Harmonica For Dummies |  | Author: Winslow Yerxa
Publisher: For Dummies
Category: Book
List Price: $21.99
Buy New: $11.88
as of 9/7/2010 00:42 CDT details
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New (42) Used (16) from $11.88
Seller: cherrybooks
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 7203
Media: Paperback
Pages: 360
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 047033729X
Dewey Decimal Number: 788.82193
EAN: 9780470337295
ASIN: 047033729X
Publication Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780470337295 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
Are you hankering to play the harmonica? Harmonica For Dummies is an easy-to-read practice guide that gives you step-by-step instructions and gets you making music in no time! Even if you’re an experienced harmonica player, this jump-in-anywhere reference is packed with tips and playing techniques that will take your skills to the next level. This fast, fun, hands-on guide helps you choose your first harmonica and shows you how to hold it, make your first sounds, and keep it clean and working well. Helpful diagrams show you how to shape sounds using your tongue, throat, and hands. Before you know it you’ll be playing melodies, chugging out rhythms, and bending notes with ease. You’ll also pick up some basics of music theory and learn how to read the notation and tablature for all the music in the book. Discover how to: - Play right out of the box with little or no experience
- Make that wonderful wailing sound
- Create exciting rhythms and play solo
- Understand how the harmonica works
- Play all of the music on the Bonus CD
- Read tablature, educate your eye, and develop your ear
- Breath correctly while playing
- Bend notes up and down
- Play one harp in many keys
- Develop your style in blues rock, country, folk, and more
- Play with other musicians
- Work with a microphone to create great sounds
So stop dreaming and start playing! Harmonica For Dummies will get you wailing in no time! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
Highly recommended October 11, 2008
Steven R. Webb (Minnesota)
34 out of 35 found this review helpful
Winslow Yerxa's book "Harmonica for Dummies" should be titled "Everything You Need to Know About Harmonica"
Winslow is one of the most highly respected members of the nation's harmonica community. He has forgotten more about harmonica than most of us will ever learn. As I told him, if this book had been available 30 years ago when I started playing harmonica, I would be a real player now. Anyone interested in harmonica will not find a book with more information, and concise, easy to understand instruction, than this gem.
If you have any urge at all to learn how to play this fascinating little instrument, this will be the best money you have ever spent.
I play harmonica in a band and I can find all kinds of things in this book that will keep me learning.
Basics to Fairly Advanced, Superbly Written January 22, 2009
New England Yankee (Northern New England)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
This book is truly well-written. It is crystal clear, follows a progressive course of instruction from end-to-end without any out-of-place interruptions, has no errors that I've been able to find, and actually covers more than most beginning players really want or need to know initially (e.g., playing in other than the first and second positions).
The accompanying CD is also excellent. While the tunes, in typical instruction book fashion, aren't anything you'd want to listen to for entertainment, as they are the usual folk tunes long out of copyright, they are well-recorded and each track is played in exactly the manner needed to illustrate whatever playing principle is being demonstrated. The backing instrumentation never overwhelms the harp, and the harp is played with only the techniques and ornamentation (bends, articulation, wah, etc.) appropriate to the topic. The tracks are already in MP3 format, so there's no need to rip them down to your PC for your iPod.
If you already play an instrument, there is material in this book that you can bypass, including notation, basic (very) music theory, and the like. It doesn't dominate the book and for the most part is contained in the first few chapters. Speedread through this material for the few harmonica-specific comments.
The book has few pictures or illustrations - but those it has are spot-on. Hand positions are illustrated. Tongue and mouth positions are illustrated. There are pictures in the repair and maintenance chapters. That's about it, but that's all that's needed, and I never felt the need for more. In fact, I particularly appreciated the embouchure (mouth and tongue) illustrations, which were better than I'd seen elsewhere to-date.
Harmonica for Dummies will occupy a beginner for a long time. This isn't a book you will buy, zip through in a week or two, then toss aside wanting more. Plan on spending many weeks - or months. If you come out at the other end having mastered all the material in this book, you'll probably be a better player than most non-pros you will meet.
Were I to wish for anything different in this book, it would be more of a blues and rock emphasis. The book is positioned as a generalized harmonica instruction book, however, so a variety of types of music and playing styles are presented.
For Dummies and Smarty-Pants too! October 15, 2008
David R. Fertig (Pasadena, California)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Winslow Yerxa and team produced what may be the best book about harmonica yet. He really covers the whole range of issues with harp which I've encountered in my almost 40 years of playing blues harp purely from feel, and he demonstrates with words that which normally defies explanation.
Yerxa's intellect and humor animate the organization, writing, and tone of the tome, making it both entertaining, and eminently readable, even for a poor book-learner such as myself!
Congratulations on creating a super-resource for our fine and enigmatic instrument!
Comprehensive November 17, 2008
Michael
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
"Wow! This book is very comprehensive." That is the comment I hear most often after someone takes a look at this book.
The book is, indeed, very comprehensive and well written. All topics are taught in a manner respecting the intelligence of the reader.
The harmonica can be one of the most expressive instruments. There is much to learn from taking care of it, tuning it, playing it, to some music theory to understand why things work. This book covers that and much, much more.
Truly one of the best! April 30, 2009
Betsy G. Johnson (Topsail Beach, NC)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I won Winslow's book at the SPAH convention and was truly thrilled to get it! (For those interested in harmonica, be sure to check out www.spah.org for much useful info). I have probably every book written about how to play harmonica, and this really is one of the best. I wish I'd had it when I was first learning to play. It covers everything from rank beginner to advanced techniques. I would consider it a "must have" by anyone interested in learning this incredible instrument.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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