Who these lessons are for
- Complete beginners who want the blues sound rather than a nursery rhyme.
- Players who can get a few notes out but cannot make a note bend.
- Guitarists and singers who want harmonica to play alongside their own songs.
- Anyone with a harmonica in a drawer who has always meant to learn it properly.
What a lesson looks like
Same lengths as everything else, and the first one is free. We start with a clean single note, because that is the whole instrument in miniature, and then go straight to a blues you want to play. Breathing, bending and tone come in as the tunes ask for them. All you need is a ten-hole diatonic harmonica in C; please ask before buying one if you are not sure.
Levels and exams
Beginners to confident players. Harmonica is learned by ear more than from the page, which suits the way I teach everything: we learn a tune by listening to it and playing it, and the theory behind the blues sound follows from that.
In Tom’s words
I have played harmonica on recording sessions around London, alongside guitar, keyboards and the Indian instruments, and it is the one that surprises people most. The blues trick is that you mostly play it "in the wrong key": on a harmonica in C you play the blues in G, drawing rather than blowing, so the notes you most want to lean on are exactly the ones you can bend. It is a small instrument that rewards a big ear.
What it costs
Please ask about prices and Tom will tell you straight away.
Common questions
Which harmonica should I buy?
A ten-hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C. Almost every beginner's book and lesson assumes C, and a decent one costs little. Chromatic harmonicas, with a button on the side, are a different instrument and not the one for the blues.
How long does it take to learn to bend a note?
It varies a lot from person to person. Some people find the first bends in a few weeks, while for others it takes longer. Once it arrives it does not go away. We work on it from the first lessons, a little at a time, alongside tunes you can already play.
Can I learn harmonica online?
Yes. I teach online over Zoom or FaceTime as well as in Thames Ditton, and harmonica travels better than most instruments over a camera: what matters is the sound, and I can hear that clearly.
Do I need to read music?
No. Most harmonica playing is learned by ear. We learn a tune by listening to it and playing it, and the theory comes in when it helps.
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Ready to start?
Tell Tom what you would like to play and roughly where you are, and he will come back to you with times.
Get in touch