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Harmonica For Dummies

Author: Visit Amazon's Winslow Yerxa Page | Language: English | ISBN: 047033729X | Format: PDF

Harmonica For Dummies Description

From the Back Cover

The fun and easy way to make the harmonica sing and perfect your playing technique!

Are you hankering to play the harmonica? This easy-to-read, practice-oriented guide gives you step-by-step instruction to get you making music in no time! Even if you're an experienced harmonica player, this book is packed with tips to take your playing to the next level.

• Explore your first harmonica — learn how to hold a harp, make your first sounds, and keep it clean

• Find your rhythm — play single notes and simple melodies; shape your sounds with your hands, tongue, and throat

• Bend notes with ease — make that wonderful wailing sound

• Grow beyond the basics — play one harp in many keys, hone your abilities with challenging melodies, and learn how to overblow

• Play popular music styles — from blues and rock to country, folk, and Celtic

• Take it to the streets — develop a repertoire of tunes, play with other musicians, amplify your sound, and perform for an audience

Open the book and find:

• The basics of music theory

• Helpful diagrams of tongue and mouth action

• Music notation and tablature for all the music in the book

• Tips for playing chords, scales, licks, and riffs

• Advice on making simple repairs and upgrades

• Info on nifty accessories

• Harmonica resources and groups

• Tuning layouts for all 12 keys of diatonic harmonicas

Bonus CD Includes

All the musical examples from the book, so you can play along and hear the sound you're striving for

Audio files that let you either play along with the recorded harmonica or play solo with the backing band

About the Author

Winslow Yerxa is a harmonica player with thirty years' experience in a wide variety of musical styles. He is also known internationally as a teacher, author, musical arranger, and recording artist, and is former editor of HIP (the Harmonica Information Publication).

• Product Details
• Table of Contents
• Reviews

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047033729X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470337295
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Introduction.

Part I: Getting Started.

Chapter 1: What Is This Thing Called Harp?

Chapter 2: Your First Harmonica.

Chapter 3: The Language of Music: Surveying a Bit of Theory.

Part II: Starting to Make Some Music.

Chapter 4: Relaxation, Breathing, and Rhythm.

Chapter 5: I Hear a Melody: Playing Single Notes.

Chapter 6: Shaping Your Sound.

Chapter 7: Enhancing Your Sound with Your Tongue on the Harp.

Chapter 8: Unlocking a Hidden Treasure: Bending Notes Down.

Part III: Growing Beyond the Basics.

Chapter 9: Positions: Playing One Harp in Many Keys.

Chapter 10: Fancy Playing: Developing Flair and Speed.

Chapter 11: Mastering New Songs.

Chapter 12: Behind the Hidden Treasure: Bending Notes Up.

Part IV: Developing Your Style.

Chapter 13: Blues and Rock.

Chapter 14: Headin' South with Some Country Tunes.

Chapter 15: Fiddlin' the Night Away with Folk and

Celtic Songs and Dance Tunes.

Part V: Taking Your Music to the World.

Chapter 16: Putting It All Together — Your Tunes, Your Band, Your Listeners.

Chapter 17: Amplifying Your Sound.

Chapter 18: Improving Your Harmonica with Repairs and Upgrades.

Chapter 19: Acquiring More Harps and Other Useful Accessories.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Connect in the Harmonica World.

Chapter 21: Way More than Ten Harmonica CDs You Should Hear.

Part VII: Appendixes.

Appendix A: Tuning Layouts for All Keys.

Appendix B: About the CD.

Index.

This book is truly well-written. It is crystal clear, follows a progressive course of instruction from end-to-end without any out-of-place interruptions, has no errors that I've been able to find, and actually covers more than most beginning players really want or need to know initially (e.g., playing in other than the first and second positions).

The accompanying CD is also excellent. While the tunes, in typical instruction book fashion, aren't anything you'd want to listen to for entertainment, as they are the usual folk tunes long out of copyright, they are well-recorded and each track is played in exactly the manner needed to illustrate whatever playing principle is being demonstrated. The backing instrumentation never overwhelms the harp, and the harp is played with only the techniques and ornamentation (bends, articulation, wah, etc.) appropriate to the topic. The tracks are already in MP3 format, so there's no need to rip them down to your PC for your iPod.

If you already play an instrument, there is material in this book that you can bypass, including notation, basic (very) music theory, and the like. It doesn't dominate the book and for the most part is contained in the first few chapters. Speedread through this material for the few harmonica-specific comments.

The book has few pictures or illustrations - but those it has are spot-on. Hand positions are illustrated. Tongue and mouth positions are illustrated. There are pictures in the repair and maintenance chapters. That's about it, but that's all that's needed, and I never felt the need for more. In fact, I particularly appreciated the embouchure (mouth and tongue) illustrations, which were better than I'd seen elsewhere to-date.

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