Harmonicas - What's The Deal!
Harmonicas have a reputation of being one of the easiest instruments to play, and that reputation is deserved. The way most harmonicas are built, each harp that you get will be for a specific key. This means that the notes are laid out for that key, so if you have the right harp, it is almost impossible to play anything out of tune.
This is also why when you are playing a harmonica by itself it has a very musical sound and is easy to get good sounding licks and melodies out of the instrument (with a little bit of practice, of course).
Harmonicas and Cross Harping
It makes sense - if the song is in C, then you should play a C harp. Unfortunately, that is not always the way it is - fortunately, we are here to help explain it to you!
Most harmonicas are what they call Diatonic, which means that the harmonica has the keys of the scale for whatever key harp it is - the C harp contains the C Major scale, so the first note on this harp is C, the D Harp contains the notes for the D Major scale, the first hole is a D note.
But many styles of popular music, including blues, do not sound right when you are the playing the harmonica that is the key of the song.
Cross Harping, or as some people call it playing in the Second Position takes care of that problem. This means that you will pick the key of the harmonica you are using so that it is a fourth below the key of the song.
If you are playing a song which is in the key of C, a fourth below that will mean that you want a Harmonica in the key of F. Check out the simple table below:
Song Key Harp Key
A D
B E
C F
D G
E A
F B
G C
This C harp, using the above guide, would be used for a lot of songs in the key of G. Some songs will work by playing the harp that matches the song key, but for most popular songs you will want to use the cross harp/Second Position chart above to determine the right key for your harp. Flats stay the same, so a song in B Flat would take an E Flat harp.
If you are just learning, however, you will usually want to start out with a harp in C as most of the harmonica lessons out there are done in C. As you progress and start playing with other people find out what key the songs are in before you jam, and make sure you have the right harmonica to match the song you are playing to!
You can get the Old standby Harmonica at James House of Deals,one of the newest music stores in Lincolnton as well as a large variety of accessories. We also have the biggest selection of used and new guitars in Lincolnton!
Most harmonicas are what they call Diatonic, which means that the harmonica has the keys of the scale for whatever key harp it is - the C harp contains the C Major scale, so the first note on this harp is C, the D Harp contains the notes for the D Major scale, the first hole is a D note.
But many styles of popular music, including blues, do not sound right when you are the playing the harmonica that is the key of the song.
Cross Harping, or as some people call it playing in the Second Position takes care of that problem. This means that you will pick the key of the harmonica you are using so that it is a fourth below the key of the song.
If you are playing a song which is in the key of C, a fourth below that will mean that you want a Harmonica in the key of F. Check out the simple table below:
Song Key Harp Key
A D
B E
C F
D G
E A
F B
G C
This C harp, using the above guide, would be used for a lot of songs in the key of G. Some songs will work by playing the harp that matches the song key, but for most popular songs you will want to use the cross harp/Second Position chart above to determine the right key for your harp. Flats stay the same, so a song in B Flat would take an E Flat harp.
If you are just learning, however, you will usually want to start out with a harp in C as most of the harmonica lessons out there are done in C. As you progress and start playing with other people find out what key the songs are in before you jam, and make sure you have the right harmonica to match the song you are playing to!
You can get the Old standby Harmonica at James House of Deals,one of the newest music stores in Lincolnton as well as a large variety of accessories. We also have the biggest selection of used and new guitars in Lincolnton!
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