I’m about 6 weeks after it dropped on my doormat but just over this last week or so everything has seemed to start to become easier, sweeter, more often than not it’s making noises that sound like I think it should sound (except for when I’m being sloppy or getting lost on the harp initiating those honking unintended notes - all part of learning)
Mine is a Seydel session std (i.e. brass reeds, not the session steel reed model) and it came with a beginner booklet that was very good (pitched about right in terms of content to get you going) and I did struggle at times, convinced mself there were problems with it (yeah, user error of course) but we’ve come through to the point where I’m convinced we’re going to be pals.
So, what the moment like for you when you first truely bonded with the harp in you hand?
Hello @Piglet,
I particularly like my harps because I can often spontaneously replay a song I’ve heard. This means that I know where to find the right notes on the different keys of my harps without having to search.
Never played an instrument in my life until my brother bought me a hohner ozzy Osborne display harmonica kast Xmas . I thought I’d give it a blast around march time and picked up learning techniques really quick and just love playing . I’ve developed a nack of being able to pick up a song by ear and able to play along quite quick !! Which is great at bbq’s and in beer gardens , people seem to be impressed hehehe .
Treated myself to a special 20 and love it to pieces . My old ozzy harp works fine but sp20 seems to give me more confidence. Performed on a pub stage twice now with a pal on ukulele and him singing . Been fantastic !! My pal and me have around 6 songs we can do confidently now and quite a few more in the pipe line !! I’m 51 and learning the harmonica has given me a new lease of life . My social group of friends can’t believe I’ve only been playing a few months , but I keep telling them “your never to old to learn something new”
I got into the harmonica because of Terry McMillan, as mentioned many times before. But the moment that made me love the harmonica as somebody who plays it was learning how to bend and making them growl. The growled bends on 2 draw whole step, 3 draw half step and 4 draw half step were a huge part of Terry’s sound and I thought, even before I started playing, that it was a cool sound and doing that would be hard to learn.
I learned how to play the harmonica on my own back in 2018/2019 and this was long before I met my friend, Todd Parrott. I mainly used Youtube lessons and music from my iPad and CDs to play along with “Ain’t Goin’ Down ('til the Sun Comes Up)” and it was the first song I ever learned to play as a beginner, but it is super difficult because of the amount of dedication and emotion you gotta have in order to play like Terry. People on Facebook used to tell me all the time: “he’s just playing random notes,” “he’s playing basic stuff that anybody could teach you,” “playing like Terry is easy,” and “if anybody could play like Terry McMillan, it would be me”. But they can’t post a video of them playing like him or anything at all and that kinda proves my point that hardly anybody could sound like him.
When I first learned to bend, I knew it was crucial on the harmonica because Terry got most of his expression from bending notes. The first bend I ever got was the 2 draw whole step. When I hit that note, I felt so proud of myself for getting it to sound the way that it did. My hardest bends as a beginner were on the 4 draw and 6 draw. And they are a huge part of Terry’s sound because of the bent warble on 4 and 5 draw and the 6 draw wail. But when I got them down, I learned how to growl as soon as I could.
Growling on the harmonica is my favorite technique to use while playing and I’ll always love it whenever Terry or somebody who’s influenced by him does it. Like I mentioned before, growling is usually done on the lower half of the harmonica, usually on the draw bends. When played with the right intensity with a throaty trilled R, it gives the harmonica a gritty texture to its tone. It’s not a snore coming from your nose, it is your tongue and throat vibrating together to get that raspy sound out of your harp.
I also fell in love with SOUND of the harmonica on recordings when I was 15.
The first harmonica instrument I really fell in love with was a Lee Oskar back in the early 90’s when the Hohner Marine Bands weren’t good out of the box (now they’re GREAT.)
More recently, I fell so deeply in love with my custom Joe Spiers Marine Band Deluxe with a Todd Parrott comb.
The SOUND got me at 16 when the first Paul Butterfield album came out. A musical revelation. Like nothing I’d heard! The liner notes said to turn the volume way up to maximize the listening experience. The next year was my one chance to hear Little Walter in San Francisco – on a bill with Bo Diddley. Walter passed the next year. I wanted that sound – how to play like him or Butterfield?!? (I might as well think I can boil the ocean)
The harp-in-hand “bonding” occurred at 18. A plain old o-o-t-b Marine Band, me trying to master Sonny Boy riffs from “Don’t Start Me Talkin”. I wasn’t getting it right. The James Cotton Blues Band was camped out on the west coast for over a month and I hung out with good friends, guitarist Luther Tucker, and fellow San Franciscan, pianist Alberto Gianquinto. I was spending a lot of time with Cotton but never wanted to impose. Finally, because I was floundering, I asked for help. He took a listen and said, “You got the right notes, but in the wrong order.” He made sure I got it that day. After that first success, I practiced harp every spare minute… and Cotton became my kindly available teacher. He was why and how I bonded with the harp.
Luke - About the time I was bonding with harmonica, Lee Oskar was also living in San Francisco (before War) dating a friend named Kerrie, whose grandparents owned a record store on Geary Street in the outer Richmond district. I never could have visualized what he would do musically or creating a harmonica company. Interesting that your first harmonica, over 20 years later, was a Lee Oskar.
I remember buying a really cheap harp in the 80’s it was a marine band or a blues band something like that. I had little or no idea how to play it. I had a friend who was a pretty good guitarist he knew all about scales he knew that because he was playing in E it would work with my harmonica ( I forgot to mention I’d lost a lung and this had been recommended as therapy for the lung I still had) anyway I don’t know why I instinctively knew what to do. Well there was no Internet back then so I had to go to the Library, I found a book by a guy called Tony Little Sun Glover (I think) which gave me a few more basics. Any way I work in a nightclub at the time and Steve Marriott played there my boss knew I was interested so after much shyness fear and reluctance on my part, Steve insisted I play for him and he taught me some stuff, which I then took home and learned and expanded on. Everytime I saw Steve after that he encouraged me and gave me tips through him I met other amazing people and players I knew him for two years before he tragically died. Then I traveled all over including the USA and basically took a leaf out of Steve’s book (he taught me how to not be so shy and be cheeky) and I got to sit in with and get a few lessons from some of my heroes many of whom are sadly no longer with us. My trip to the US was a dream that come true for me I’ll never forget all my experiences and the friends I made. It was truly one of the best times of my life.
I spent about a year and a half in Baton Rouge looking up the swampy blues players and then a year and a half in New Orleans (Nawlins I heard it referred to many times) I also did the whole blues trail thing and went to Austin Texas a few times Chicago I traveled around with a little band I had. But I messed up on my visas and unfortunately had to return home. I loved every minute there wouldn’t swap that time for anything. Oh I almost forgot I’m a huge Western fan so I also managed to travel to a few historic places too. Deadwood, The OK Corral etc. I admit I did a lot of that sort of thing if I could. History is another passion of mine. In particular music history I love all of that. So Memphis Nashville were also on the Itinerary.
A further add on to this, put in the Corky’s wise words thread. Because before I started playing harp I was in hospital recuperating from wounds I received in battle. I’d lost a lung and was recommended to take up a wind instrument to help my lung expand and become stronger. I remember seeing Corky Siegal perform Billy Jean can you come out tonight on the documentary film about the blues, it blew me away I was just getting into blues at the time but didn’t really know where to start. I listened intently to interviews about Blues back then writing down as many names I could of anyone who was mentioned and going out and buying vinyl records. So it was actually that bit of footage that made me take up harp. I said to my wife earlier it could’ve been worse it could have been flute!!
of course) but we’ve come through to the point where I’m convinced we’re going to be pals.
hehehe .
