Short Stories
Harmonica Lessons.com visitors submit fiction or non-fiction short stories based on experiences that involve the harmonica or harmonica playing. If you would like to have a short story included in our collection, please note the procedures for submission in the bullet points on the Short Stories main page.
"The Harmonica Is Simple To Play"
Sure if all you want to play is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star or Oh Suzanne
it maybe. Only that's not what I play. I play the Blues, which by definition
means putting your emotions on display, on a Blues Harp. The people who've
mastered this instrument, one of whom I hope to someday be, can pull some
really Funky sounds out of a tin sandwich, Mississippi Saxophone, whatever
you want to call it.
The instrument I play is a simple diatonic, ten hole, harmonica which has antecedents in China using bamboo reeds. It was called the sheng over there, was brought to Europe by sailors, and a clock maker in Germany named Mathias Hohner started mass production of them in the mid-nineteenth century. Mass production then meant fifty or more pieces. The first year he and family and a few workmen made seven hundred. Thirty years later they had made a million.
The harmonica is still the number one selling musical instrument in the world, it's what fathers and mothers typically buy the kid when he expresses a desire to make music. My father bought me one, and it languished in a drawer until I found it again after starting to play already.
The instrument I play is a simple diatonic, ten hole, harmonica which has antecedents in China using bamboo reeds. It was called the sheng over there, was brought to Europe by sailors, and a clock maker in Germany named Mathias Hohner started mass production of them in the mid-nineteenth century. Mass production then meant fifty or more pieces. The first year he and family and a few workmen made seven hundred. Thirty years later they had made a million.
The harmonica is still the number one selling musical instrument in the world, it's what fathers and mothers typically buy the kid when he expresses a desire to make music. My father bought me one, and it languished in a drawer until I found it again after starting to play already.
"When A Harp Blows The Blues"
When a Harp blows the Blues,
You gone feel it, down to your shoes.
That's what happens, when a Harp blows the Blues!
We had Noah Lewis, and George "Bullet" Williams too.
Little, Big Walter, Jr. Wells, George Smith, and Sonny Boys 1 & 2.
We learnt from them all, how a Harp can blow the Blues!
When I play Harp, I can either suck or blow.
What happened to the girl, that was here before?
When a Harp blow the Blues, it'll keep you coming back for more!
"The Blues are the roots, and the other music are the fruits." One of Willie Dixon's favorite sayings, from "I Am The Blues" by Willie Dixon with Don Snowden.
"I've been actively playing Harp for five years. Like most kids, my Dad bought me a Marine Band Harmonica that sat in a drawer for years."
You gone feel it, down to your shoes.
That's what happens, when a Harp blows the Blues!
We had Noah Lewis, and George "Bullet" Williams too.
Little, Big Walter, Jr. Wells, George Smith, and Sonny Boys 1 & 2.
We learnt from them all, how a Harp can blow the Blues!
When I play Harp, I can either suck or blow.
What happened to the girl, that was here before?
When a Harp blow the Blues, it'll keep you coming back for more!
"The Blues are the roots, and the other music are the fruits." One of Willie Dixon's favorite sayings, from "I Am The Blues" by Willie Dixon with Don Snowden.
"I've been actively playing Harp for five years. Like most kids, my Dad bought me a Marine Band Harmonica that sat in a drawer for years."
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