For years, the harmonica always stuck out to me. I love the bright sound it brings, and it seems fun to slide up and down the notes. It is hands down, one of the most under-appreciated instruments out there.
So many iconic artists have used the instrument like the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. Every time I heard it in music, I always said to myself “Man, one day, I need to learn the harmonica.”
When I heard songs like Run Around by Blues Traveller or Love Me Do by the Beatles, I fell in love. Because of John Popper of Blues Traveller, I decided to learn the instrument.
The way Popper can play the harmonica is mesmerizing. He can play at a ridiculous pace and utilizes every note.
Blues Traveller intertwined the blues with rock but instead of using guitar, the focal point of the music was the harmonica. It was so different compared to the typical instruments I heard, and I couldn’t help but be intrigued.
I am, by no means, musically gifted in any way. But I thought maybe, just maybe, I could learn this little instrument.
How hard could it be? After all, it’s just blowing in and out. Plus, harmonicas are quite cheap. I went on Amazon and picked up a beginner Harmonica for ten bucks.
My first time with the harmonica was what I think everyone would do. Hold it, blow some notes, and fool around sliding my mouth across the 10 holes. The lower notes are the lower numbers, and the higher notes are the higher numbers. Check. It was smaller than I thought it would be, but I got used to it quickly.
My first goal was to find a song that seemed at my level. Piano Man by Billy Joel was the first song I tried to learn.
I found the tabs, which is a series of numbers telling you which hole to blow, with a negative sign indicating a draw note (A draw note means you’re breathing in), and began playing.
Playing an individual note was a problem I ran in to. I learned i had to make my mouth smaller to avoid playing 3 notes at once.
I practiced, playing slowly, one note at a time.
At times, I got ahead of myself, trying to play it at full pace right away.
After playing for about 20 minutes, I felt comfortable playing the intro to the song.
This is what it is supposed to sound like
And this is how I played it:
I played that intro non-stop. I actually accomplished something. It felt good.
Then when I looked at the tabs for the entire song, I realized that all the harmonica portions are the same. I was able to play every harmonica bit from a well-known song.
It was so cool to me. I can make music rather than a head pounding combination of noises. I had never done that before.
So now what? I know a song. Great.
Now time for another.
I went with the song I mentioned previously, Love Me Do by the Beatles.
This song was more challenging.
In Piano Man, it was very smooth. I didn’t have to slide my mouth across the instrument too much and it was a way slower pace.
I used the same technique. Started out playing slow and found a normal pace.
While playing full pace, I realized that I was running out of air easily.
After looking through countless YouTube tutorials, I was introduced to the technique of cupping my hands around the harmonica and blocking the sound. Instead of playing all those five notes individually, I can just cup my hands as I consistently blow the five holes.
After another half hour of countless attempts, I finally managed to play something half decent.
Here is the real song:
And this is what I was able to play:
My version definitely seems more bland in comparison to how Lennon plays it.
Lennon does these little things that make his version sound so alive. For example, he rolls his tongue into the hole and gets this really cool sound out of it but I can’t even roll my tongue, let alone with a harmonica to my mouth.
And sadly, unlike Piano Man, Love Me Do has multiple different harmonica parts throughout, so learning the intro didn’t mean I could play the whole song.
With how much time it took for me to get the intro, I decided to call it a day on the harmonica.
After just one day of playing, I can tell you that it is way more than just blowing in and out. It’s easy to pick up but seems very difficult to master.
But before I quit, just for some fun, I wanted to try and play one of my favorite harmonica songs, Run Around by Blues Traveller, just to see how I’d fare.
This is what it’s supposed to sound like.
And now my attempt…
Clearly, I need a lot of work.
I couldn’t even make it through the intro without messing up and eventually giving up.
Playing even half the intro will take me months to learn. I think it’s safe to say I won’t be playing like John Popper any time soon, but maybe someday I’ll get there.
