You only get better at playing the harmonica by actually playing the harmonica! The way to get better faster is to focus your playing with regular practice sessions. These don't need to be long, drawn-out marathon sessions - the key to painless growth is to make a commitment to practice often, but for short periods of time.
Here is a collection of tips that resonate with me.
Commit to practicing regularly for a period of time - February is a great month for this because it has 28 days. If you practice for just 10 minutes a day you will have a total of almost 5 hours of practice during the month!
Only practice on a few things each session until you have gained some mastery, then move on to other things. Come back to those previous areas occasionally so you maintain those skills while building new ones.
If you are feeling resistance to practicing , just commit to taking the harp out and blowing and drawing once then putting it away. If you decide to play longer, great! If not you will still have succeeded.
Break things down - when working on a song, break it down into short pieces for practice - just one or two bars at a time. When you master the pieces you can then work on putting them together and smoothing them out.
Practice with a metronome - when working on basics use something to keep the beat. This will help you internalize rhythm and make otherwise boring stuff, like scales, more musical and fun. Start slow and build up speed. Sometimes you will find it hard to learn something at a slow tempo - in that case learn it at speed then try slowing it down.
Try taking a video of yourself practicing and review it several sessions later - you will be very surprised how much progress you make over time.
Break down your practice time into parts like this - 1. learn 2. practice with rhythm 3. practice with context like a backing track.
So , let's make up a list of things for beginners to practice, and some sample 10 minute practice sessions.
Things to focus on
Breathing and tone
Hearing and feeling the rhythm
Learning the basic blues pattern
Practice Breakdown
3 minutes - just breath through the harmonica, relaxing and building sound through playing chords.
3 minutes - Use a metronome set to 4/4 rhythm and slow (try 60 bpm) . First listen and count along '1,2,3,4' with the beats. Then try playing your chords on the '1' only. Then build to more beats - try 1 and 2, then 1 and 3, then 1,2,3,4.
4 minutes - Watch the blues backing track video that shows when the chords are being played. Get a feel for when they switch to a new chord. Close your eyes and listen and say out loud which number it is (I, IV, V) . Imagine you are playing the chords on the harp - I is the 1,2,3 draw (G)
- IV is the 123 blow (C)
- V is the 4,5 draw, or the 1 draw or 4 draw by itself (D)
Now try actually playing along on the harp with the chords. Dont worry too much about the V part at first. You can substitute the I chord or just skip it until you feel comfortable.
Things to focus on
Breathing and tone - articulation
Hearing and feeling the rhythm
Learning the basic blues pattern
Practice Breakdown
3 minutes - just playing the basic chords (1,2,3 blow and draw) try to make different and interesting sounds - ta, ka , tada , chucka , ducka , hudica, tweet, tha , tath, toot, hut, huk, yaw , hooo , you , tweedledeedle. Try combinations too!
3 minutes - Use a metronome set to 4/4 rhythm and slow (try 60 bpm) . First listen and count along ' 1,2,3,4' with the beats. Then try playing your chords on the '1' only with your articulations. Then build to more beats - try 1 and 2, then 1 and 3, then 1,2,3,4.
4 minutes - Watch the blues backing track video that shows when the chords are being played. Get a feel for when they switch to a new chord. Close your eyes and listen and say out loud which number it is (I, IV, V) . Imagine you are playing the chords on the harp - I is the 1,2,3 draw (G)
- IV is the 123 blow (C)
- V is the 4,5 draw, or the 1 draw or 4 draw by itself (D)
Now try actually playing along on the harp with the chords. Dont worry too much about the V part at first. You can substitute the I chord or just skip it until you feel comfortable.
Things to focus on
Embouchure ( mouth on the harp)
Playing single notes
Practice Breakdown
4 minutes - just breathe through the harmonica, relaxing and building sound through playing chords. While on the chord bring the sides of the mouth together into a pucker (also called pursing ). Making the hole of your mouth smaller to make a single note. Draw and blow. Try to keep the steam of air going through just one hole so the other notes dont bleed in. Start wide and narrow to other holes - focus on the 2 hole.
3 minutes - Use a metronome set to 4/4 rhythm and slow (try 60 bpm) . First listen and count along '1,2,3,4' with the beats. Then try playing your single notes on the '1' only. Focus on the 2 hole , but try a couple different ones also.
4 minutes - Watch the blues backing track video that shows when the chords are being played. Get a feel for when they switch to a new chord. Close your eyes and listen and say out loud which number it is (I, IV, V) . For the I chord , imagine playing just the 2 hole draw - this is the root note for the I chord.
Now try actually playing along on the harp. Try focusing on the 2 hole draw. This note works over the entire blues progression. If you get good with this try playing the 1 or 4 blow on the IV chords