Simple tunes for learning to play harmonica
Mainly for Diatonic (aka "Blues" or "Richter" - with 10 holes)
but most tunes are playable on tremolo also (and surely all are good for chromatic).
I am learning to play harmonica myself - and I'm going to put here a list of tunes I practice with explanations so that you can learn and play them too. They are ordered roughly starting from the simplest ones.
Here'll be "tabs" for some of tunes, but mainly we are going to learn with short videos in the
following manner:
1. I'll play the whole tune and perhaps add some words about it
2. We look in more details how to play the starting phrase
3. You now have to pick the rest "by ear" for exercise
4. Few comments on further "extending" the tune.
Don't feel bound to play these tunes "as is" - you can experiment with them as your experience grows - and surely feel free to reuse them to create some music you can call your own!
When the Saints go marching in
Bright and well-known tune of hymn / spiritual origins - and just 5 notes in the in the middle region of your harp! Nevertheless vast field for variations and experiments!
Frere Jacques
Infamous French children's song with a pleasant simple tune (7 notes) - gives practice on rythm and speed!
Flea Waltz (Flohwalzer)
Also called "Dog Waltz" - amusing in its simplicity (6 notes) and still sounding like classic composition - though actually it is just "arpeggiation" (sequential playing) of two chords (C-dur and G7), one blown and another drawn.
Sleep you my joy, sleep you well (Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein)
German lullaby of 200+ years old, easy and relaxing tune which allows you practicing simple bend, while overall it is played only with 3 middle holes again.
Three Little Pigs song (Who's afraid of Big Bad Wolf?)
From Disney's cartoon of 1933 - infamous creation of Frank Churchill - we want to learn it for its wider range of holes and quick succession on notes.
Little Birdie, where you were? (Chyzhyk-Pyzhyk)
Humorous student's song from XIX century - just 7 notes but capital exercise for the bend in 3-rd hole!
Death is not the end
Cult-classic from Bob Dylan