5 Stupidly Simple Harmonica Riffs (Guaranteed to Impress)

► Need a fast track for learning harmonica? https://www.harmonica.com/lessons/

► Grab the tabs here: https://www.harmonica.com/5-stupidly-...

Harmonica Riff #1
Do Wah Diddy is great because the words of the song are our articulations for the harmonica.

-123 Do Wah Diddy Diddy
1234 Done Diddy
-123 Do

Harmonica Riff #2
Here are the harmonica tabs in C for Back at the Chicken Shack:

-12 -12 -23 34 -34 34 -23

When we get up the draw -34 we can add in a shake on hole -4 and -5. And that makes it sound a lot bluesier. So now the harmonica tabs are:

-12 -12 -23 34 -34 -45 (trill) 34 -23

Harmonica Riff #3

-123 -123 123 123 -123
Dee Dee Hoo Doo Hee

A variation of this is to add one more fast Dee on the draw so it’s Dee Dee-Dee.

-123 -123 -123 123 123 -123
Dee Dee-Dee Hoo Doo Hee

For those of you who are more advanced I’ll just show you a couple licks you can play in between. If you’re more of a beginner, please skip this section. It will serve you well in the long run if you just focus on chords for now.

(Harmonica Lick #1:) We’ll go up the major pentatonic scale, skipping the note we’d have to bend (-3”) Here are the harmonica tabs:
-1 2 -2 -3 -4 5 6

(Harmonica Lick #2:) We’ll come down the “Almost Blues Scale.” If you haven’t learned the almost blues scale and you already know how to play single notes, you can check out my lesson right here:    • Easy Blues Harmonica Scale for Beginners  . Here’s the harmonica tabs for the Almost Blues Scale descending:
6 -5 -4 4 -3 -2.

And then after the third one we’ll try a -45 trill. So putting it altogether:

-123 -123 123 123 -123
-1 2 -2 -3 -4 5 6
-123 -123 123 123 -123
6 -5 -4 4 -3 -2
-123 -123 -123 123 123 -123
-45 trill
-123 -123 -123 123 123 -123

Of course ultimately, you’ll wanna improvise (make up your own stuff) between each chordal riff. But this can at least get you started!

Harmonica Riff #4
The train imitation groove is one of the most fun riffs to play on the harmonica, and according to Joe Filisko, who may be the foremost living expert on the harmonica, it’s one of the best riffs to play for improving your technique.

And there’s basically 2 components to this:
The whistle:
Drawing around -45 or -345
Saying “dwah” or “oy” for bending effect
Using hand-wah
The chugging:
Taka on -123 with open hand wah
Tuh-kuh on 123 with closed hand wah

One question I get all the time is:“After I finish the train whistle my lungs are too full to do the chugging.” The solution? Exhale all air before whistle, and then quickly exhale ALL AIR AFTER the whistle.

The fastest way to get air out of your lungs is to breathe out forcefully through your nose and mouth at the same time.

The traditional way of doing this is the train starts slow, speeds up, and then slows back down as it pulls into the station. Any time you’re growing tired with the chugging, you can stop and give a whistle.

Harmonica Riff #5
A traditional African-American spiritual, You Gotta Move was greatly popularized in the 60’s by Fred McDowell and then by the Rolling Stones, whose version was my first contact with the song.

Here are the harmonica tabs with some helpful hints:

Line 1:

-12 -23 34 -34

Now the 2nd half of this line is all draws and our lungs are gonna fill up quickly. You can out-gas on the blow 34 in the first line - outgas just means when you play a note on the harmonica you push air out your nose at the same time also called a “nose push.” You could also do a quick exhale AFTER the first 4 notes.

-34 -34 -23 -12 -23 Now you might have to exhale again before playing the 2nd line, because we have more draws coming:

Line 2:
We’re gonna play -34 four times in a row, and if you try saying “Kyuh” or “Dwah” that might help you get a little bend to make this more expressive

-34 -34 -34 -34 34
-34 -23 -23 -12 Again saying kyuh or dwah on -23

Line 3:

-1 12 -12 -23
-23 -12 12 -1

Line 4:

-12 -12 12 -12

So putting it all together, here are the harmonica tabs for You Gotta Move:

-12 -23 34 -34
-34 -34 -23 -12 -23
-34 -34 -34 -34 34
-34 -23 -23 -12
-1 12 -12 -23
-23 -12 12 -1
-12 -12 12 -12

Thanks for checking out this harmonica lesson. I hope you found it helpful. Leave any questions or comments below. Keep on rocking the harmonica, and making the world a better place (world, heart, music)

If you liked this lesson you might wanna check out    • 5 Stupidly Simple Harmonica Grooves (Guara...