The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Harmonica, 2nd Edition Paperback – October 3, 2006

When I made a decision to learn how to play the harmonica I took on line lessons and purchased numerous books on the subject. “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing the Harmonica” second edition by William Melton and Randy Weinstein is no doubt the most comprehensive book of the many I purchased on playing the harmonica.Do not be discouraged by the title because these (Complete Idiot’s Guide series) books are not for idiots. In fact, this book goes much deeper into the subject matter than most of my books on the harmonica. The other thing that makes this an excellent manual is that it also includes a CD with more than 80 riffs and songs to guide you in playing the harmonica.This 247 page comprehensive guide is organized into four detailed parts. Part one, “the harmonica: It’s no toy” explains the many positive aspects of the harmonica and provides some other important basic information. The second part “Let’s get blowin” gets into the specifics of playing harp musical notes. The third part “steppin Up” explains how to read music, tongue blocking tricks, the art of bending notes on a harmonica and other details. The fourth part “It’s Showtime” gets into how to play the blues. This section also provides vital tips to follow if you are interested in playing the harmonica with a music group. There is also a complete glossary of harp terms and a CD at the end of the book.Since I only intend to play the harmonica for my own personal enjoyment and have no desire to join a band, this book had more information than what I actually needed. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the harmonica.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: The Samurai Soul: An old warrior’s poetic tribute).

Very good manual for neophytes or intermediate performer who wishes to learn some underlying techniques though he may already be handling the technique well. Very rudimentary. Good use of humor to get points across. Those playing and performing at this stage, should close the book and practice their own techniques for at least 45 minutes a day to keep their edge. Some points seem to be either regressive or in error and questionable, but this gives you a full understanding of how to make progress in basic learning, especially for persons who are not good at music sight-reading - this will give a good elementary education in that, however. Want to play from sheet music? This is your ticket! The manual is interesting and keeps one wanting to read more of the how-to-do-it. This is not a flimsy, ten-page pocket book. It is a thick text that covers a lot of detail.

The book is fine but where do I get the audio files that go with it? I bought it for my kindle.

I bought my 23-yr old grandson a Hohner Special Harmonica, Major C. He is a very self-motivated young man and loves to learn new things. I bought the Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Harmonica book so he could teach himself. He loves the harmonica and told me, "Grams, the book is really something. There is a lot more involved to playing the harmonica than you would think." Using the book, he has already taught himself how to play "Mary had a Little Lamb!" (HaHa) He credits the book because it was so helpful. He practices at least one thing from the book every day. I have no doubt that he will become proficient on the harmonica, due in large part to this book and, of course, his own motivation to learn new things.

I tried this book and had a hard time playing for more than 10 or 15 minutes before boredom would overtake me.I then picked up a copy of David Harps harmonica book "Instant Blues HArmonica" and , I kid you not, I was playing harmonica and having a blast within 30 minutes and had to pull myself away. Now, I'm no virtuoso but I can do a little jamming and have been having a good time.

This product with the book and the cd are a very welcome addition to my library.I have found the materials to be presented in a easy to read, and logical order thathas really helped my playing.I have been playing for over a year, but the wealth of info in the book, and actually being able tohear with the cd what the exercises should sound like has sped up my progress greatly.I would recommend this item to anyone who wants to learn to play the harmonica and has thediscipline to follow the steps in the book.I recommend buying a good harmonica at the start so your progress will not be frustrated bya cheap harps inability to perform for you.Hohner Special Twenty Harmonica, Key of C

I just begun to learn how play the harmonica. So far, this book is very comprehensive and fun to read. It's not only about how to play, but it also offers wonderful tidbits about the instrument. I know that, as I keep learning as I intended, I'll have to go beyond this book, but that will be a couple of years down the line. One thing though, and this is very minor. Even as a beginner I found some mistakes on a couple of easy songs, as they were written for the harmonica. That actually made me proud for catching these flaws, when I'm only a beginner.Maybe they were there on purpose!Other than that, I love the book.

So frustrating to have purchased the Kindle edition which promised downloadable audio content for the lessons only to find zero reference to where this content can be found.The Dummies Harmonica book lists the location within the first few pages. Well, at least I know that a Dummy Publisher is smarter than an Idiot Publisher.