Re: [Harp-L] Harmonica for Dummies - anything simpler?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Michael.

You can ask the author directly - that's me.

No, you don't need to be able to play the examples in Chapter 3 before you can move on.

Note that some things are labeled as "Example" and other things are labeled as "Tab."

Only the things labeled as "Tab" are things you need to play. The rest are just that - examples - of what something looks like, or maybe sounds like, which you can hear on the CD. It helps a lot for you to be aware of these things, but don't need to master them at this early stage. 

The place where you actually start playing is in "Part II - Making Some Music." Start there with Chapter 4, which will get you oriented with breathing, holding the harmonica, getting it in your mouth, and playing some chords and simple rhythms, and then turning the rhythms into a song.

Chapter 5 gets you playing single notes, and starting to play melodies - again, starting with very simple things and progressing to things that will help you get through some of the strange things about how the notes are arranged on the harmonica.

And everything moves on from there.

Since writing the book nearly two years ago, my teaching has continued to evolve. I have supplemental exercises to what's in Chapter 4 and 5. Contact me offline for more info (or, if you're in the San Francisco area, you can take my courses at the Jazzschool in Berkeley).

Thanks for getting Harmonica For Dummies. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about it.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

Resident expert at bluesharmonica.com

Harmonica instructor, jazzschool.com

Columnist, harmonicasessions.com

--- On Mon, 5/31/10, PMichael Rodgers <pmiker@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: PMichael Rodgers <pmiker@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Harmonica for Dummies - anything simpler?
To: "harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, May 31, 2010, 7:15 AM

I have the Harmonica for Dummies book (and others).  I have been stuck in Ch. 3 (music theory) for some time.  Am I really expected to be able to play the examples before proceeding to chapter 4?  I know about halfs, quarters and eighth notes and such.  I can tell that one note is higher/lower than the next and if I think about it, I can name the note on sheet music.  Not great but enough to follow along in a hymnal.  But the examples!  arrrrrgh.  They are killing me.  If I just listen and move on, will I suffer in later chapters?