12 Bar Blues

So I have been kicking around the idea of various instruments to learn and play in the interim of my back being a pain in the ass, well back being a pain in the calves more specifically. I generally grab my bass guitar and strum away for minutes to hours learning the instrument a little more each time, while banging out some quick riffs of songs most would easily recognize. Unfortunately a bass guitar is heavy and even sitting requires a sort of hunched position when learning because you spend so much time getting your finger shapes in the correct position. Granted, most bass guitar is rhythm and you are rarely playing chords, but I tend to lean toward Metallica and other bass riffs that are a bit more complex and do require them so it adds to the task.

Background

While on our vacation I had mentioned "fluteman" that played his flute or recorder everyday that we were at sea, around 11:00 for a good 30 minutes, up to an hour. It actually inspired me and once back in the states I started looking at instruments and songs I could learn. To my surprise there are no Metallica tabs on the internet for the recorder, go figure! The majority of the music is folk or religious music, not something that interests me as well as other tunes that make me feel as though I have been swept into The Lord of the Rings, again not my thing. Heck I even said to myself at one point, its an instrument and you are making music so play what is available and enjoy it, keep your mind creative and active. This thought process even drove me to drive to Guitar Center to purchase a recorder at one point. I did not get out of the car, I sat there watching videos on my phone in the parking lot trying to find some inspiration that would "awe me" with inspirational goosebumps and in turn take up the learning process of the recorder. Sorry to say, it did not happen and I left the parking lot without ever stepping foot in Guitar Center.

Validation

Fast forward to Thanksgiving dinner over at dads. After dinner we were all sitting around talking about things and this topic came up. So I explained to everyone just as I did in the previous paragraph and to my surprise there was not a single person that said "boy did you make a mistake, that would have been the perfect instrument for you". Don't get me wrong, I am not dissing the recorder instrument, its great for those that play it and enjoy it. It also does a great job of introducing many to music at a young age and allows others to create music inexpensively and relatively easily compared to the dedication of many other instruments.

I am more of a 160 to 200 bpm (beats per minute) electric guitar punk rock enthusiast or a low end lover on the bass guitar when it comes to dedicating the time to learn something. Heck maybe there lies the mistake on my part due to the dedication I am unwilling to hand over to master those instruments. For me, learning recognizable riffs is satisfaction at its best. That said, on the flip side I enjoy blues music as well, playing it on the bass more than listening to it though. For some reason I can only handle a handful of blues songs before I need something that gets to the point a little quicker. Actually without getting into details I enjoy pretty much all music and appreciate it all as well, my mood dictates more of what I like vs. what I will only let my ears listen to. I played the violin for many years long ago so listening to classical and related still gets my juices flowing.

Interest

Ok back to the Thanksgiving discussion. My dad chimed in and said "how about the harmonica", its light weight and sounds pretty cool. I chuckled and even rolled my eyes a little bit initially but as we talked more about it other things came to light. How its an extremely portable instrument and how the player can create music as complex or as basic as they choose to. It is used in many styles of music from rock to blues although my guess would be that it is mostly known for blues when people think of it. Sorta like a banjo, I think banjo's have such a cool sound but there is a lame stereotype that goes along with it, not to mention they seem complicated to learn to play. Anyway we talked some more and it ended with, well give it some thought it might be fun for you to learn to play it until you get back on the bass guitar, its a pretty small investment as well I thought.

Peaked

After leaving dads house I honestly did not give our discussion much thought until sometime Saturday night or early Sunday when something triggered it. I immediately began looking around for minutes that quickly turned into hours of research, educating myself on the harmonica. So many stones to turn over it seemed.

Questions I needed answers to like; What brands are there, are harmonicas generally wood, plastic, metal or a combination of those. What "key" do most beginners start with (i.e. C, C#, D etc)? How are they played, is there an abundance of varying music and tablature on the internet for the harmonica like you can easily find for the guitar and bass guitar for example? If there is, then is there enough music besides the stuff that only paints you into the religious hymn type songs?

To my surprise all of the above questions and answers were easily found along with more information than I could mentally consume in years or a lifetime of knowledge building. Not only was I able to find a lot of music I was able to find music across the spectrum which equally surprised and excited me.

Gotcha

Ok hold on, calm down and wait just a minute, I said to myself as I smirked - I gotcha by the balls now! With all of this positive information coming back I completely forgot the million dollar question, no matter how relevant it really was, it was part of my research and I wanted to do my best to cross my t's and dot my i's. The big question lingered in my mind as I typed in the queries, asking myself as I typed -- "Is there any Metallica"? I did the same thing, jokingly really, while researching the recorder in the Guitar Center parking lot that day so why not?

My recorder research turned up few songs of any interest to me and I can honestly say that I was not surprised when there was no Metallica. Assuming I was in the same boat I continued my research and entered the query anyhow. Whoa whats this? You have got to be kidding me? There are Metallica songs tabbed to play on the harmonica -- fuck yea! Not only is this cool, but its cool because it would be a compliment to any bass riffs that I might already know or could learn in the future once my back is playing nicely again. Ok this harmonica thing is sounding pretty interesting (pun intended).

Guitar Center

Fast forward once again to Monday. I was still kicking around the idea but not yet 100% sold. Well what do you know, what's this in my Gmail inbox? A Guitar Center 15% off cyber Monday discount offer for any purchases online or in the store, Monday only. Hmm, well I know what type of harmonica I would get, I know what key I would want it in and I know what type of reeds and so on, you get the idea. Ok final query but this time on the Guitar Center website, if it comes up "in stock" and "available at the Reno location" I will go down tonight after work and pick it up I thought, but at the same time thinking to myself that there is no way it will be in stock and this will give me a way to put it off for a few more days until I can be even more sure, not that I needed to be, just more of some sick mental game of cat and mouse I battle with decision of this type.

Enter search terms and hit enter....wait...Ok yep there it is, in stock and available for immediate shipping. All well and good but my stipulation was that it needed to be in stock and available locally so I enter my zip code and click "check stores"...Available....appears on screen. Wow, that was almost too easy I think to myself. It seems and though I have beat a dead horse long enough and therefore looks like I will be driving to Guitar Center after work to pick up my shiny new toy.

Just Breathe

Guitar Center was quick and painless although as it always does, my ADD kicked in and I was looking at everything from banjo's and mandolins to keyboards and dub-step creation tools (how fun would that be to do, uh oh!). But thanks to my lovely wife Cicely I left with only what I came in for and this does not happen every time I go somewhere.

Once home I tore into the package of my shiny new Hohner 562 Pro Harmonica MS Series and began to read through the literature (yea I know, most would have already blown into it a couple times but I wanted to be sure there was not any setup I needed to do - sheesh!).

Anyway reading though I noticed this glaring text in front of me in big bold letters that read "Just Breathe", hmm seems easy enough so I picked the case, opened it and pulled out my harmonica and did just that, breathed out twice on the 4th hole, in once on the 3rd hole, already mastering 2 notes from the get-go.

Obviously it was going to be just that easy but at the same time I did not expect it to be so much fun. I mean how many of us have taken out a new instrument we have never played and within minutes had sounds that sounded like "something"? Yea I know, on the guitar you could easily play 6 open notes and 4 on most basses. Doing so on the harmonica was just as gratifying. I immediately grabbed my iPad and brought up one of the simplistic songs I had found during my research which is also a great beginner tune on the guitar and bass guitar called 12 bar blues. After a few minutes I was actually getting somewhere and having fun. Was it perfect, no not by any means but it was not annoyingly horrid sounding either. By this time my stomach was growling, it was late and I still needed to have some dinner. The fun had to stop as it was time to put my harmonica back in its case for the night.

Sum It Up

All-in-all I think it was a great decision to pick one up. The research process was interesting. From learning about the new-to-me professional quality instruments vs. the plastic toys of days gone by to the music that can be made. The price was well worth the risk of potentially not enjoying it at $39.99 (minus my 15% off) and I think I will have a lot of fun with it.

My ultimate goal is not to become a raspy blues guy in a dark, smoke filled bar, but more along the lines of making sounds, breathing in and breathing out through a seemingly basic instrument. While at times allowing it to transpose my breaths into vibrations that come together in the form of something that resembles music, maybe even a familiar Metallic tune, you never know.

Photo: Hohner Pro 562 MS Series Harmonica