Learn How to Play the Harmonica
Everything You Need...
My name is JP Allen, welcome to my harmonica site. Here's me doing what I love most, teaching the harmonica...
Would you like to immediately receive a INSTANT FREE DOWNLOAD OF JP's HARMONICA VIDEO that will accelerate your ability to have fun playing the songs you love?!
Learn the shortcut secrets to instantly playing 99% of all blues, country, folk, rock, and gospel music out there. (Most songs are stunningly easy, once you know the simple tricks that professionals use).
You will also get:
Instant Download of JP's Harmonica Songbook (110 of the worlds most popular Harmonica songs including, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Amazing Grace, Piano Man, Christmas Songs, etc...)
A Special Report on “THE BEST AND WORST HARMONICAS FOR BEGINNERS”
You will receive entertaining and instructional Harmonica Videos for free. Skip years of frustration by learning two chords used by most blues, gospel and country harmonica players! (a technique that any child can learn in minutes will enable you to play over 50 rippin’ blues and country chugs)
And here's some our latest articles...
Harmonica Store How to Play Harmonica Tabs
A large family of harmonica instruments
There is a large family of harmonica instruments - you may want to take a look at all of these to see which kind of harmonica you want to learn how to play. The main ones in the family are:
Diatonic harmonicas (also known as blues harps, mouth organs, or just plain "harmonica")
Diatonic harmonicas are the best-known harmonicas in the West, including the U.S., Canada, and Europe. They are loved for their tone, their versatility and portability, and the fact that they can fit into harmonica holders so you can play other instruments with them at the same time. In recent years breakthroughs in diatonic harmonica playing technique have been made, such that they can be played chromatically (playing all the sharps and flats). This is done by a combination of bending, overblowing, and overdrawing, all playing techniques (virtually) unique to the diatonic harmonica.
There also are special-tuned diatonic harmonicas - here's a demo of the Hohner 365SBS
Here's how to get started learning to play the diatonic harmonica
Chromatic harmonicas are set up so that the sharps and flats of a scale are acheived mechanically, through various combinations of button/slide-in and slide-out. Chromatic harmonicas are widely used for playing classical and jazz music, and also for pop, funk and blues. Famed musician Stevie Wonder created a wonderfully distinct style of chromatic harmonica playing.
Tremolo and Echo harmonicas (double reed instruments)
Tremolo and Echo harmonicas are the most popular harmonicas in the Orient. They have not just a single row of holes like the diatonic and chromatic harmonicas have, but instead have two rows of holes, one above the other. Octave harmonicas have the upper row of holes an octave higher than the lower holes. Tremolo harmonicas have the upper row of holes slightly detuned from the bottom row, producing a wavering, vibrato effect. The Tremolo and Echo harmonicas produce a thick and beautiful sound without the need for bending and single note techniques.
How to take care of harmonicas
