Ten-Hole Diatonic Harmonica in D, Novice

Schedule update: All five sessions have moved one week later. This course now runs September 29–October 27, 2026, at the same time. If you can’t attend the new final date, you’ll still receive the complete session video within 24 hours afterward. Your existing registration carries over. Please email me if the change causes a problem.

Tuesdays: September 29; October 6, 13, 20, 27, 2026.

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Central / 12:30–1:30 p.m. Eastern.

Five 60-minute sessions. $120 per course.

You really can learn to play harmonica by ear. We’ll start with short musical ideas and familiar folk tunes, then work toward playing whole melodies.

I’ll use my new harmonica visualization tool to show the small groups of notes we’re hearing and exactly where to play them. We’ll learn melodies by ear in manageable chunks, listening, playing things back, and looking for the bits that repeat. We’ll also work on clean single notes, breathing, rhythm, tremolo, scales, and simple chords with melodies.

You won’t have to depend on memory alone. You’ll receive standard music notation and harmonica tablature for every tune we cover by ear.

This is a novice course. Some experience holding the harmonica and making sounds is helpful; clean single notes are something we’ll work on together. Bring a ten-hole diatonic harmonica in the key of D. A regular or low D is fine.

Tunes covered include:

• “Turkey in the Straw”

• “No Night There”

• “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms”

• “Beautiful Dreamer”

• “Home on the Range”

Here are some harmonicas I play regularly. Prices are approximate.

• East top Lightning Harmonica, Advanced Diatonic Harmonica, key of D — $39.89.

• East top MAXWELL ST Blues Harmonica, key of D — $39.99.

• Hohner Special 20 Harmonica, key of D — $58.99.

• Seydel 1847 Classic, key of D or LD (Low D) — $99.95.

Choose normal Richter tuning for this class. Regular D will be easy to find, but you might have to search for low D. The regular D harmonica is good when you’re playing with a group—you’ll be heard. Low D has a great sound, but it can be hard for you and the other players to hear it in a group. I like regular D for jams and low D for home or solo.

Make sure you shop around. I’ve ordered from rockinronsmusic.com with great success. The other brands they sell play well, and I even own some of them. Amazon can be great, but you have to make sure you’re not accidentally ordering the wrong key or tuning. You might have to click around to find a low D.

All the arrangements and handouts for this course are new and have never been shared with my students. I’ll email each session’s handouts at least 24 hours before we meet, so you have time to print them and look through the music.

I’ll record each entire live session from beginning to end and email you the complete video within 24 hours after each session, whether or not you attend live. You’ll receive all five complete session videos to review and practice along at your own pace. Videos will be available for the foreseeable future.

Taking two or more different courses in this series? Use COURSEBUNDLE at checkout for 10% off. Current Mountain Dulcimer A to Z subscribers receive 20% off with their subscriber code. Use one discount per order; discounts do not combine. If you register on different days or forget the code, email me and I’ll help you get the discount.