lessons beginner

Welcome to the site Daniel. The site is designed to use the A and G Harmonicas for the beginning lessons, but for those like yourself that only have the C Harmonica, you can find the lesson here: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/c_harmonica_intro_lesson

Best wishes on your studies!

Hello Gary. Welcome to the site.

The use of the 5 draw (F) with the 4 draw (D) is commonplace in the blues... it's actually the most common way to present the 4 draw. You're right, too much of the 5 draw is very dissonant, so the art is in learning how to add just a touch of the 5 draw for thickness. Practice just allowing a sliver of air to enter into the 5th hole until you feel it has the just the right amount of bluesy sound without the 5 draw overpowering the 4 draw.

Most instruments are designed to play any note, and can thus play in any key... one instrument equals all keys. The harmonica is built to play in one key, so to play music we need to have twelve keys of harmonica. With a standard instrument you learn its note layout once and you're done. With the harmonica, the notes found in every hole and bend are different for each key of harmonica.

So, to learn how to read music as a diatonic harmonica player requires you to not only memorize all twelve of your major scales (D E F# G A B C# D for the D Major Scale or Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab for the Ab scale for example), but to also memorize the note layout for each key of harmonica. This is asking a lot.

There is a simple, and common, way around this in the music world, and it's called C Score. Since each harmonica is constructed intervallically the same (the 1+ of each harmonica is the first note of its scale, the 2+ is the third note of its scale, etc.), if you memorize one harmonica, then you know all harmonicas. If you play the first chorus of "Walk with Me" for example, you can simply grab any other key of harmonica and as long as you play the same blows, draws and techniques, it's the same melody, but in a different key, without any work on your part to play this song in another key... you just picked up a different harmonica... the harmonica did the key change work for you.

So, with this in mind, you learn how to think music on a C Harmonica and the positions it can play in (1st Position = C, 2nd Position = G and 3rd Position = D), and as long as you use a harmonica position chart to make sure you're using the correct harmonica, in the correct position for a given key, you're good to go.

In regards to the A Harmonica. As I just stated, it doesn't matter which harmonica you use to study, because we'll use all of the keys of the harmonica on a regular basis, it's part of what we have to do to make music. With this said, the G, A, Bb, C, D and F are the most common harmonicas. I choose the A Harmonica because it is by far the most widely used harmonica in the blues world. By starting with the A Harmonica you benefit by becoming comfortable (especially bending) on the instrument you'll use the most.

Position playing is a challenging concept to rap your mind around as a new player, but with time these ideas will become more concrete. Keep it simple... 1) You're using the A Harmonica because it's the most common harmonica... 2) When reading music it will be in the universal Key of C (no sharps or flats, making it easy to think about... all the white keys on the piano)... and 3) As long as you use the provided position chart, then you'll be guaranteed to match when playing with other musicians.

For further information on positions I suggest you study my lesson here: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/understanding_position_playing