General Practicing/Jamming
Chapter 6: Lesson Plans
To help you focus in on what should be done first, second, third, etc., we give you the Lesson Plans. Following the agenda below, week by week, will allow you to improve your playing skills in a logical and orderly fashion. Everyone learns differently, if lesson plans do not suit you, keep up with a regular practice and playing routine and you will do just fine.
Lesson Plan use- If you are a beginner, it's to your benefit to stick to this schedule for the first 4-6 six weeks. Fifteen minutes to an hour a day is a good amount of practice time. More practice time of course is better, but if you are consistent with your allotted time for a few months, you will improve tremendously from where you originally started. Don't rush your practicing, strive for quality and not quantity.
For the "long haul," take more time- If you are in this for the "long haul", you will ultimately create better playing habits if you take the plans for Weeks 1-6 and do each week lesson plan for two weeks instead of one. It takes more patience to do it this way, but if you allow 2 months to work on the first four weeks of lesson plans by focusing on single notes, hand effects, bending, only a few songs, etc., you will give yourself a much better chance to master the basic techniques of playing that you will use for a lifetime of harmonica playing.
Take your time. If you don't feel comfortable moving on to a new weeks lesson plan, then don't. Move on when you feel ready.
Like taking a private lesson- These weekly plans are based on the schedule you would be on if you were taking weekly 30-60 minute private lessons. Stay consistent with your practice and on schedule, and you will in essence be your own teacher.
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Week 4 Week 5 Week 6
Lesson Plans
Chapter Includes:
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Lesson Plans
Week 1
Browse through the book- Read through Chapter 1: Getting Started first, then browse through the rest of the book and see what is contained within. Make sure your harmonica is the correct type for this instruction.
Play a bit- Before getting really serious, first have some fun with your harmonica. Make up a song or melody, or try to figure out a simple song you already know without looking at the music (this is great ear training).
Holding the harmonica- for now, hold the harmonica on the ends as outlined in Chapter 1:
Simple Technique Tips.
First Song- We know it may not be everyone's all-time favorite, but a great song to start with is "Mary Had A Little Lamb". At this point, only attempt to make the song recognizable, don't worry about playing techniques or making it "musical". Keep it simple for now. After playing the song 5-10 times, try to play it from memory. If you can't play the whole song, learn one section at a time.
1st Technique: Single Notes- Multiple notes (chords) are fine in the beginning, but to improve your sound and clean up your melodies, begin working on Single Notes using the
"Vertical Slot" method. Don't jump around from hole to hole. Spend the majority of your time on the hole 4 blow and draw until you are 80-90% consistent (this may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks). Use the "Use your fingers to hear a clear single note" trick (from the Chapter 3: Single Note section) to get the sound in your head. You can also visit
HarmonicaLessons.com and listen to the free sound file examples that go with this book (see Chapter 9: Free Audio/Video files in the back of the book for more information).
General Overview- Read through the explanations for the 1st and 2nd Positions found in Chapter 2: General Overview. A basic understanding of these two playing positions will allow you to jam with friends almost immediately.
2nd Technique: Hand Effects- Your second basic technique should be learning to hold the harmonica properly and how to use hand effects. Work through the Hand Effects section found in Chapter 3.
Second Song- Read through and play "Oh Susanna" 5-10 times (use the sound file on our
Week 2
website for the timing and overall sound). When this is completed, try to play the song from memory. Only look at the notes when you are really stuck.
Review- Continue working on your single note technique. At this point, single note playing is the most important technique for advancing on the harmonica. Go for the quality of notes and not quantity (i.e. go slow). Also, keep playing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" from memory. Slow, correct repetition is the key to fast improvement.
1st Scale- Read through and play the "Major Scale" 5-10 times (use the sound file on our website for the timing and overall sound). When this is completed, try to play the scale from memory. Remember to move the harmonica and not your head when you go from hole to hole (check in the mirror).
Breathing- Read through the Breathing section in Chapter 3. Mastering the breathing technique for harmonica takes many years, but a great deal can be done in the first few weeks or months by following the tips in that section.
Combining Techniques- Going very slowly, play through either "Mary Had A Little Lamb"
or "Oh Susanna" from memory. After success on one song, you can try the other later. Now, even more slowly, try to play the song with perfectly clean, clear single notes. Remember to move the harmonica and not your head when you go from hole to hole. When, and only when you can do this successfully, add the Hand Tremolo effect on the long held notes of each song.
Review- Continue working on your single note technique. The cleaner and more naturally you can play single notes, the easier the bending technique will be. Also, keep playing your two songs and the "Major Scale" from memory. Slow correct repetition is the key to fast improvement. When practicing the hand tremolo technique (use the major scale one note at a time), play as loudly as possible to achieve the maximum effect.
New Song- "Home On The Range". Use the breathing tips from Chapter 3 if you have problems with the high draw notes (use the sound file on our website for the timing and overall sound). Many times songs like this with high notes sound better and are easier to play on lower keyed diatonics. Lower keyed harmonicas like "G" and "A" can be purchased through HarmonicaStore.com in the Diatonics Harmonicas section. If you feel ready to buy another key, the key of "A" is an excellent choice.
One Liner tips- If you haven't done so, read through Chapter 8: One Liner Tips. You will find that re-reading this section from time to time is very helpful.
Week 3
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Lesson Plans
Ear Training- Beginning "ear training" is an easy, fun way to develop your ability to recog-nize and pick out musical sounds, melodies, and patterns. The sooner you start, the sooner your "ear" begins to develop. This ability will allow you to work out your favorite riffs, songs, and melodies in the very near future. Begin by selecting a simple, beginning level song, that you are very familiar with. Use Chapter 4 to find a recognizable melody. "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is a great choice (if you are familiar with it). Do not play through the song, merely observe the starting note (very first note of song—in this case, hole 4 Blow). Look away from the monitor or your printout and try to play the song by feel. As you work out the beginning notes of the song, write them down and continue working out the melody. Don't give up and
"cheat" by looking at the correct notation. This may take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to work out. It's hard for everyone at first, but it gets easier each time you try a new song.
Use the Mirror- If you haven't been doing so, stand in from of the mirror and practice single notes on just hole 4 and then on the "Major Scale" from Chapter 4. Look for any signs of visible tension in your forehead and eye area, around your mouth, neck, shoulders, and upper body in general. Try to eliminate any visible tension or tightening you can find. Don't make
"faces" when you play, try to look confident and in control (even if you feel otherwise). Keep your head up. Remember to move the harmonica and not your head when you go from hole to hole. Once or twice a week, re-check yourself on the above points in front of the mirror.
Bending- If your single note playing is now consistent, carefully go through the Bending section in Chapter 3. It is particularly important to listen to the Bending sound files on our
Week 4
Use a mirror for instant visual feedback.
website, both "correct" and "incorrect" examples, numerous times to make sure you clearly recognize a correct bending sound vs. an incorrect bending sound. It's important that you know when you are truly successful and when you are not. Stay with whatever hole seems to give you the best results. Most likely this will be either hole 4 Draw or hole 2 Draw. If you don't have much luck with either of these, try the hole 1 Draw. If hole 2 Draw sounds awful, read through the breathing tips in Chapter 3.
New Song- Pick any song from Chapter 4 that you haven't done, but would like to do.
Additional songs are available in "Vol. 5: Songs & Riffs" of this Beginning Diatonic Harmonica Book Series or from within the Members Area on our website. Avoid learning too many songs at once. It's better to play a few well than many songs not-so-good.
Review- Review everything you know how to play up to this point. Whenever you practice, begin by going over your "old stuff" to get yourself warmed up. Then work on the newer techniques, songs, and riffs. Make sure you clearly understand the difference between the 1st and 2nd Positions (from Chapter 2) and how to use them.
Ear Training- Pick another song or two from Chapter 4 that you've never played or have not played much. Follow the same instructions as outlined in the "Week 3: Ear Training" assign-ment. Remember to pick out the notes by yourself. Reading the tablature does not improve your "musical ear". Don't give up, it really does get easier, and the reward is worth the hard work.
Terms & Definitions- If you haven't done so, read through the Terms & Definitions section of Chapter 2. Many of the music and harmonica-related terms from this book are explained in this section.
Simple Blues Improv- "Let's Jam!" Chapter 5: Jamming explains an easy approach to jam-ming with blues music (or even rock or country). Learn the "Almost Blues Scale", and use this set of notes to play along with the 12 bar blues MIDI file in the key of "G", Slow_Blues_in_
G.mid (available for free at the website). If you already own a CD or two that you know the keys to, you can also jam to any of the songs that are in the key of "G" with your "C" diatonic harmonica (played in 2nd Position).
Techniques, Songs, Improv- After a month or two of playing, you should be spending roughly equal amounts of time on techniques, songs, and improv (jamming). Not necessarily in every practice session, but by the end of the week, your practicing should have covered all three areas. Technique practice allows you to do more with your songs and improv. Song practice teaches you a sense of melodicism that ultimately is applied to your jamming. The
Week 5
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Lesson Plans
improv practice teaches you a sense of freedom and creativity that ultimately is applied to your song playing.
Review & continue work on bending- Continue focusing your time and attention on the Single Notes and Bending techniques. At this point, these are the two most important
vvtechniques for advancing on the harmonica. If you are not having much luck with Bending, you may need to:
1. Better your Single Note playing.
2. Use the Bending sound files (on the website) to ascertain that you absolutely know the difference between a true bent note and a note that "changes sound but isn't really bending", 3. Obtain a lower and/or higher pitched harmonica which you may find easier to bend on (not a guarantee, but its works for many people having problems- try the key of "A" for lower and key of "F" for higher), or...
4. All of the above suggestions.
Listen to music with harmonica- Start listening more intently to music with harmonica in it. The HarmonicaStore.com—Music CDs section has many great choices for listening and playing to. Check out the "Recommended For Beginners CDs" page for suggested CDs for the person just getting started. All the songs on these CDs have been "keyed" and are available in the Members Area, the CDs: Song Keys section of our website, or in "Volume 3: Basic Blues Improv" of this book series. It's important to use the correct key harmonica when jamming with CDs.
Ear Training- It's now time to find out how easy to learn and easy to play some of your favorite folk-rock singer's harmonica playing really is. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springs-teen, Tom Petty, Alanis Morissette, Billy Joel, John Lennon, etc., are great singers and musicians, but are not expert harmonica players (technique-wise, they are at a beginner to intermediate level). These musicians predominately blow and draw in the middle of the
harmonica and "fake" a little bending (no new notes obtained—just a slight bending effect, but nothing fancy or difficult). As mentioned in the previous bullet point, use the CDs: Song Keys section to determine the key of harmonica that is used on a favorite song by one of these art-ists. Through trial and error, you can play what they played. Really, it's not tough stuff.
*Very Important Note- play along to the song with the same key harmonica that the player originally used.
"Further in your mouth"- Being especially careful not to lose your single notes, attempt to put the harmonica a bit further into your mouth (a 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch is a good start).
Review the Vertical Slot instruction in Chapter 3 if needed. This will improve your tone, your
Week 6
volume, and force you to breathe more from the diaphragm. We want to avoid the pushing and pulling of air that naturally occurs at the front of the mouth from your lips.
Basic Blues Improv- At this point, if you would like to better your jamming skills and under-standing, you may want to consider picking up "Vol. 3: Basic Blues Improv" of this book series (the info is also found in the Members Area of our website). The different approaches to jamming that are discussed include "Techniques Improv", "Blues Riffs", and "Target Notes".
New Harmonica(s)- If it is not a financial burden, we recommend that you purchase one or more additional keys of diatonics. As previously stated, the bending technique may be easier for some people on a lower or higher pitched harmonica. Also, a few more keys of harmonicas will allow you to play along to more songs on your favorite CDs. Ultimately, you will want to get most or all of the 12 different keys so that you can play to any song in any key of music.
After the key of "C," you should pick up an "A", "D", "F", "G", and "Bb"—roughly in that order. You certainly don't need to buy them all at once.
Review- Continue focusing your time and attention on the Single Notes and Bending tech-niques. At this point, these are the two most important techniques for advancing on the harmonica (intentionally repeated from the Week 5 Lesson Plan). Review and practice any other techniques you know that were mentioned in the previous 5 weeks of Lesson Plans.
Also, review all your songs and riffs.
New Songs and Riffs- If you're ready for additional songs and riffs, pick up "Volume 4:
Songs & Riffs" (or head to our website). Any songs that you like that are labeled
Beginning Level should not be a problem for you to play. You may be able to begin playing some of the Intermediate Level songs and riffs. (The Intermediate Level songs and riffs contain bent notes which are used in the melody, along with standard blow and draw notes.)
Congratulations! If you've made it through the six weeks of Lesson Plans in an evenly paced 6-12 weeks of practicing, you may now officially call yourself an Intermediate Level player. At this point, keep trying to better your playing technique, keep learning new songs, keep jamming along with CDs, and when ever possible, play with real live people.
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Lesson Plans