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Helpful Harmonica Stuff
Contact:
tcate@holyharmonica.com
Pat Missin
Pat Missin’s website is the Worldbook Encyclopedia of Harmonica stuff. Yes – it’s all here.
Richard Sleigh
Richard Sleigh is a long-time harmonica builder and tool maker. His videos and DVD on harmonica tech contain years of experience and information. If you’re a tinkerer you need to visit this site.
Dr. George Miklas • Harmonica Gallery
Dr. George Miklas is not only a harmonica retailer, he’s the king of fixing old broken harps. He has repaired several chromatics for me that I thought were beyond hope. He also occasionally has really good deals on used harps too.
Tom Halchek • Blue Moon Harmonicas
The OEM combs on some harmonicas are not as airtight as they could be. Tom Halchek has fixed that problem and offers high-quality combs that are also works of art. He also offers customized harmonicas and harmonicas from the Sonny Terry estate. Yes – you can own a piece of harmonica history.
Greg Heumann • BlowsMeAway Productions
Greg Heumann is the undisputed expert on harmonica mics and equipment. His website is full of useful information about all things related to using a microphone with a harmonica.
Ron Hobdy • RockinRonMusic
There are a lot of places to buy harmonicas and harmonica related stuff. But Ron Hobdy is the go-to guy for many of us. Ron handles all types, brands and styles of harmonicas and has anything you might need to go with them. And he delivers about as fast as Amazon. It’s amazing…
Adam Gussow
Adam Gussow is a long-time harmonica instructor and has videos for almost anything you wanna do with a harp. He’s a thorough, thoughtful teacher who shares years of insight and experience.
Ronnie Shellist
Ronnie Shellist is also a long-time harmonica instructor who, like Adam, has years of videos available online. Ronnie also has frequent online workshops on different style and often with a variety of guest players.
Howard Levy
I kinda hate to say this, but… There’s absolutely nobody that can play like Howard Levy. His time with the Flecktones was what changed my harmonica trajectory. And he’s still setting the bar for creativity with a harmonica. He also has online lessons available.
Andrew Zajac
Andrew Zajac is a custom harp builder from Canada who has some great videos of harp setup and repair. He also has custom combs and custom made tools to make harmonica surgery simple.
Richard Hunter • Hunter Harp
Several companies make multi-effect processors that can hold an assortment of various types of effects. Richard writes harmonica-specific effect patches that can be imported directly into these processors. Most of the processors are available used on Reverb, Guitar Center or Ebay for relatively inexpensive prices. You can add Richard’s patches and have more effects at your disposal than you’re likely to ever need. And since they’re designed specifically for harmonicas, they work perfectly.
Carlos del Junco
Carlos is one of the most soulful players you’ll ever lay ears on. He’s up in Canada but is available for online lessons and has multiple instructional videos available on YouTube.
Applian’s Replay Capture Suite
I listen to a lot of music online and sometimes I want to capture a phrase or a lick that I want work on. So I use Applian’s Replay Capture Suite to capture audio. It’s not expensive and it works really well. Then I pull it into one of the editing programs below to work on it.
Audacity
Audacity is a free, open source audio editing app that lets you pull in an audio sample and listen to it over and over, or slow it down or even record yourself playing along with it. It’s powerful, simple and free.
Transcribe
Transcribe! is similar to Audacity but has some cool added features that allow you to make all sorts of notation. Yes – you have to buy it – but it’s not much and it’s a very powerful editor that helps you figure out what is being played.
SPAH
The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH) is one of the premier harmonica organizations in the world. Their annual meeting is one of the few opportunities for harmonica players from across the globe to gather and talk and learn and play and listen to harmonica stuff. The first time I went to a meeting I called home and told my wife I had no business there and that everyone there – even the kids – could play better than me. But I found that was the point – all those good players are really good guys and gals and love to share what they’ve learned. There are not many places you can go and hang out with the best in the business one-on-one. If you’re not a SPAH member, you need to be.
