How To Play Single Notes On Harmonica

[@TomlinHarmonica]

✏ Get your FREE harmonica tab PDF and audio clips here 👉foxly.link/WNQSje

[@05anonymous50]

I just picked up harmonica and for me personally, what’s really helping get single notes down is playing taps over and over. Easy to learn initially but takes practice to get the leaps and I feel like I’m starting to understand intuitively the intervals on the harmonica. Thanks a lot for this video, I really needed help with technique.

[@guilhermejanssensakrouch1839]

Thanks to your video I was able to play some single notes without making mistakes! Started my harmonica journey 3 days ago, and my current mentor did not really emphasize the details on "whistle" form technique. Thanks a bunch

[@caitlynmoloney8259]

THANK YOU! I've watched several videos on how to play isolated notes and this is the first time I've been able to do it consistently!

[@shawnjbray]

Your lessons are much appreciated. I've always wanted to learn to play the harmonica. my grandparents played it great but we never found good times together for them to teach me

[@mattshepherd1736]

Maybe you can teach your grandkids

[@takemo_]

He's so good at playing the harmonica that his jaw's shape became chad

[@thewizard7396]

He's the average harmonica enjoyer

[@jamaicaandres771]

XD

[@YourLocalPlushAddict]

Three year's ago we still had the same humour

[@taiyo-osuke]

​@@YourLocalPlushAddict Yeah, I was surprised when I saw this comment was from nearky half a decade ago.

[@ladybat1312]

Hi there Tomlin. Thanks so much for this beginner lession. :) I didn't find playing single notes hard because I've previously gotten 7 years of training as a flutist. However the draw notes were significantly harder than the blow notes, will have to practise more on those to get it. Playing easy songs and simplified versions of songs from my favorite artists is off to a great start! Will be watching more of your videos. And if anyone else who've played the flute happens to see this comment - I strongly urge you to learn to play the harmonica as well, it's a natural & easy transition from the flute. :)

[@dr.winstonoboogie7302]

I just started playing the harmonica after seeing Robert Plant live, where he killed a harp solo on when the levee breaks! I’m finding your lessons very useful , thank you!

[@ninnglingmaung6571]

Just ordered 3 Harmonicas for my daughter, son and for myself. Should arrive in 2 days. Your methods are easy to follow and understand. As we got lock down due to lovely Covid-19, this is good way to spend the day together as a family :) Who knows ??? we may even become Pros in this :) Keep the good work bro God bless and keep you safe from this pandemic! Whoever puts their thumbs down on you is not good enough people.

[@ninnglingmaung6571]

Hi Tomlin Leckie Please please could you please share Harmonica C notes for 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord Oh My Soul song)?? Much appreciated.

[@tosa1052]

3 years later, did you stick to it? How good are you at it now?

[@L4ngyAge]

​@tosa1052 what a coincidence, 1 day later and I was gonna ask for an update too

[@St4r_sp]

​@@L4ngyAgesame I want an update too lol

[@FableFangirlJessica]

How are y'all at it now?

[@TrainerSteveRKC]

🙏🏻 How have I missed this lesson?!? Genius, at least for me ... Whistling into the harmonica... I had the diaphragm... The yawn, the relaxed breath (to my level of practice)... The "Whistle" idea/concept made such a difference for me. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@markjackson6502]

Speaking as a total novice this is the clearest explanation I’ve seen of playing a single note. Thank you.

[@Jay-vr8it]

I CANT STRESS ENOUGH HOW GOOD THESE TIPS ARE

[@Vicnsi]

I've learned how to play single notes now without too much difficulty. Challenge at the mo is how to make my notes sound more 'bluesy'. Thanks to your previous video (EASY Train Harmonica Blues) am feeling hopeful I can get there. Many Thanks 👍🏼

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Way to go! :-)

[@samermohamed7644]

I've always played with two fingers blocking the holes on the sides 😅. For the lip pursing, I find it hard to suck in air without getting multiple notes, blowing is pretty easy though.

[@atlf3357]

Same lmao 😂

[@scottstewart6260]

Amazon finally delivered my first harmonica, day one is today. Working on trying to isolate single notes. I'm a trumpet player for 20 years and trying harp. the books say to use tongue blocking, which i find difficult to figure out from a book lol. Thanks Tomlin for this one, works well for trumpet players who are used to tight amishers. Hohner Special 20 in C and A is what I bought to learn on.

[@rychubil]

I am also trumpet player who started to learn on harmonica Hohner Blues Harp in C, 3 days ago. For now I am struggling with single notes and proper breathing.

[@delusionofillusion473]

Finally someone that explains how to properly do it. Everyone else i saw juts said bite it, which was stupid as you need to single out a tone

[@Nazareth434]

One trick that can help is to make the whistle pucker as usual, but tilt the harmonica up towards the nose so that the single hole will be easier to hit as it goes into the crease in The middle of the lower lip- kinda hard to explain properly, but tilt the back of the harmonica up till you are hitting just one note instead of two or more. You are c,owing down the hole of the whistle position even more by doing this.

[@PolishArkadas]

For me it works some time, but almost every song is destroyed by one moment of ,, two holes " 😆

[@Nazareth434]

@PolishArkadas true, me too. I'll be ripping along and thinking it sounds pretty good and then hit several notes at once lol. I'm not,quite ready f9r the stage - won't be for several years I guess, but it's still fun to learn

[@rickreeves4004]

I uploaded this to Reddit in the Harmonica room. I rarely do this but damn man I thought this was very important lesson for most harp players new and seasoned like me. Thanks Tomlin, I am Amcanblues

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to ‘Subscribe’ and turn on notifications to never miss another Harmonica video. :-)

[@nacoran]

It's funny... you can hear someone explain something you already know in a slightly different way and suddenly you realize something about playing... I'd never really thought about it but when I'm playing simple chords for a song I'm usually not playing say, 3-4-5 around the 4 hole, I almost always instinctively play the 4-5-6 first inversion C chord. Now I'm going to have to think about whether I do that when I might have some better options for harmony. I do seem to emphasize the 4 hole in that scenario, blowing harder into it than the other two. I like the whistling analogy but I actually open my lips farther than one hole but the whistling kind of fits how I shape my tongue behind it. I had a big debate with Larry Eisenberg on MBH once about whether it was possible to shape air farther back in the mouth with your tongue. I do a weird thing where I angle the harp back and forth to hit the note to the left or right of the hole I'm on with 3 holes open at the same time and when you mentioned whistling I for the first time realized that the way I shape my tongue to do that is the same way I shape it to whistle. /Old Maid Lips... I remember that line.

[@hatemarafa4341]

Me

[@REALIVH]

what is the different between the harmonica that have 8holes and 10 holes and 2x14=28 holes? and how compare, with my 2x14 holes 2-8 number with others

[@morzen5894]

single notes are coming alright but when I move the harmonica my lips are sticking to it and i can't really move up. or down the harmonica without opening lips

[@samfernandoz8443]

Kindly Update the Notes for "Hey Google" ~From_India_with_Love

[@Amelia4111]

I just got myself a harmonica on my trip to St. Louis last week, and I've been trying to learn this technique! I heard that there are at least 3 ways to do this! #1, I can cover certain holes with my fingers! #2, I can pucker my lips on the instrument! Or #3, I can cover certain holes with my tongue while playing!

[@alexgoncalves7920]

Who else decidet to start playing Harmonica during the quarantine?

[@lauraalovess]

meeeee haha

[@emeraldeye5664]

same

[@jakubsaf3632]

Same

[@nicholashart8876]

Hahaha me 4 !!!! ISO instrument

[@annalisaaluisio2994]

me!!

[@topmagg]

This is the best explanation I've come across, for learning to play single notes cleanly. Thank you.

[@MickyBellRoberts]

This is just what this African Lion needs. I want to see if this old man can learn. Thanks.

[@craig6444]

VERY awesome videos! Thanks so much for your free course. That is most generous of you! I am 68 and started playing about a week ago. Already got my Special 20 in C from Ebay. Looking forward to learning how to play this thing! Amazing instrument.

[@DuckinCommissar]

That was kinda funny... i started learning three days ago and i tried to isolate one note since. Took less than three minutes of your video to be able to do that, thank you.

[@desktopabyss6198]

I'm currently in AIT and have been in a VERY strict quarentine after HBL, so I got a harmonica and am trynna learn for the past couple days.

[@idoskidsattheawesomeauzzie9255]

Thanks Buddy for Helping Me Through the Correct Beginnings of Playing Type C Blue Harp... 🙏🏼

[@f1948s]

Thanks Tomlin. Great lesson to help people learn play blues teaching how to isolate each note cleanly.

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Thanks Franko :-)

[@missstorrm]

just went through several beginners videos on lip-blocking. everywhere the "rules" were set in a quite strict way (relaxed upper lip, 30 degrees angle, etc.). after 30min had my lower jaw hurting... and here you are saying we don't need to actually eat the whole harmonica, and i can suddenly get a clean note!

[@dytra_io]

i'm gonna tell you i struggle alot with this for weeks but after trying your method geesh, i finally did it!, for the first time when i actually followed you method in this video! Thx so much h,God bless youu!

[@dytra_io]

auto subscribe :)) !

[@IdentityQuandry]

You are THE best teacher! Thank you!

[@blondietaehyungie7982]

Thank you so much!! This really helped, I just got a harmonica from my dad and I really wanna learn how to play it. Thank you 🙌🏻

[@rullychristian356]

I came here after my 1st harmonica arrive 10 minutes ago

[@nikhilshelke9398]

"You need to be intimate with your harmonica"

[@GeorgeSchott]

Bro this is legit what I thought 😂

[@AdKoolaid]

Now THAT is an excellent video for beginners. Thanks!

[@tunnelvizion4801]

Got my harmonica yesterday and here I am at 1 in the morning

[@kiarareed5702]

Try learning Low Rider it's really fun

[@shanzayshah6455]

same its 2 am and im doing this on a school night

[@charlesbarboza8591]

You are an amazing instructor. Thanks for sharing.

[@CA-vk9bo]

All music teachers should be as kind as you are lol I had some scary music teachers growing up, it was intimidating and discouraging

[@buchsbaum1368]

You are the best teacher, this is priceless

[@tesssdt]

Thank you so much for this video!!! it has helped me a lot, although I still struggle to get all the right notes on the first try, I improved a lot just through this single video

[@lowend337]

This guy is a fabulous teacher man

[@baskov9570]

good afternoon. thank you for the lessons. I live in Russia and do not understand English. but I will try to learn from our lessons.

[@Bob76075]

I just got my new Hohner 20. This is great lesson. Thank you!

[@rishitkumarofficial]

OMG I just learned how to play single notes!!!! Thanks for this tutorial!!!!!!!!!!

[@HHDiviNe]

was moving my head haha, your tips already made things sound much clearer! thanks a ton!

[@jimwilliams3517]

Hey Tom, new sub here and new student, hopefully. You seem like a good teacher. That's what I'm looking for, so we'll give this a try. Thank you for the free lessons! I can't tell you how much I really appreciate that. We're kind of "at ends" right now and that's just what I need. Looking forward to it, Tom. See you soon.

[@t.b1456]

My grandfather gave me his harmonica a while ago, im learning it during quarantine.

[@yotarolover1113]

My dad gave it to me 2 days ago

[@acealger5106]

How's it going so far?

[@jessicalightfoot3738]

I’m a beginner & your video helped me a lot. Thanks

[@Intrumentlover44]

Thanks!

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Thank you so much!!

[@nonnatrushkevich4276]

Thank you very much, you are naturally great teacher!

[@kishorrathod320]

Excellent Guidance . Thanks .

[@BanditmitKredit]

Thank you very much. Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪👍🏼

[@ShellyA1964]

This lesson is awesome! I learned so much! Big help! Been struggling as a beginner getting the single notes, doing so much better now!

[@tonyjacobs7088]

LIAR!!!

[@chrisfranklin368]

That was much easier than some other videos I've seen

[@danielparker3842]

Just what I needed to get started. Thanks.

[@flaviusaquila3740]

Worked wonders thank you so much!!!

[@trevorhansen4943]

Thank you. Am just about to start on my journey 😊

[@perrykuehr5538]

You are a superb teacher..thank you

[@aida1350]

brilliant thank you so much now I can enjoy my harmonica

[@Vodkar]

Right before I clicked on this video, literally seconds before, I figured out how to play single notes with the tongue blocking technique. The lip pursing technique is really cool too though!

[@DraemoraH]

thank you! I'm trying to get clean notes for a few days now, sometimes I get it right away,sometimes it takes me ages, but that's how muscle memory works in the beginning, I guess. I'm trying the simplest of songs I could find, my neighbors must hate me by now hahaha anyways,thanks again!

[@ZVEKOfficial]

Have you made any progress? I just got mine I wanna know how long it takes before I sound decent enough

[@TheFishsmell]

Very helpful, much love!

[@roppis9258]

Thanks a lot for this! I thought I was having my mouth shape wrong, but turns out I just keep blowing off-center. Gotta practice getting it right each time I guess

[@sukmandragon]

Thank you so much for all the tips! You're a great teacher!

[@perrykuehr5538]

haha...I just left the SAME comment...you and me?..:brothers!

[@sledge1960]

Finally got it mate. Thanks a bunch

[@manylch7964]

great lesson, many thanks

[@TonyTooTuff]

Glad I stopped by.

[@ebisawkward]

The "whistle" tip helped a lot.

[@reedbrett5252]

Hey Tomlin, I'm planning on using my harmonica in conjunction with my guitar using a neck holder thing. Should I start by learning with my hands or go straight to that? Thanks for the great video!

[@sumlessdoge780]

Thanks so much, I can isolate notes now.

[@joquid]

Ok wait that actually worked, I got all the notes almost the middle ones are a bit harder but the pursing lips out works amazing

[@paulotoole744]

Excellent lesson

[@brendanprivitera2793]

Really well done tutorial

[@oldvic192]

Great lesson, I am worried though that other tutors insist that for beginners you should learn tongue blocking from the start as it’s easier that way and difficult to learn later when you have become used to pursed lip. I must say I trekked tongue blocking for 30 seconds and wanted to give up the harmonica! Thoughts?

[@poweliftingtvau5037]

Subbed and liked man. I just got my Hohner special 20 today, and I’ll be using your videos only to learn!

[@ibk5547]

perfectly demonstrated n advised

[@deborahwiles6158]

Very well explained👍👍

[@mmcfreds]

Great stuff Tomlin, thanks! My 7-draw sounds really weird, I think it’s because I’m sucking rather than breathing. Thanks for the tip!

[@Hanibaltherogue]

yeah same problem here

[@ivelin888]

mmcfreds damn I thought there is sth wrong with my harmonica! Now I know its not that, its me! :)

[@annalisaaluisio2994]

Thank you so much for all of your lectures and advices. I'm so glad I have found your channel. Grazie mille! Che bravo!

[@thecosmos729]

Thank you! This is very helpful.

[@tokugeeky2931]

Great lesson

[@robertrostant6986]

Great lesson good during Covid-19’s better player now as an beginner

[@Rebelos11]

a big real THANK YOU! your are so helpfull!

[@tevinwhite7347]

These tutorials are outstandingly coherent. Thank you!

[@bhartinagarkatti7064]

Very nicely described

[@sam-lv7ym]

Hey Tomlin, Thanks for the lesson! I was wondering - I have played harmonica a while and figured I was probably using the wrong tecnique... but I wanted to see if it was okay. Basically, I use my tongue in a sort of 'rolled up' position to play single notes. It does sound a bit different than the method you teach here but it is so much easier! What do you think?

[@prettygoodpootis5133]

Thank you so much for the info!

[@YS-cu6bf]

Thank you! Got single notes right away yay!

[@mikecosgrove5786]

Hi Tomlin. Awhile back I came across one of your videos where you played each draw bend note to help us learn exactly how they should sound. I can’t find it and was hoping you would provide the link. Your videos are the absolute best on KZbin! Thanks!

[@xXSummonNightXx]

Feels like one of my holes is jam when I try to breath in, couldn't breath in at all and it's hard to make a note for that particular hole

[@kevintsang2205]

moisture build up. Shake it on your palm, then blow in and out.

[@erichperigaultmonte4105]

great am ready to start

[@bernardbussieres5379]

Thanks a lot for the video. Really helped me

[@giusepperesponte8077]

I don’t use the lip pursing or tongue blocking techniques, I don’t know if this is already a known method but what I do is press my bottom lip against the holes and for some reason it just works. You just push the moist part of your inner lips out, basically do a duckface but keep your lips open (sorry if you’re young and don’t know what I’m talking about, just look up duckface) and push the bottom lip against the holes like you’re trying to block all of them, and if you press it with the right amount of pressure it will only let air out of the center hole, it also helps me to tilt the back end of the harmonica upward when I do it.

[@thewizard7396]

Duckface isn't that old...

[@doogert8594]

awesome lesson!!! subscribed!!

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Thanks for the sub!

[@stevenboswell3730]

Great teacher

[@gerardkinsella6034]

Just bought a folkmaster 2 day key of d for Irish music first time ever playing harmonica trying to get single notes is hard any recommendations for a good diatonic an a budget with good sound and blow and draw👍

[@spookyjones2039]

Like corn on the cob 😂 thank you for your video and a good laugh👏

[@RETSAMTV34]

Thanks for this tutorial

[@svnrm2004]

very helpful !!! Thanks

[@robertbudnik3318]

Good stuff mate!