Guitar Harmonica

Guitar Harmonica

How to Play Harmonica With the Guitar

This article will give you a start on learning how to play harmonica with the guitar. It’s not difficult but it does have a knack that the guitar player must develop to play both instruments at the same time.

It seems to be part of the education of a versatile acoustic guitarist to learn how to play the harmonica with the guitar. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and others have made mixing the harmonica with the guitar a musical style all of its own. Instead of instrumental breaks played on the guitar during a song, harmonica solos are easy to compose and play after relatively little practice.

To play harmonica with the guitar you will need a harmonica rack, sometimes known as a harp rack. Not all harmonicas fit into a rack – there are many different types – but your average ten hole harmonica will fit without problems.

The rack goes around your neck and the harmonica snaps right into place with the low notes on the left hand side, just like a piano. To play the guitar and the harmonica at the same time just needs practice. Start by strumming the guitar slowly and evenly as you are getting used to wearing the harmonica and playing it while you strum. Instead of moving the harmonica across your mouth with your hands you have the harmonica in a fixed position and you move your head to get your mouth where you want it to be.

As for buying a harmonica, a ten hole blues harp would be the one for most beginners to start off with. Practically all musical material is available to be played in the key of C, so your first harmonica should be a C. If you want a more bluesy feel in that key, use a G harmonica or play in the second position.

The technique of playing the harmonica with the guitar involves relaxing while your body gets used to the feeling of having the rack around your neck and the harmonica in your mouth. Start playing the harmonica without the guitar at first so you can get the knack of breathing the music rather than sucking and blowing. Don’t try second position playing at the beginning, just get the feel of the whole “breathing the music” thing.

The harmonica is a very simple instrument to play but as you get more experienced with it, you will find the instrument, like all musical instruments, increases its demands on  the player. So don’t imagine that learning to play the harmonica with the guitar will be a walk in the park.

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