How to Play a Real-Pro Reed Harmonica

Harmonica with 10 holes.

A Real-Pro Reed Harmonica is a type of harmonica manufactured in China by the Imperial company. This member of the wind family is a basic harmonica in the key of C. This harmonica, which has ten holes, can be used in a wide variety of music genres, such as rock, folk, country and the blues. You can learn to play the Real-Pro Reed Harmonica, as well as other basic harmonicas, by learning a few techniques and notes.

Things You'll Need

• Real-Pro Reed Harmonica

Instructions

Proper Hold

1. Hold the instrument in your left hand with the number one hole on the left and the number ten hole on the right. The instrument should be facing you.

2. Curve your left thumb underneath the harmonica and your left index over the top of the instrument. Let your other left-hand fingers curve behind the instrument in a relaxed fashion.

3. Rest your right hand behind the instrument and against your left hand, which should form a cup-like shape. You can open this "cup" later in order to vary the sound as you play.

4. Moisten your lips and place them on the center of the harmonica with your top lip just over the top edge of the instrument and your bottom lip just over the bottom edge. You left hand should be touching gently against your lips.

Breathing

1. Perform a "blow" note by blowing into the harmonica.

2. Perform a "draw note" by inhaling into the harmonica

3. Continue to blow and draw while dropping and relaxing your jaw, thereby creating more sound resonance within your mouth.

4. Purse your lips slightly as you blow and draw in order to play one note at a time. Then practice blowing and drawing into multiple holes in order to play chords.

Learning the Notes

1. Blow into holes one through 10 one at a time. The notes are in order of ascending pitch from left to right: C, E, G, C, E, G, C, E, G, C.

2. Draw into holes one through 10 one at a time. These notes, in order of ascending pitch from left to right are: D, G, B, D, F, A, B, D, F, A.

3. Learn to bend notes in order to play sharps and flats. Bending is a technique that takes quite a bit of practice to perfect. In order to learn the basics, try drawing into various notes as you lower your tongue and constrict the amount of air that passes through your throat. Bending blown notes is a similar technique, except that you must raise your tongue.

4. Practice some simple songs by following harmonica tablature ("tab"). The numbers in tab show the hole that you must use. A minus sign next to a number means to draw, whereas no sign next to the number means to blow.

   An example of such as song might be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:
   4,4,6,6,-6,-6,6
   -5,-5,5,5,-4,-4, 4
   6,6,-5,-5,5,5,-4
   6,6,-5,-5,5,5,-4
   4,4,6,6,-6,-6,6
   -5,-5,5,5,-4,-4, 4

References

• Musician Webstore: Playing Notes with your Harmonica