She wants to play like Dylan? Just tell her to stick it in her mouth and breath, no instruction needed. Doesn't even matter if the harp is in the right key :) :)
Seriously, if someone wanted to play like Dylan, I'd probably recommend Jon's chugging workshop. That's a good place to start for chordal (as opposed to melodic) playing.
I think most of Dylan's playing is in 1st position (key of harp = key of song). Hopefully someone here will correct me if that is wrong. So she needs to get a harp in the same key as the song she wants to play. Unlike flute (which is chromatic - ie plays all the notes), blues harp is diatonic and only plays certain chords and notes depending on which key the harp is in. So to play a lot of songs in different keys, she will need 3 or 4 or 5 blues harps. Luckily they are cheap. For the price of a flute, you can get her all 12 keys of the best blues harp on the market, or even custom jobs.
Good luck, and tell her to really wail on it. Dylan's harp playing is not for the meek.
hi joe, i am a non-musician like you, and goofed around with a harp for about a year before actually purchasing any material to learn with. tons of info is available online for free. but, i did see marked improvment after buying david harp's beginning blues and rock book and disc. i like his method, because he concentrates on rhythm to start with, which gets you thinking about the beat you are working with. his also included a harmonica.
then i got mr. gindicks "rock 'n' blues" book and disc which are available on the site. he takes everything a step futher than david harp. he really lets you explore up and down the harmonica. its lots of fun playing along with him on the cd.
my daughter, who is 14, plays a little harmonica, but only uses tab music to play. she plays clarinet and tenor sax in school bands, so she is a bit more structured as far as learning than a hack like me that just plays it for fun.
I am going to buy my 15 year old daughter a harmonica for Christmas. She is really really really into Bob Dylan and wants to learn how to play. She is a first chair flutist and knows how to play instruments and knows music. I don't...
Somebody suggested this site to me for a book. They said I could get the best book here. I've looked through them but not sure which would be best. Could someone suggest a beginners book for me?
