The Instant Chromatic Harmonica: The Blues/Jazz Improvisation Method Revised Edition [Paperback]

David Harp (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harmonica | Publication Date: January 1, 1993

An amazingly simple blues/jazz improvising method for chromatic harmonica. Perfect for total beginners or for good chromatic players who don't know how to jam.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Musical I Press; Revised edition (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0918321905
• ISBN-13: 978-0918321909
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,461,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is an OK book., October 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Instant Chromatic Harmonica: The Blues/Jazz Improvisation Method Revised Edition (Paperback)

This book is good for beginners interested in learning to play the chromatic harmonica in Jazz/Blues/Rock style. It covers a little music theory, but not too heavy.

Experienced harmonica players (like myself) may find this book a bit disappointing in that the book spends a lot of time on basic techniques and only touches on more advanced techniques.

If you do get this book, I would recommend you also get the audio cassette. It helps clarify the material in the book.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much content in this simplistic book, October 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Instant Chromatic Harmonica: The Blues/Jazz Improvisation Method Revised Edition (Paperback)

Don't be fooled by the number of pages: this book is extremely lightweight. Given that the book never gets around to actually discussing any real technique, I don't really see why the insipid and repetitive examples have to come before the very few interesting numbers laid out in this book. In other words, I think nothing would be lost in this book if it were condensed into five pages of technique and 15 pages of non-atrociously-boring song/riff ideas. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of catchy folk tunes ("St. James Infirmary") notated here, and about three pages of allegedly "Stevie-Wonder-like" and "Toots-Thielemans-like" riffs in the back. There's just not much else.

If you are an absolute beginner, you may have more patience for Harp's approach than I had, but I have to believe there's a better book out there for the chromatic harmonica learner.* If you have ever picked up ANY type of harmonica and made something vaguely resembling music, you will find this book beneath your level and never taking you to the next step. And one more point: I don't think the notation was very well thought-out; I find the constant use of "I" and "O" (in/out) cumbersome and hard to follow, compared to books that use a more intuitive visual cue (for example, circling the draw notes and leaving the blow notes uncircled).

And, hey you beginners--I'm not sure the book is so great for you, either. For example, surely you'd like a few of the 100+ pages devoted to a standard discussion of how to bend notes? Tough luck. When he gets around to "three advanced techniques," they are only afforded three pages. The seven lines on "throat vibrato" are unlikely to illuminate anyone who doesn't already know what the author is talking about. There is one page on bending, introduced by the (to me, somewhat obnoxious) statement that "Since I've already written an entire book on the subject, I'll just describe bending briefly here." Mo' money, mo' money!! With so much of the rest of the book packed with fluff, I find this disappointing. (If the author has devoted so much effort to explaining bending, surely he could come up with an impressive presentation of the gist for the purposes of this book?)

* I can't give a recommendation, but you might want to check out the reviews on the books with the following ISBN's: 1574240617, 078665080X, 0871668319.