Category Archives: Hints And Tips

Au Clair De La Douzième Position (Shedding Light On 12th Position)

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Wilf

 Au Clair de la Lune, mon ami Pierrot Today Otis the Harp Surgery’s postman dropped off a delivery from those lovely people at Amazon.co.uk; Pat Missin’s handsome new manual, The Ultimate Miniature Harmonica Tunebook. And as he trudged round the duck pond, amidst the … Continue reading →

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The Moothie

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Wilf

Happy St.Andrew’s Day Cantie Saunt Dandie’s Day tae ye! Or if you’re a speaker of Scottish Gaelic, Beannachtai ne Feile Aindréas! We had considered running an article on how to play Amazing Grace, but discovered, to our surprise, this may not … Continue reading →

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Why Is 2 Draw So Difficult?

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Wilf

ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES: Problems with draw 2 came up in a Harp Surgery lesson today, so we thought a revisit was overdue. Here’s our original post from five years ago with some important updates. ________________________________________________________________ Help, my harmonica is broken! When … Continue reading →

Posted in Hints And Tips | 15 Comments

Irish Harmonica – Garryowen

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Wilf

Eireann go Brach.. Happy St Patrick’s Day! Virtually forgotten in the post-war revival of traditional Irish music, Celtic and folk harmonica has recently enjoyed a massive rise in popularity. This is largely down to the work of Brendan Power and Mick Kinsella, both of whom joined … Continue reading →

Posted in Hints And Tips, Tab | 2 Comments

Country Harmonica – First Steps

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Wilf

I’m going up the country, baby do you wanna go? So you’re a blues harp player and you’ve been asked to cover a country tune. Or perhaps the blues got you started on the harp, but now you want to try something different. Either way, … Continue reading →

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Amazing Grate – First Steps On Those High End Holes

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Wilf

How strange the sound Young Malcolm called into the Harp Surgery today, hot on the heels of our Harpin’ By The Sea event. Having witnessed Will Greener’s performance of Amazing Grace, he was keen to revisit the tune from scratch. … Continue reading →

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1st Position Blues Harp – An Introduction (Part 3)

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Wilf

A guide to straight blues harping In previous posts we considered why 1st position blues can sometimes be left in the shadows. We also touched on building a general awareness of positional playing, how some positions are interchangeable, the Ionian Mode, the low … Continue reading →

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Harping in Havana – a bluesman’s introduction to Latin diatonic

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Wilf

Latin American diatonic for the uninitiated To witness Cuba’s musical pulse first hand and sip Mojitos in the sweat of Havana’s Bar Montserrate is privilege enough, but to sit in with the house band Sabor de Cuba, play the diatonic harmonica and get out alive? Ay … Continue reading →

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1st Position Blues Harp – An Introduction (Part 2)

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Wilf

A guide to straight blues harping In Part 1 we looked at an overview of first position. We considered why it may be something blues players put off till later. We noted that 1st position blues mainly comprises deep low end draw bends and confident … Continue reading →

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1st Position Blues Harp – An Introduction (Part 1)

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Wilf

A guide to straight blues harping No force, however great, can stretch a cord, however fine, into a horizontal line which is accurately straight. Elementary Treatise On Mechanics (William Whewell) The classic blues harmonica journey starts with a crusade to the Holy Shrine of cross harp. Whereupon, … Continue reading →

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