minidaz
1 post
Jan 01, 2010
1:20 PM
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Hi. My names Darren and i'm from the UK. My 7yr old son got a harmonica starter kit for christmas, so i thought i'd have a little play with it aswell.
Never touched one before but after having a go, i'm hooked. It came with a starter book ( By David Harp ) but i thought i'd do a bit of googling, and that's how i came accross this site, which looks excellent by the way.
I'm planning on buying a Harmonica for myself ( saves wiping the chocolate off the starter kit one after my 2yr old has also had a go :o) , and having a go at the starter lessons on here and seeing how i get on.
As for the Blues: You'll usually find me listening to hard rock and heavy metal, but i do like quite a range of music, and the Blues feels like something i could settle into quite nicely.
So i'll get my harmonica, start the lessons on here and see what happens. Fingers crossed this 32yr old who has never played an instrumenet in his life won't be too bad :o)
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shanester
45 posts
Jan 01, 2010
1:23 PM
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Welcome to the forum and your musical journey, minidaz!
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http://www.youtube.com/1shanester
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tookatooka
937 posts
Jan 01, 2010
1:52 PM
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Welcome to the forum minidaz. Boy! are you in for a fun ride. As well as this forum, don't forget there are loads of tabs for well known tunes on Harptabs.com to get you started. Once you learn how to read the tabs which is quite easy, a whole lot of music will open up to you.
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LeonStagg
74 posts
Jan 01, 2010
3:07 PM
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Welcome Darren,
Nice to have you, enjoy the harp! Have fun with it, that's the best advice I can give you.
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blogward
58 posts
Jan 01, 2010
4:55 PM
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Nice to meet you Darren. What make of harp?
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nacoran
640 posts
Jan 01, 2010
8:07 PM
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Welcome aboard Darren! You've stumbled on a great place to learn about harmonicas; Adam's lessons are top notch and the people here are really helpful. If you can survive a 7 year old playing harmonica being a 32 learning harmonica won't be any problem.
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minidaz
2 posts
Jan 02, 2010
4:52 AM
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Thanks for the welcome. Everyone seems nice and friendly.
After reading a bit on here i'm thinking of starting with a Marine, key of C.
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tookatooka
944 posts
Jan 02, 2010
5:22 AM
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The key of C would be a good choice because most of the tutorial stuff in books etc use the key of C but I wonder whether a wood combed harp like the Marine Band may be a bit hard on the lips if you are just starting out and you would be using it a lot. You'll get lots of comments regarding this but I would go for a plastic combed harp like a Hohner Special 20 purely for comfort reasons.
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minidaz
5 posts
Jan 04, 2010
9:44 AM
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I ended up changing my mind and going for a Harpmaster.
( should be here in a couple of days )
I know what you mean about the comments ... i've read through lots of posts today, using the excellent search function on this forum ( a lot better than some i've used ), looking at all the pros and cons on different makes and models.
Hopefully i'll get on with it, but i guess i'll only know that when i start playing :o)
Last Edited by on Jan 04, 2010 9:44 AM
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tookatooka
948 posts
Jan 04, 2010
3:06 PM
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You'll be happy with the HarpMaster. Suzuki make fine harps. Just bear in mind they are tuned slightly differently from some Hohners. This means they are great for single hole melodies but some chords may sound a little harsh. Depending on what style of music you'll want to eventually concentrate on you may want to try another type of tuning later on.
However, don't worry about that yet. Get some time and practice under your belt first and get to grips with the fundamentals.
You'll discover there's a lot more to playing harp than you originally thought, but that can all come later. Enjoy.
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robbo
16 posts
Jan 04, 2010
6:52 PM
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im from bournemuth, if you ever feel like having some 1 on 1 tuition just contact the national harmonica leage,
http://harmonica.co.uk/index.htm
they are always happy to set you up with a local harp teacher.
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minidaz
7 posts
Jan 05, 2010
5:40 AM
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Cheers for the National harmonica league link robbo, looks like a handy site.
Last Edited by on Jan 05, 2010 5:44 AM
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the frozen canuck
73 posts
Jan 05, 2010
6:21 AM
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hey there Darren,a big welcome frm the east coast of Canada .Don`t feel it`s too late to start,I`m 50& started playing a year & ahalf ago .NEVER PLAYED AN INSTRUMENT BEFORE.Now i jam with a band & play a little bluegrass. PS just have fun learning
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mankycodpiece
74 posts
Jan 05, 2010
9:12 AM
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hi minidaz,i'm in colourful wolverhampton.you came to the right place.
i hgaven't been here long,but i've enjoyed it,and so will you.
welcome to the board,and just like everyone else has said,have fun with it.
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Woody
5 posts
Jan 06, 2010
4:33 PM
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Hi MiniDaz
I am new here too...and new to the harmonica (Started May 2009) but I will tell you something that surprised me....some harmonica keys are easier than others.
I have had an A harp in my gig bag for years and years and never managed to make it sound like a real harmonica.
Then one day I bought a Lee Oskar in 'E'...and suddenly I could bend notes with ease...!!!
Now I have A Bb C D E and G....
I am sure there are more experienced players here who can expand on this quirk.
Enjoy everything...
Woody
Last Edited by on Jan 06, 2010 4:34 PM
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minidaz
9 posts
Jan 08, 2010
3:24 AM
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Just received my Harpmaster in the post and looking forward to getting started on it.
The plan is, sometime over the weekend, to have a look at Adams beginner videos and tabs, and see how i go.
I was meant to be at a Sinclair C5 show on sunday but that was cancelled due to the weather, so i've got a bit more harp practice time .
Wonder if anyone outside of the UK has a clue what i'm talking about :o)
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tookatooka
962 posts
Jan 08, 2010
4:02 AM
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Sinclair C5 eh! What's wrong with this guy? My first computer was a home built Sinclair Z80. The white one.
Let us know how you get on with the harp minidaz.
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