Harmonica for Dummies

Are you hankering to play the harmonica? This easy-to-read, practice-oriented guide gives you step-by-step instruction to get you making music in no time! Even if you're an experienced harmonica player, this book is packed with tips to take your playing to the next level.

• Explore your first harmonica — learn how to hold a harp, make your first sounds, and keep it clean
• Find your rhythm — play single notes and simple melodies; shape your sounds with your hands, tongue, and throat
• Bend notes with ease — make that wonderful wailing sound
• Grow beyond the basics — play one harp in many keys, hone your abilities with challenging melodies, and learn how to overblow
• Play popular music styles — from blues and rock to country, folk, and Celtic
• Take it to the streets — develop a repertoire of tunes, play with other musicians, amplify your sound, and perform for an audience

Open the book and find:

• The basics of music theory
• Helpful diagrams of tongue and mouth action
• Music notation and tablature for all the music in the book
• Tips for playing chords, scales, licks, and riffs
• Advice on making simple repairs and upgrades
• Info on nifty accessories
• Harmonica resources and groups
• Tuning layouts for all 12 keys of diatonic harmonicas

This fast, fun, hands-on guide helps you choose your first harmonica and shows you how to hold it, make your first sounds, and keep it clean and working well. Helpful diagrams show you how to shape sounds using your tongue, throat, and hands. Before you know it you’ll be playing melodies, chugging out rhythms, and bending notes with ease. You’ll also pick up some basics of music theory and learn how to read the notation and tablature for all the music in the book. Discover how to:

• Play right out of the box with little or no experience using an inexpensive diatonic harmonica in the key of C
• Make that wonderful wailing sound
• Create exciting rhythms and play solo
• Understand how the harmonica works
• Play all of the music on the Bonus CD
• Read tablature, educate your eye, and develop your ear
• Breath correctly while playing
• Bend notes up and down
• Play one harp in many keys
• Develop your style in blues rock, country, folk, and more
• Play with other musicians
• Work with a microphone to create great sounds

So stop dreaming and start playing! Harmonica For Dummies will get you wailing in no time!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Part I: Getting Started.

Chapter 1: What Is This Thing Called Harp?

Chapter 2: Your First Harmonica.

Chapter 3: The Language of Music: Surveying a Bit of Theory.

Part II: Starting to Make Some Music.

Chapter 4: Relaxation, Breathing, and Rhythm.

Chapter 5: I Hear a Melody: Playing Single Notes.

Chapter 6: Shaping Your Sound.

Chapter 7: Enhancing Your Sound with Your Tongue on the Harp.

Chapter 8: Unlocking a Hidden Treasure: Bending Notes Down.

Part III: Growing Beyond the Basics.

Chapter 9: Positions: Playing One Harp in Many Keys.

Chapter 10: Fancy Playing: Developing Flair and Speed.

Chapter 11: Mastering New Songs.

Chapter 12: Behind the Hidden Treasure: Bending Notes Up.

Part IV: Developing Your Style.

Chapter 13: Blues and Rock.

Chapter 14: Headin' South with Some Country Tunes.

Chapter 15: Fiddlin' the Night Away with Folk and

Celtic Songs and Dance Tunes.

Part V: Taking Your Music to the World.

Chapter 16: Putting It All Together — Your Tunes, Your Band, Your Listeners.

Chapter 17: Amplifying Your Sound.

Chapter 18: Improving Your Harmonica with Repairs and Upgrades.

Chapter 19: Acquiring More Harps and Other Useful Accessories.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Connect in the Harmonica World.

Chapter 21: Way More than Ten Harmonica CDs You Should Hear.

Part VII: Appendixes.

Appendix A: Tuning Layouts for All Keys.

Appendix B: About the CD.

Index.