Free Make Your Harmonica Work Better Ebooks To Download
(Harmonica). There is a vast amount of knowledge throughout the world about how to make the harmonica sound better and play better, but little of it is written down. This fully illustrated book solves the problem. It contains sections on: how to buy a harmonica, common problems, advice about tools and techniques for using them, the basic parts of the chromatic harmonica, solutions to improve sound and functionality, experimenting on old harmonicas, tuning, and much more. For chromatic players, but diatonic players will learn just as much.
Paperback: 56 pages
Publisher: Centerstream Publications (October 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1574240625
ISBN-13: 978-1574240627
Product Dimensions: 12 x 0.2 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #763,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #74 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Instruments > Woodwinds > Harmonicas #5310 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Instruction & Study #182630 in Books > Reference
Poor instruments was the major impediment to my ability to play harmonica. This book taught me how to turn a bad instrument into a great instrument and my skills as a musician have jumped ahead. This is a great book by a master of the subject. The book has two sections. One section for simple and easy things to do to improve the chromatic harmonica. These require only basic tools and experience. I've used almost all of Doug's simple modifications and they make an enormous difference. The other half of the book takes you deep into the jungle of customisation and is very complex but explained carefully and thoughtfully. The second half of the book will keep my busy for years and years. This is the most comprehensive book I've seen on maintenance and customisation of chromatic harmonicas.Doug is a well known and respected expert on harmonica improvements and customisation and construction. He has made and customised harmonicas for Larry Adler (who writes a forward for this book) and is frequently providing internet newsgroups with his excellent advice. A perfect companion to this book is Doug's other book "Play the harmoinca well" which teaches you how to play the harmonica - once you've used THIS book to make the instrument work properly! ;-)
Although it's not at all clear from the title or description, most of this book is about the cleaning and customization of chromatic harminicas- the fancy ones with the slide- and not the simple diatonic harps that most people play. Some of the information is useful to diatonioc players, but most is not.The chromatic info is useful, but of somewhat uneven quality and style. Tuning- one of the most useful mods a player can do- is covered in a very superficial manner. Some of the mods, like reshaping the internal channels in the comb, are discussed at length without a lot of explanation was to why one mught want to bother. And many mods are presented with only the barest oif details- certainly not enough to insure that the tyro doesn't desctroy an expensive harmonica while learning how.As one reviewer has noted, far more information is out there on the web awaiting only a quick Google search. I'd do that before I considered buying this book.
I got this book because a couple of my harmonicas weren't working all that well, and I thought the book would help me get them back into shape. Much of the information here is available on the Net for free, and repairing and tuning a harmonica is like trying to write the Bible on a grain of rice. It can be done, but it's extremly difficult and time consuming.If you have a lot more time than money, this book "might" help you out. However, while you may be able to fix your car, build a deck, and even perform brain surgery, you'll soon find that repairing and tuning a harmonica is not as easy as this book makes it appear, regardless of how much patience you have.I give it three stars because it's informative, but those harmonicas I wanted to fix still aren't, and I'm usually very good at stuff like this.
This is a well-written and illustrated set of instructions on how to repair your harmonica. It has extensive information on the tools needed and details on the steps in procedures to fix and maintain a harmonica. I found the steps to accurately reflect what you need to do. It mainly focuses on chromatic harmonicas although the information works well for diatonic harmonicas also. There is much information on the details of how harmonicas work with great graphics. It also goes extensively into retuning or fixing the reeds.My only significant negative is that it misses the opportunity to list the frequencies of harmonica notes. If you are going to retune a reed, you really need that information. It's a shame to force you to have to look elsewhere to find it.
This book provides several trade secrets that are hard to find. Although some what dated it still applies today. If you have the bench skills required you can service your own harps and save a ton of money. The book is very helpful.
To be frank, I wasn't able to use a single procedure in all of this book and it quickly became a dust collector on my shelf. I should say that I have great respect for Mr. Tate (RIP). He was a consummate chromatic player (look him up on Youtube) and he could greatly improve the instrument with his techniques but these were above and beyond my capabilities and available free time.Also, having been written by an Englishman, the words used for tools and material needed to perform the work was kind of hard to translate into American hardware store speak.These are not do-it-yourself types of improvements. But then again can ANY work on a chromatic be done by mere mortals?
Why is there a picture of a Marine Band diatonic blues harp on the cover? Isn't the guy playing into the microphone on the cover playing a blues harp? Maybe the person who did the art work and the guy who wrote the book weren't talking to each other.This booklet is about chromatic harps and there isn't anything in it about blues harps (diatonic harps). The description says "diatonic players will learn just as much". I thought a couple of sections were kind of interesting, but I certainly didn't learn ANYTHING about the diatonic blues harp from this booklet.The booklet only cost five dollars, so I didn't expect much, which is a good thing.
Make Your Harmonica Work Better Jazz Standards: Harmonica Play-Along Volume 14 (Chromatic Harmonica) (Hal Leonard Harmonica Play-Along) Harmonica for Kids - A Beginner's Guide with Step-by-Step Instruction for Diatonic Harmonica: Hal Leonard Harmonica Method Basic Blues Harmonica Method Level 1 (Harmonica Masterclass Complete Blues Harmonica Lesson) Eat Better, Live Better, Feel Better: Alkalize Your Life...One Delicious Recipe at a Time Anatomy of Drumming: Move Better, Feel Better, Play Better Make Easy Money Online: Follow in my footsteps and replace your 9-5 job in 30 days with no prior experience (How to make money online, Work less, Make money from home, Build a business) Smart Love: The Compassionate Alternative to Discipline That Will Make You a Better Parent and Your Child a Better Person How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World Better Homes and Gardens Make It, Don't Buy It: 300+ Recipes for Real Food Made Better Hal Leonard 703707 Play Harmonica Today Complete Kit with Book/CD/DVD/Hohner Bluesband Harmonica Chicago Blues - Harmonica Play-Along Volume 9 Book/Cd (Diatonic Harmonica) Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Harmonica: Everything You Need to Know to Start Playing Now!, Book & Harmonica (Teach Yourself Series) BLUES/ROCK HARMONICA PLAY- ALONG VOLUME 3 BK/CD (DIATONIC HARMONICA) Country Hits - Harmonica Play-Along Volume 6 Book/Cd (Diatonic Harmonica) Jazz Classics: Harmonica Play-Along Volume 15 (Book/CD) (Hal Leonard Harmonica Play-Along) LITTLE WALTER - HARMONICA PLAY-ALONG VOLUME 13 BOOK/CD (DIATONIC HARMONICA) Christmas Classics for Harmonica: 25 Timeless Melodies for Easy Harmonica The Great Harmonica Songbook: 45 Songs Specially Arranged for Diatonic Harmonica Blues Classics - Harmonica Play-Along Volume 10 Book/CD (Diatonic Harmonica)
