The art of playing the harmonica is not just a matter of blowing or breathing in any way, like every other harmonica player. It is one that requires techniques, mouthpiece, and many other details which can be learned by taking online Harmonica classes.
This article contains a list of the 15 online harmonica classes that are tailored to suit your harmonica goals. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind checking them out.
Can I Take Harmonica Classes Online?
Online harmonica classes are one of the best ways possible to learn how to play the harmonica. Any information you are looking for around how to play the harmonica can be found on online repositories like eLearning platforms, YouTube, and lots more.
On eLearning platforms like Udemy, Coursera, Udacity, and Skillshare, you can find a library of video-based training concerns that covers various topics on how to play the harmonica. To get started, all you need to do is enroll as a student and get full access to the course materials and experienced tutors as long as you have great internet access.
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15 Online Harmonica Classes In 2022
Our list of online harmonica classes contains not just paid classes but also, the best free harmonica lessons that will make you an expert in the act.
1. How to play a Minor song (Summertime) on a Major harmonica – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 1hr 30mins
Have you always wanted to play a Minor song (Summertime) on a Major harmonica? This online harmonica class will show you how to play a song in three minor keys on a major key – D minor, E minor, and A minor.
2. Learn to play HARMONICA, the easiest instrument to pick up! – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 23hrs
This online harmonica lesson will help you become a great harmonica player. All you need to do is follow the lectures in order plus some practice and you will start to feel a surge of confidence as you see your skills increasing daily.
This will be exciting, fun, and challenging – I think you will thoroughly enjoy it!
At the end of the class, you will learn the following:
- How to play the 12 bar blues, chords, rhythms, tone, and chugging
- How to breathe properly, use straight and swing rhythms
- The best ways to play single notes with pucker and tongue-blocked embouchures
- Scales, modes, and positions, single/double/triple tonguing
- How to use major and minor pentatonic scales for improvising and soloing
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3. 30-day challenge – learn to play the harmonica in one month!
Duration: 1hr 30mins
This course is designed for beginners and intermediate players. In this lesson, the instructor will walk you through the whole thing very slowly step by step. If you are an advanced player, you will quickly grasp the whole thing.
At the end of this session, you’ll learn the following:
- How to play the harmonica!
- You will understand where you want to go with the harmonica – tunes, rock, blues, folk, jazz?
- Lastly, you will get a sense of achievement getting the hang of a musical instrument in a very short time
4. Harmonica Jamz: Play Any Song and JAM with Friends – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 13hrs
Harmonica Jamz is professionally produced and filmed in a boutique music studio and in standards of quality that are unknown in the harmonica videos world. The lessons are a joy to watch and listen to.
In this course, you will be taught how to play songs and also improvise music and jammin’ with other people.
After each lecture, you will have an interactive jam session where you will be playing the harmonica along with the relevant music, while the key points that we just talked about will be right in front of you, in a text form.
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5. Play Sonny Terry style on Harmonica and dazzle your friends! – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 5hrs
If you ever wanted to learn to play the harmonica like Sonny Terry this new course is for you!
In this class, the instructor presents an mp3 included which has each riff played by me at full speed, half speed, and medium speed to help you learn how to play it better.
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6. HARP&SOUL | Learn the Secrets of the Harmonica – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 2hrs
HARP&SOUL is a new, comprehensive course given by the recognized harmonica player, Marcos Coll musician and experienced harmonica virtuoso. Marcos has played with legendary musicians like Mick Taylor, Buddy Miles, and Tom Jones.
This best online harmonica lesson covers a wide range of the instrument, from the beginning, the various types of existing harmonicas, the basic skills to advanced techniques such as the “overblow“. You will not find a course like this!
Whether you want to discover harmonica or you want to enhance your knowledge of the instrument, this course is a perfect fit.
7. How to practice your harmonica to get amazing progress fast! – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 1hr
In this course, you are going to learn how to practice the harmonica in order to ramp up your skills to enable you to play with other people or on your own with much more confidence.
A regular practice routine helps develop discipline, and aids in the development of music skills and better technique, fine motor skills, and muscle memory. Students who practice regularly improve far more rapidly than those who practice sporadically.
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8. Learn how to bend notes the easy way on your HARMONICA today – Udemy (Paid)
This course will cover draw bending on holes 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 only but prepares the way for all the other bends which will follow in another course.
Each lecture will introduce you to the next group of notes – usually just 4 new notes and that’s it. This method makes it easy for you to pick up the tunes as they are repeated for easy grasp.
At the end of the class, you will learn the following:
- How to play the harmonica much better!
- How to bend on holes 1-6 with practice
- How to play loads of music you couldn’t before
9. 30-day challenge – learn to play the harmonica in one month! – Skillshare (Free)
Duration: 1hr 19mins
It could be a simple train sound, a chugging rhythmic reggae groove, and piece of single note playing in any style, or even a recording you make where you play several parts yourself – like a one-person harmonica orchestra!
This harmonica masterclass taught by Ben Hewlett will teach you how to play Harmonica in one month without stress.
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10. Blues Chromatic Harmonica, learn the basics, it’s fun & easy – Udemy (Paid)
Duration: 43mins
This harmonica lesson makes it easy for you to pick up the tunes as they are repeated over and over again until you have got it.
Take one course and learn your favorite tune. They try another. Remember you can always get your money back if you wish but otherwise you have lifetime access to the course.
Imagine how amazing it will feel when you whip out your harmonica and play this tune – your friends and family will carry you shoulder high in triumph. Hopefully, they don’t carry you out of town and dump you in the river, but hey, swimming’s good as well.
At the end of this online harmonica class, you will learn the following:
- The basics of Blues Chromatic Harmonica playing
- You will learn single notes, chords, rhythms, tongue blocking, blues scale notes, use of the button…
11. HARMONICA mastery – Learning the Basic 12 Bar Blues Bassline – Udemy (Paid)
This course is for complete beginners; you don’t need any musical experience to get started.
Here’s a list of what you’ll learn in this course:
- How to play this classic blues bass line on your harmonica now!
- Access to all other courses
- How to play clear single notes on the harmonica
12. Play Love Me Do by the Beatles; the riff and the whole song – Udemy (Free)
Duration: 45mins
In this lesson prepared by Ben Hewlett, you will learn the four ways Lennon plays the riff in addition to how to play the whole tune, and the harmonies (both at once on the same harmonica).
13. Harmonica Lessons – Classcentral (Free)
Duration: 1-2hrs
This free harmonica lesson assumes you already know some basics of the harmonica, such as positions, blow and draw, and the basics of bending notes. It will help you improve your tone and create more precise bends. Additionally, it covers licks, riffs, improvisation, and jazz up your blues playing.
14. Breath Series Chromatic Harmonica Tutorial – Classcentral (Free)
Duration: 1-2hrs
The most important cornerstone of your playing technique is BREATH, after all, the chromatic harmonica is FIRST AND FOREMOST…a breath instrument.
For you to continue to improve month after month, your base skills must be firm. This online lesson will help you perfect your technique on Breath, Vibrato, and Bends which help you become better.
How Difficult Is It To Learn The Harmonica?
When you start playing the harmonica newly, you are bound to encounter the following challenges:
1. Trouble picking the right harmonica
As a novice, choosing the appropriate harmonica can be a difficult task. There are various types of specialty harmonicas to choose from, but the most common choices are tremolo, chromatic, or diatonic tone harmonicas.
You’ll need a good harmonica to learn and practice on, but if you don’t know which one is right for you, you can end up squandering money by purchasing the wrong one.
2. Insufficient breathing power
Compared to other wind instruments, the harmonica is a relatively easy instrument to learn. However, to play appropriately, you also have to learn how to control your breath. Every note produced on the harmonica is created by drawing or blowing on the holes.
It is common for beginners to make the mistake of assuming that simply blowing as one would a balloon is an effective tactic. But the sounds produced are usually distasteful and difficult to control without establishing the right techniques first. If you have never played a wind instrument before, this can be difficult to fully understand.
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3. Difficulty bending the sound
Bending notes can be very fun to produce but it takes a while before you can learn to do it very well. Players that bend notes are required to change the pitch by locating their tongue and tuning the mouth to the desired pitch, which is difficult to achieve even for harmonica players that have been studying for years.
To help you get better at it, you can take up specific online harmonica classes that clearly explain how to bend notes.
4. Building up endurance
Beginners often get easily tired when they first start practicing the harmonica. Not only do you have to learn how to control your breath so as not to run out of air, but you might find that your lips and mouth are sore after continuous practice.
Although completely natural, playing the harmonica can be demanding on both the respiratory system and the body. So, amateurs are encouraged to build up their practice slowly so as to overcome these challenges.
FAQs On Harmonica
Of course, you can. You can access up-to-date tutorials on how to play the harmonica on eLearning platforms and YouTube.
With regular deliberate practice, you can expect to be playing simple pop tunes within around 3 months.
Two hours is a good minimum. The more, the better, up to five or six hours most days.
Compared to other wind instruments, the harmonica is a relatively easy instrument to learn. However, to play properly, you also have to learn how to control your breath. Every note produced on the harmonica is created by drawing or blowing on the holes.
Conclusion
If you want to become a harmonica pro, you will need to set up a minimum amount of time to practice each week. Practicing will help you build up your respiratory endurance, and it will help you improve the techniques that you might find difficult such as bending or producing single notes. Therefore, try and set up at least 10-15 minutes twice each week to practice and you will be surprised by what consistency can do for your abilities.
References
- udemy.com – Harmonica Courses
- cmuse.org – How hard is it to learn Harmonica? (Beginners’ Challenges and Useful Tips)
- skillshare.com – Harmonica Courses
