How the harmonica works

[neueliteratur]

Hello folks,

I got hold of a harmonica, and I messed around with it a little bit to understand its mechanism.

It seems to me that, by blowing, I can get the notes C, E, G. By drawing, I get the rest of the diatonic notes of the C major scale, D, F, A, B.

I figured that I can play two notes at the same time, so that seems to mean that, I can play by blowing:
-Cmajor (C, E)
-Emaj (E, G)

And by drawing:
-Dmin (D, F)
-Fmaj (F, A)
-Bmin (B, D)

So here's my questions:

First, what type of harmonica is this? Is this the double diatonic harmonica?

Second, how can I play Gmaj and Amin? or do I have to think of harmonica as more of a melodic instrument (as opposed to an accompanying instrument that plays chords)?

Excuse my ignorance.

Thanks,

[jdt]

Sounds like a regular old C Maj harmonica to me. A double reed harp will have 2 rows of holes and a true chromatic harp will have a pull at one end.

Unless you have a forked tongue, playing a true chord (Major or minor triad, etc.) is pretty darn near impossible.

[neueliteratur]

Sounds like a regular old C Maj harmonica to me.

so that means it's a single diatonic harmonica?

[jdt]

Yessir, exactly it plays only in one key. Wiki has a pretty good run down of harmonica specifics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica# ... harmonicas

Hope that helps. It's chock-full of info.

[jof]

You can play a Gmaj by drawing on holes 2,3 and 4.
G is the only note you can play both by blowing and drawing.

Btw, a C harmonica is usually played in the key of G, but then you need to bend some notes.