QuickGuide for Harmonica and Guitar

The Harmonic Minor tuning, with five altered notes (shown below), is the traditional minor tuning for diatonic harmonicas. Its distinctive flavor is suitable for Gypsy, Yiddish, and Asian music, as well as East European, Tango, and Reggae.

Playing this harmonica in 1st Position (starting from blow) gives you a harmonic minor scale.

1^st Position: Gypsy, Yiddish, Asian, East European, Tango, Reggae

With an A Harmonic Minor (Am) harmonica in its holder, starting from blow (exhale), pick out a melody in the midrange of the harmonica.

Try it with an East European slow Waltz or a Tango rhythm.

Strum a Tango rhythm on your guitar.

With an Am Harmonic Minor harmonica, blowing gives you an Am minor chord. Drawing in the lower half of the harmonica gives you an E7 chord.

While vamping a Reggae groove with the A minor (blow) and E7 (draw) chords on the harmonica, you are freed up to play accompaniment lines on the guitar.

Your single notes don’t have to be too precise, as the layout of the harmonica avoids putting discordant notes next to each other. Sometimes, playing a couple of notes together sounds better than a single note.

For more about the Harmonic Minor Harmonica, check out this chord reference guide.