10 top tips for harmonica beginners

The harmonica is a wonderful first instrument, and its simple sound often leads people to dismiss the musical capacity that the little instrument can provide. But if you’ve recently purchased any of the 10 high-quality and affordable beginner harmonicas reviewed on Windysounds, you have the ability to create and perform some of the most romantic music any wind instrument can provide. By following these ten tips, you can greatly improve your experience as a beginner harmonica player.

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1. Choose Your Harmonica

Due to the harmonica’s simple reputation, it is easy for many people to believe that there is only one type of harmonica. But there are a variety of harmonicas available, and they differ in both the genre they are used for and the price. Although most people begin with a bluesy diatonic harmonica or beginner-friendly chromatic harmonicas, you will have the ability to add many other types of harmonicas to your arsenal as you increase your skills.

2. Keep It Clean

When you purchase your new harmonica, it will arrive to you fresh and clean. The sound that comes out of it when it first arrives will be the clearest sound it will ever make. Your goal should be to keep it as close to that clean state as possible.

One way to keep your harmonica clean is to store it in a plastic case. This will keep dirt and lint from getting stuck into any of the small reeds.

3. Keep in Shape

Playing the harmonica requires you to have excellent breathing control. In order to master this particular skill, you need to have quality cardiovascular health. Exercise is the best way to keep your cardiovascular system in the kind of shape that you will need to play your harmonica without losing your breath.

4. Practice Continuously

A harmonica is an instrument, and like any instrument, you will need to practice your craft if you want to improve. You might have the impulse to believe that it is too simple of an instrument to need to be practiced every day. But if you truly want to conquer any song on the harmonica, whether it is a old Blues classic or a nursery rhyme, you need to put in the effort and practice.

5. Tap Out Your Instrument

After you have put in the correct number of hours practicing your craft, the next step is to clean your instrument from the saliva that has gathered in it. Whenever you have completed playing your harmonica, it is important that you tip it over in your hand and tap it out. This will take care of any saliva or dirt that has gathered in your harmonica while you were playing it.

This step is especially important for beginners, because you are more likely to produce extra saliva while you are first learning how to play.

6. Control Your Mouth and Head

When you are first learning how to play the harmonica, it is tempting to move both your head and your mouth all along the instrument. But that placement is not the proper placement and will provide you with an inferior sound.

Instead, follow these tips for proper head and mouth placement:

• Hold your mouth open wide.
• Bring the harmonica to your open mouth using your hands, but keep your head still.
• Place the instrument between your lips.
• Close your lips gently down on the harmonica.
• Move only the harmonica while you play, and keep your head still.

7. Don’t Allow Others to Use Your Instrument

This is a matter of hygiene. But it is also a matter of keeping the instrument clean. The more people who share your harmonica, the more saliva and dirt can creep into the reeds.

8.Sticking Reeds Can Be Easily Fixed

When a reed sticks, it can definitely mess up the sound of your harmonica. Fortunately, all you have to do is open up your harmonica and take a good look around. Once you open up the hood, you should be able to give the offending reed a small nudge.

Typically, reeds are stuck because of a small bit of debris, and this should help solve the problem.

9. Become Familiar with The Art of Tongue Blocking

When you perform tongue blocking, you cover up to four holes with your mouth and use your tongue to “block” all of the holes except for one. This maneuver gives your sound a bigger tongue and a richer sound than other beginners can even dream of having.

10. Ignore the Advice to Soak Your Harmonica

Some players may advise you to soak your harmonica in order to make a tight seal on the instrument. You will achieve this goal, but you will also greatly reduce the overall life of your harmonica. Do not attempt to soak your harmonica.

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