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Ed Altsin
Ed Altsin
Ed Altsin
ed
ed
No instrument is closer to the heart of the blues
sound than the harmonica.
It's small and it's relatively cheap, but when you really learn how to play it,
it can be one of the most expressive of all the instruments in the band.
Hi, my name is Jimmy Wood and in this video I'll show you how to get started on the blues
harp.
We'll talk about what harp to buy, how to find the right notes, how to blow
and draw, and by the end I'll even have you blow on some blues of your own.
So let's get right on down.
There are two main kind of harmonicas, the chromatic and the diatonic, which is commonly
known as the blues harp.
The chromatic is built to play in all the keys, like a saxophone, and it has a button
or key that you find your different notes with, it gives you half steps with that.
Blues players, though, almost always play the smaller, cheaper blues harp.
It's really got the sound you think of when you think harmonica, like this.
Blues harps come in different keys, and a professional harp player carries around a
case full of harmonicas just to be ready, and this is my case.
You only need one to get going, though, and I think a good key to start with is the key
of A, which has a nice deep tone.
The key is usually stamped on the metal on the side of the harmonica, like this.
If you already have a harp in a different key, everything I show you will still work.
Here's a D harp.
Here's my trusty A harp.
Different keys, same technique.
Harps are pretty simple, so the only thing you need to check when you buy it is each
whole works.
Make sure you do that before you leave the store so you can give it back to them if it
don't work right.
Just blow across all the holes, up and down, and make sure you get a sound like this.
And then like this.
Gotta let you know if there's any clinker notes in that harmonica.
When you look closely at your harp, you'll see that the holes are all numbered, number
one at the left, up to number ten at the right, going from the lowest to the highest sound.
Now I should mention that when I started playing, I did it all backwards, and to this day I
still play the harp upside down, but I'll show you how to play the right way, and the
same rules apply in either direction.
Knowing the numbers is very important when you get started, because at first you'll need
to play by number to know where you are on the harp.
Later on you'll feel it by position, and it'll be much more natural.
To help you out on this video, whenever I refer to a series of holes that you need to
use to play a lick, you'll see a graphic on the screen like this, along with an arrow
showing you whether to blow, or draw.
Okay, I'm going to show you some hand techniques right now.
Basically, you're going to hold the harmonica with your one hand like this.
Now I'm holding mine with my right hand, because I'm a backwards harmonica player, as you remember.
You may be holding it with your left hand, and cupping with your right hand, but I, being
an ass-backwards kind of player, I'm going to play it like this.
I hold it with this hand, and then I bring this hand over, and I have my thumb secured
on this side of the harmonica, so it gives me a little leverage to play.
So listen, first like this.
Now I'm going to hold it with the high-end.
Also I'm going to give you a little demonstration of holding a mic.
Now a lot of harmonica players use these mics.
The kind I play is an ecstatic.
They also have bullet mics, which are basically the same thing in the same shape, and it's
kind of awkward at first when you start playing this, but you're holding it with your two
fingers here, your little finger and the finger next to that in the palm of your hand, and
then just cupping it over, really holding it, and you're really forcing all the sound
into this little cheap crystal microphone, and it sounds like this.
I'm going to turn it on and sound like this.
Got that?
Now holding it.
Now we'll show you what it's like when the band's playing too.
When you first play, you'll find yourself blowing through several notes at once, and
the sound comes out like a chord.
If you center hole number one in the middle of your mouth and blow, this will produce
the note that is the same as the key on the harp, what they call the tonic note.
If you draw the air in through the same hole, you get a different note, which is the next
note up the scale.
Move your mouth one hole to the right and blow, and you'll get a different note again.
Do this all the way up to hole number ten, and you'll have all the notes on the harp,
except for the ones that I teach you to bend in a little while.
It's not the same kind of scale you get on a piano, because some of the notes jump or
repeat, but it adds up to a scale that has the notes that are essential in playing a
blues melody.
When you blow or draw more than one note at a time, which you'll definitely do when you
first get going, it sounds like that good old campfire harmonica, and you can immediately
rock the house with songs like Oh Susanna.
Let's talk about positions.
When you play campfire style on an A harmonica, you're playing in the key of A. That seems
pretty obvious, but you can actually play a harp in at least two different keys, depending
on what sound you want.
These different sounds are called positions, because of the position you're in when you
play the tonic of the key.
So far, we've been in first position, playing the tonic note by blowing into the first hole.
Most blues harp is played in a different position, which is commonly called cross harp.
The funny thing about cross harp is that you're not playing in the key of the harmonica anymore.
That is, if you're playing an A harp in cross position, you'll be playing in the key of
E.
Confusing?
Here's a good way to figure it out.
Notes in the musical scale are named using the first seven letters of the alphabet.
You can mentally arrange them in a circle, like this.
Now, when you're playing cross harp, you count counterclockwise four steps from the key of
the harp to find the key you'll be playing in.
For instance, counting back four steps from A, you go A, G, F, E. That's your key.
Going the other way, if someone calls out a key and you want to know which harp to use,
you count four steps clockwise to find the right harp.
If the key is in A, then the right harp is A, B, C, D.
If the key is D, then the right harp is G.
Got that?
It's pretty simple.
Now, when you play cross harp, the tonic, or first note of the key, is the note you
find at hole number two by drawing like this.
Then, when you blow and draw across the harp like we did before, you get a different sound.
It's all the same notes, but rearranged in a bluesier scale.
Now, it's time to get away from the campfire and go downtown.
Here's a straight ahead blues using just two different spots on the harp, drawing and blowing
chords with a little bit of feeling like this.
Now watch.
What I'm doing is I'm drawing in at hole number two, and I'm using my mouth and putting my
tongue right in front of my front teeth to get a t-t-t sound.
That gives me my little timing.
When I go to my change, I'm going to be blowing at hole number one, back to hole two, drawing
in, and drawing in on hole number one, back to two, drawing in.
Now, let's play this shuffle together, and to help us out, I'm going to bring out Keith
Wyatt.
He's the mastermind of the whole operation here.
You ready, Keith?
I think so.
Okay.
Here we go.
One, two.
One, two.
One, two, three, four.
Come on, one more time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the blues.
The next step is to learn to play one note at a time.
This technique will give you the control you need to play the kind of phrases you hear
when you listen to a good harp player.
If you look at the little book that sometimes comes along with a harmonica, it will tell
you to use your tongue to block the notes that you don't want to hear in order to make
a single note stand out.
To tell you the truth, I didn't start out this way, and I don't know many people who
did.
The real trick is to form your lips into a very small circle, like you're whistling.
This is what horn players call the embouchure, and it's one of the most important techniques
on the harp.
There's nothing really mysterious about it, it just takes a little practice to get the
hole small enough.
Start by drawing from hole number two as before, but this time tighten your lips until you
hear a single note, like this.
Now do the same thing while blowing, and just keep practicing.
Use that same technique up and down the harp until it feels natural.
It may take a little while, dig.
Remember your breath control.
Blow and draw on the harmonica as normally as you would when you breathe.
It'll give you a nice, pure sound when you play the notes, and it'll keep you from getting
lightheaded.
Now we can start to play some single note phrases over the blues.
The first thing is to play what we did before using holes two and one, but tighten up on
those notes as you do it.
Ready?
Here we go.
Now dig.
That's the chord.
Now we'll do the individual note.
Just tighten up, until we go like this.
Now blowing out, we're going to blow on hole number one.
Back drawing in on number two.
Drawing in on hole number one.
Back to drawing on hole number two.
So put it all together, it sounds like this.
Now roll the tape back and play along with that shuffle we did just a minute ago.
And that's the blues.
Playing blues phrases on the harp is a lot like singing.
You hear a note in your head, and you breathe in and out to make it happen.
In this case, the harp takes the place of your vocal cords.
The thing that all singers do is slide from note to note.
The way you do that on the harp is you bend the notes.
Here's how.
That was done drawing on hole number two.
Now I'm going to do the same note way up on the top of the harmonica.
It's hole number nine.
I'm going to be blowing on this one.
As you draw or blow, you make the inside of your mouth smaller by pushing the back of
your tongue, ah, kind of disgusting, huh, to the roof of your mouth.
So the same amount of air is going through a smaller space.
I'll try it a couple more times and see if you catch on.
I'm just closing the inside of my mouth up, like that.
Now although I'm keeping my armature small to get that individual note, the inside of
my mouth is contracting.
Now to get the high notes, it's the same thing up on the harmonica, but you're blowing.
Those high notes might be a little tricky.
In fact, an easier way to get this may be to start with a chord.
Drawing on hole number three and four, let's try bending there.
Just the same thing.
Pull that air through, and you get that lonesome train sound.
Just like that.
Now I'm going to show you some straight ahead licks using the same techniques you've already
learned.
And when we're finished, we'll put it all together and play some blues.
Blues lick number one.
And I'm playing on holes number two and one, and I'm drawing, drawing, drawing and bending.
Back down to hole number one, drawing, and then bending, and then drawing on hole number
two.
That sounds like this.
Okay?
You got that?
Let's try it one more time.
I'm going to even play a little slower for you right now.
That was lick one.
Here's lick two.
And that's blowing on hole number four, drawing in and bending on hole number three, and then
blowing on hole number four.
So put it together slow, goes like this.
Got that?
Let's try it again.
That was lick two.
Now we'll go back to playing lick one.
And here is lick number three, drawing and blowing on hole four.
Let's do that again.
And then we go back to lick number one.
Like that.
Now I'm going to put them all together for you.
It sounds like this.
That's the blues right there, my man.
Come on.
One, two, one, two, three.
That sounds mean.
We're going to get it there.
Let's do it one more again.
Yeah.
Woo.
That's the blues.
That's the blues.
That's the blues.
That's the blues.
Yeah.
Let's do it one more again.
Now let's go up on stage and see some footage from a concert that was recently taped at
Musicians Institute in Hollywood.
Featuring my fellow musicians Tom Breckline on drums, Roscoe Beck on bass, Henry Brewer
on keyboards and of course Keith Wyatt on guitar.
I think you'll notice that my hair is a different color than that so give me a little credit
man.
I like it like this a lot better.
What do you think?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well that's going to wrap it up for step one.
The next thing I want you to do is take a look at step two where I'm going to show you
how to build your tone and develop a decent vibrato which are essential parts in blues
heart playing.
Between now and then practice the stuff I've shown you and start making up your own licks.
It's always a good idea to listen to the great heart players for inspiration.
I personally recommend Little Walters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry
and Jimmy Reed just to name a few.
Jimmy by the way played a lot in first position the way we started out.
He had a unique sound that a lot of people copied.
Sounds like this.
The others are mostly cross heart players, each with his own identity.
So check them out.
Do some practicing and have some fun with it and be sure to come back for the next round.