new to harmonica
I am 64 years olds and have decided I want to learn how to play the harmonica. Should I start in the levels of Achievement?? Open to any suggestions. I am lost. Is it to late in life for this? I just bought the Hohner special 20 in C
Thank You for the input. Like I said this is the first try at all of this and iam sure it's going to be a lot of work.
I started out with the C harmonica because that is what I saw a lot of people said. Just trying to get single notes right now.. IT's hard. But then I guess anything worth doing is. I always wanted to do this and want to stick with it. Thanks
Lots of effort, a bit of frustration, but all turns out to be fun not work. If you have any kind of musical background a lot of the mental side of this is a piece of cake. If not, David holds your hand really well and makes it easily understood.
One other tip. I download all the material I'm going to need to my PC and keep separate LOA files. That includes the study songs and their corresponding jam tracks. When listening using my PC the built in speakers are rather poor so I have inexpensive external speakers. I also move the music to iTunes. My plan is once I've got enough jam tracks I'll burn them to CD so I can play them on a real stereo and use amplified harp to match the volume increase.
I would recommend as well to follow the LOA program. At first I had a C harp too and had fun with it but was really challenged to learn anything worthwhile or even play musically. However, after joining bluesharmonica.com my eyes are now wide open to the endless enjoyment playing harp provides. At first you will find it challenging but surprisingly you will find you are able to play the lessons in a short time. Keep with it as you develop your skills.
The best advice I believe is to go at your own pace as there is a ton of information to digest. Take it slow and methodical and you will find success.
Best of luck.
John
You can do it. One of the comments Mr Barret says somewhere which amuses me and inspires me is "You will be become a good harmonica player. You just don't know how long it will take." So just nibble away at it. Playing that first LOA level along with the backing track is a wonderful feeling of achievement and it isn't as hard as you might think once you get the tune in your head. The material is great fun to play and listen to and it gives you a focus..
I am new also and I am trying to follow the lessons - I seem to be a little lost at times but I am pushing thru ( I think ) I watched the videos then started a lesson tonge blocking single note and then slid into walk with me 1st chorus and wondered where the tabs were ???? and then went up and printed off the song to have the tabs and then listened to the music and followed the sheet music - do I seem to be doing this right ??? I am not a computer person but do want to learn the harp any helpfull suggestions would be appretiated .
Kroman532,
I think it's a great time in life to take up the harmonica. I got serious about it @ 65y/o and have to admit there are a few things that it seems to take a little more time to pick up then it might have 30 years ago. I agree with other replies regarding the LOAs, they make a nice frame work. At the same time I'd recommend that you go back to all the old "camp songs", etc. that you learned as a kid. I think it really helps to build a good stock pile of melodies that you can play as part of your basic foundation. Also, good choice on the special 20. As for Keys, you have the "C" and "A" would be my next choice. Those two will take you a long ways. I also wouldn't be in a hurry to buy more keys then that. Your LOAs will force you to get others in time..ie: Bd, G, low F. For now make sure you play that thing every day and have fun with it.
Best wishes - McRick
Similar age group but I've been playing a bit longer than you. Went back to work my way through LOA from the beginning to make sure I didn't gloss over anything important. Really glad I did and I recommend LOA highly. You will need an A harp and a G harp but I think you made a wise decision starting out with a Special 20. With a bit of mechanical tweaking that you can eventually learn from this site the Special 20 can be a relatively inexpensive instrument that many top notch players rely on.
One thing about LOA. David lays out the path quite well but you still have work to do. Some of the recommended other material such as watching lessons given to students Joe Tartaglia and Ryan doesn't track LOA perfectly so you'll have to hunt a bit to find a good order to watch them. And there's the myriad of interviews that present a formidable amount of material though order isn't as important. I think many watch the interviews based on who their favourite players are. For the most part I don't do it that way. I'm trying to figure out who has the most to offer someone at my level.
The other thing is if I was to recommend a site change it would be to give the student the ability to check off videos they've already seen. Right now I keep a LOA file on my iPad to track my progress so it's a manual process at my end.