09 January 2008

The Art of Harmonica Virtuosity

Good morning, dearest of friends. Earlier this week I learned the Art of harmonica-playing, which is in truth a very easy Art to learn. This is in truth a true thing because the harmonica is a very weak instrument, capable of playing only three chords and their inversions in only one key. These chords, of course, are the I, the IV, and the V. Indeed, there is a fair amount of music that can be performed with only those chords and their inversions, but that music tends to be mind-numbingly and ear-bleedingly boring; however, a good deal of excellent music contains melodic sections of this nature. Here are the playable bits of music that I have developed the ability to play (mostly in the wrong key):

"Heart of Gold" by Neil Young (appropriate because it actually has a harmonica part)
"Outside the Wall" from The Wall by Pink Floyd (yes, the whole song)
"Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce (you know, that maddening one from Guitar Hero III, but not the whole song)
The Magic Flute
by Mozart (Sarastro's theme and Papageno's aria)
The Lord of the Rings by Howard Shore (the Shire theme, at least)

Now, it is true that there exist such things as chromatic harmonicas, with appropriate mechanisms for achieving chromaticism. Obviously, I possess no such thing, as the harmonica that I found is essentially a toy, and this is a fine thing for a harmonica to be. I quite like toys, after all. One day I will start an amazing band, and it will be beyond mortal imagination, thanks to skills such as these.

5 comments:

maria said...

A friend of mine is a harmonica virtuoso. Unfortunately I missed his live performance during the day that several of us students from my school were hobos for two days.

My grandmother wishes that my three youngest sisters woiuld master the harmonica art, which is why they each have one. Fortunately they only played them consistently for about a month.

Thorvald Erikson said...

Would they like to join my amazing band, which is beyond mortal imagination? We can be a Harmonica Disco Quartet.

Anonymous said...

How about, "The last of the summer wine"'s theme? It a wonderful British sitcom that I suggest you watch.

Per Harald said...

http://www.musicfromnorway.com/default.aspx?norwegian=artist&music=4780
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Reilly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Groven

Anonymous said...

Please go to: NickyShaneReverbNation.com and check out the solo's on his songs to hear a progressive harmonica.