[Harp-L] What first attracted you to harmonica? Why did you learn to play it?

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I have a nephew who was playing one. He could not read music, but he was making some cool music. Well I said If he can do it, i have to try. So I am playing in a band now, but there is still a lot to learn.

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> On Mar 5, 2017, at 12:24 PM, Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> I was  probably around five when I saw a plastic banana harmonica.
> 
> I was around 10 when John Sebastian Jr.  played Welcome Back Kotter on the
> John Davidson show.  He played harp and then threw it away over his back.
> Then he pulled out another harp and threw that one away.  Fascinating.
> 
> I was 15 and a camp counselor.  My boss brought a harp to work and let me
> see it.  Instead of playing it for a few seconds, I took it to a corner and
> played for a half an hour.  A kid walked by and said ,"Wow!  Are you a
> professional?"
> 
> A half a year later I bought Jon Gindick's Country and Blues Harmonica for
> the Musically Hopeless.  From the first moment I played it that day,  I
> knew it was my thing.
> 
> The same boss lent me a John Lee Hooker record.  Zero harp.  I loved it and
> said, "I don't care if harmonica has never been played in blues, I'M going
> to play harmonica in blues!"
> 
> I went to the record store.  It became evident immediately that harmonica
> and blues were connected.  The blues section might as well have said
> "Michael Rubin's section"  because every allowance dime went there.
> Michael Rubin
> michaelrubinharmonica.com
> 
>> On Sun, Mar 5, 2017 at 9:42 AM, Slim Heilpern <slim at xxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> Great stories, everyone!
>> 
>> Hear’s mine (in short form):
>> 
>> I had been playing at a very beginner level ever since my dad gave me his
>> one of his well-used super chromonica 270’s when I was 5 years old. I
>> played it a lot for a while but had set it aside once I started playing
>> guitar at age 8. But then in my late teens I was listening to a Django
>> Reinhardt compilation and two songs came on featuring Larry Adler, who I
>> was familiar with via some pop and classical 78s/EPs that my father had in
>> his collection. But here he was swingin’ hard along with Django and I was
>> stunned enough by the performance to get out my old chromatic and start
>> practicing. Not long after I started listening to Stevie Wonder and then
>> Toots. Those 3 gentlemen were and remain, all these years later, a huge
>> inspiration to me. Between them, it’s all there.
>> 
>> - Slim.
>> 
>>> On Mar 2, 2017, at 7:38 PM, Dan Hazen <bluesmandan76 at xxxxx> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I wonder what your stories are...
>> 
>>