Trash Guide to the Harmonica

Me playing the Harmonica under a picture of Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer (taken by me)

I bought a Harmonica this summer in hopes that I could finally learn at least one musical skill (and all my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs). Unfortunately, I think i chose a poor one for myself personally, between being slightly asthmatic and going in completely blind. But I have so far taught myself a few things that I will share for anyone who wishes to learn the harmonica.

First off, what sort of harmonica to get? Well the answer to that is difficult; you could get a C which is what most people recommend or if you are learning for a specific song, get the key for that song. You can also just buy all of the keys if you have the money and want to do that, personally mine is a cheap $12 C diatonic, I wouldn't recommend any of the other types for starting out, diatonic is like the bare bones.

Next is understanding how to read tabs. Now most tabs are simple, numbers and arrows. Each number is a different hole, usually ranging from -10 to 10, the number dictates which hole and the presence of the - or 'negative' indicates how you breathe. Technically there are two keys in most harmonicas, the key you get when you blow out through the harmonica and the key you get when you suck air through the harmonica. Numbers can be paired meaning you blow through both holes at the same time.

So if I wrote

56 -56 56 -56 56 -56 56 4 -4 4 -4 5

That is the opening of Piano Man, currently the only think I've memorized on the harmonica, though I am close on Springsteen's The Promised Land. The harmonica is definitely way more difficult than I originally though, I haven't been this winded since I ran track. But it is so much fun, because you can really do whatever you want with it, the key is mouth position but I haven't quite figured out the extent of it yet, I'm still learning!