How Hard is it to Play a Harmonica

[5andFretless]

Anyone play a harmonica? Our band is going to cover Road House Blues. Since we have a keyboard player anyway we were thinking about letting him cover the bass with his left hand and I could play the harmonica part.

I can play several different instruments and have a good understanding of music. Is the actual technique hard to learn, or does it just take some practice and a good ear?

[bassteban]

Diatonic harps are easy, but only work for one key. They're fairly cheap though, so you can easily bag 3 or 4 & cover a lot of territory. Chromatics(w/the little lever/button that gives you all the sharps & flats)are much more difficult & more expensive.
Either can add a lot to the right tune.

[5andFretless]

I was going to buy a diatonic in the key of A (for a song in the key of E) blues harmonica. I figured for $25 how much could I loose.

[bassteban]

That's exactly what I did(20 years ago; $10-$12 was the going deal then). Immerse it in a glass of warm water- it helps 'seal' the reeds for better volume as well as rinsing out dust & muck. If the comb(the non-metal part)is wood then don't let it stay wet for long; it will mildew. Plastic combs are less finicky.
Get one in C or G if you play w/keyboardists; they use those keys a lot(again- my experience).

[roberthelpus]

My first instrument when I was 12 - inspired by Mayall's Room To Move. The soaking, boiling, thing (with or without salt water) is a last ditch effort to get some more miles out of a harp, and probably not reccomended on some of the newer better ones like the Lee Oskars that you can disassemble and adjust.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

It's been quite a while since i blew through the reeds the last time, some 10 years IIRC.

I remember the straight playing to be really simple, but rather limited, and the cross harp (blues harp) more versatile, but a lot harder.

The basics are really easy to learn, but there's also a challenge there, if You want to get good.

The beauty of a harmonica IMHO is the fact that its rather loud, easy to carry around and quite popular with people. I don't know a soul who doesn't like the sound of a harmonica.

Hohner, Lee Oscar etc. would be good in my book.

Regards
Sam

[Stumbo]

Some good videos,lessons on line.

[XtheDeadPawn]

Well I guess you could say I played one. But, I totally sucked at the time I got it (From my nana who snaged it at Ross no less) I didn't even know what key it was still don't Heck, I'd sell it but, who wants it?
It served well for a toy though.

[BillyRay]

Anyone with an ounce of music in them can get an harmonica to sound good with some practice. I used to play it a lot and even had a phase where it took the front seat to my bass playing.

If you've played wind based instruments and know about breathing and pushing air from your lungs (instead of your cheeks) you'll probably be good to go pretty fast. It does get harder once you get into bending notes, but if it's only to add a little of color to your jams, get an F, C and G harp and you should be good to go.

Lee Oskar makes great harps at a cheap price.