Harmonica: Playing Cross Harp

Hey guys, Josh S. brought in a harmonica this afternoon, and he played a song with me on guitar. Sounded great—way to go Josh!

Harmonica is one of the cheaper instruments, and it's completely portable. There are lots of you who already have one sitting around somewhere. Alpha music sells harmonicas, and you can expect to pay about $20-35 for one. Consider the Hohner brand if you want a great harmonica to learn. I started on a Hohner Big River Harp (harmonicas are also called harps), and now I play the Hohner Special 20 - the same main harp that John Popper of the group Blues Traveller plays. I also understand that Seydel makes great harps and Alpha carries a full stock of those as well. The Session model of Seydel costs about $29 for a really great harmonica.

The first thing you'll notice when you play a harmonica is that you get sound when you exhale and when you inhale. Lots of people want to treat the harmonica like a standard wind instrument where everything is blown into the instrument, but the real trick in getting a cool, bluesy sound is sucking air in - called "drawing" air.

Draw notes are bluesier and cooler than blow notes. Here is an example of the founder of www.harmonica123.com using only draw notes to play the blues. (He is not blowing into the harp at all. He is sucking air back through it)

This type of playing is called "cross harp"

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