specific exercise for bending on Holes 1 and 4:

In this beginner-friendly video, you’ll practice draw bends to shift notes from D to C# and back, both with a glissando (D → C# → D) and direct changes (D, C#, D). Bent notes are highlighted in yellow, making it clear when and how to play them.

The exercise alternates between a guided cycle and a silent cycle, allowing you to practice independently and verify if you’re hitting the notes correctly. It’s designed to improve your pitch control and bending precision.

As for other effects, I haven’t fully developed visual indicators for techniques like vibrato, overblows, or slaps, but I’m actively exploring ideas. The system could definitely be expanded to include symbols or animations for effects commonly used in blues harmonica.

Blues, with its rich use of bending, vibrato, and expressive techniques, is a fascinating challenge. I believe my system could be a great starting point for beginners to approach blues playing, and I’m open to suggestions on how to refine it further.

Thank you again for your feedback and interest! If you have specific ideas or techniques you’d like to see represented, feel free to share—I’d love to discuss them with you.

Best regards,
Gerrix

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Hi ,HarpinBobbyMcB

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I completely agree that standard musical notation is an incredibly powerful tool, especially for those who can read and interpret it. The way the staff visually represents the rising and falling of notes is indeed unmatched for clarity and flexibility.

My system is designed more as a complement to traditional notation, particularly for absolute beginners who might find the staff overwhelming at first. It’s a stepping stone to help them understand intervals, note relationships, and timing in a simplified way before transitioning to reading sheet music.

In fact, I recently posted a video on YouTube designed specifically to help beginners learn both harmonica basics and how to read sheet music. This video is just an easy introduction, but I plan to create more exercises with increasing levels of difficulty to support learners as they progress. You can check it out here:

Regarding bends and effects, I find them to be one of the most challenging aspects to represent in any system. Your point about thinking in intervals is very insightful—I’ll keep that in mind as I refine my approach.

Best regards,
Gerrix

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I will certainly give this a go my wife is off out to visit her othedaughter and the grandkids before they go back to school so I’ll have a few hours to play with it

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I had been thinking about how to best represent bends on your system, and I think you’ve got a pretty good solution with the Yellow color and showing how it bends down on the harmonica in your video here :point_down:

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Well, I’ve had a go at this, and it was great. I think you’ve got something here.

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Thank you so much for your feedback! :blush:

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@Andy2
Thank you so much for trying it out and for your feedback! :slightly_smiling_face: I really appreciate what you said. Thanks!"

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Yes Sir! Great work! Need to be able to slow the image down until a person can memorize the song. I hope to see this in your final format.
Best
Wes

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@wes

Hi Wes,
Thank you so much for your kind words and for appreciating my work! I’m glad you find it interesting. I want to let you know that the final version of my software will indeed include the ability to slow down the animations, making it easier for users to memorize songs. At the moment, I can only export videos, but I’m continuously working to improve the system.
By the way, I’m not sure if you’ve seen it yet, but on my YouTube channel, there’s a version of Oh Susanna designed specifically for beginners. It starts very slowly and progressively increases in speed with each cycle. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/4TjTXGxf6AE
Additionally, for Oh Susanna, I provide a downloadable link with a progression that includes a color-coded tablature, indicating the hole and note to play, similar to this example:

OH SUSANNA
OH SUSANNA1920Ă—1190 130 KB

This way, it’s possible to practice playing it without the video backing track, helping users get comfortable with all the notes. :slight_smile:

Just today, I added three new videos to my channel to practice the C major scale at different speeds, tailored to various skill levels:
1 For absolute beginners: BPM 30-60
2 For beginners with some experience: BPM 60-90
3 For advanced beginners: BPM 90-120
Here’s the link to the playlist containing all three scales in progressive speeds: Major Scale Practice - C Major.
I hope these resources help, and I’m always open to feedback to improve my method further!
Best regards,
Gerrix

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