Product Description

Are you hankering to play the harmonica? Harmonica For Dummies is an easy–to–read practice guide that gives you step–by–step instructions and gets you making music in no time! Even if you’re an experienced harmonica player, this jump–in–anywhere reference is packed with tips and playing techniques that will take your skills to the next level.

This fast, fun, hands–on guide helps you choose your first harmonica and shows you how to hold it, make your first sounds, and keep it clean and working well. Helpful diagrams show you how to shape sounds using your tongue, throat, and hands. Before you know it you’ll be playing melodies, chugging out rhythms, and bending notes with ease. You’ll also pick up some basics of music theory and learn how to read the notation and tablature for all the music in the book. Discover how to:

• Play right out of the box with little or no experience
• Make that wonderful wailing sound
• Create exciting rhythms and play solo
• Understand how the harmonica works
• Play all of the music on the Bonus CD
• Read tablature, educate your eye, and develop your ear
• Breath correctly while playing
• Bend notes up and down
• Play one harp in many keys
• Develop your style in blues rock, country, folk, and more
• Play with other musicians
• Work with a microphone to create great sounds

So stop dreaming and start playing! Harmonica For Dummies will get you wailing in no time!

Note: CD–ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3939 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

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).

Customer Reviews

Great book for all levels
Easy to understand yet profound and accurate instruction for the
harmonica players of all levels. This book is an ideal introduction
for beginners in order to learn how to play the instrument without
getting bad habits. It is also a great help for intermediate players
to study more advanced technique. For advanced players, it shows the
way to dig into further possibility of the harmonica playing and
method of teaching.

What makes this book stood out among other instruction books is the
precise physical description of each technique. The author describes
what part of body we use for each technique and how to use it. They
are sometimes shown by the picture and easy to understand. This is of
course useful for beginners and intermediate players but it would also
be very helpful for advanced players who want to teach but can not
explain physically what is happening.

A Comprehensive Introduction
The author provides a detailed introduction which focuses on the diatonic harmonica in C, but people wanting to play any type of harmonica could benefit from reading the various chapters on theory and practice and from listening to the CD. It would be difficult to find a better guide, and it comes at a very reasonable price.

not for dummies
if i had bought this book first i would have given up the harmonica, i found this book to make it all very complicated it is writen by someboby who can read music, i carnt, it asumes you can, the only good thing is the cd that comes with it. my copy of the book is going on e-bay.