Ok well I will give you a few tips to get started.
Buy a "Lee Oscar" harmonica. Â Undeniably the best harp in the world.
Good key to start in is "C". Â Even though it says C on the box it will say something else on the actual instrument to show what guitar cord you can jam with. Â C is mid range....so you get a good feel of low notes for lower keys and high notes for higher keys. Â Personally I prefer "E"...but I worked slowly to that key....for years my favourite was D.
I play the harmonica upside down (Jimmy Hendrix wannabe lol!). Â So the low notes are to my right and the high notes to my left. Â This is easier for my brain to grasp....not sure if it makes the sound of the harmonica any different having the reeds upside down from their original design. Â You have to choose what suits you best.
Now what you want to learn first....is how to DRAW (suck) a SINGLE note. Â How do you do this when the holes are so small and tightly packed together????
First thing you need to know.....it has nothing to do with the tongue....or the lips. Â Playing a single note is all about
focusing air flow into a small air channel.  A bit like how whistling uses the lips to focus air flow...except you are trying to focus air flow WITHOUT help from the lips.
The way to achieve this is to put your mouth over the harmonica loosely. Â You can now either suck or blow. Â You will get a lot of notes all at once. Â Now while you are sucking use your lips to push the harmonica away from you....very much like passionate kissing (yes playing the harmonica does tone your mouth and you will be a firmer kisser but don't tell anyone this....it is a harmonica players secret). Â Another way to imagine this pushing out technique is that it is similar to when a women is trying to push you out using her vaginal muscles....it is this very same thing technique that you use with your mouth. Â Anyway you will notice a CHANGE in the sound of the harmonica when you push the harmonica out. Â The notes will slowly change from multiple notes to....A SINGLE NOTE! Â Hold that note and that position...you have now mastered the biggest reason why so many people do not play the harmonica.
Alternatively another way to learn to play a SINGLE note (and the way I was taught) is to put the harmonica in your mouth and then aim the back of the harmonica up to the sky.  Then try and focus the air flow as you suck from the bottom of your mouth.
Anyway...once you get the hang of making a single note...well.....blow and draw in the same hole a few times....get the feel of it. Â The experiment doing the same thing in other holes. Â You will find that each hole has a characteristic of its own...it is not just a note...the holes all "bend" differently. Â Even though different harmonicas have different keys the same notes for each key do the same thing.
If you want to be clever try and blow and draw in different holes all over the place. Â You may even create your first "riff".
Now we want to make your notes sound more professional and deliberate....particularly the draw (suck)Â notes. Â So instead of just sucking or blowing normally....say the "do" word when you suck (without actually saying it with your vocal chords. Â This makes a note "distinctive"....very much like a guitarist picking his notes as opposed to just flicking them.
Once you have mastered this....say "doowaaah" without using your vocal chords as you suck. Â When you look in the mirror and say the word "doowaaah" you will see that your jaw drops with the "waaah" syllable. Â Do this same technique when you suck in a note. Â You are now making the equivalent sound of the waaawaa pedal that guitarists use. Â You have also entered the world of the blues harmonica. Â Welcome
It is here with Blues harmonica styles that I began my apprenticeship.  It is with this genre that I recommend you start yours.  Having blues as your base style gives you more of a rhythm style to your riffs...a bit like how a guitarist like Slash would be...as opposed to a metal guitarist froma classical background.  Learning various blues riff for your foundation riffs would also make you a cross harp player (predominantly draw notes) as opposed to a straight harp player (predominantly blow notes - country, folk, etc).  Blues also has an easy chord structure to follow (3 chords) which will be good when you learn to jam for the first time.  Like Slash the guitarist I moved away from Blues a long time ago but it did create the foundation of my riffs.
Anyway the first song you should use to get started is called "White Boy Lost in the Blues" by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Â This has been seen as the foundation song for the modern harmonica player as it has the late great legend Sonny Terry (Harmonica player) playing HIS foundation riff as the first solo. Â THIS FOUNDATION RIFF IS WHAT YOU MUST LEARN! Â It is a simple solo and has an up riff and a down riff in it. Â This riff is where you begin to add things on, explore, etc, when you create your own riffs. Â However you cannot create your own riffs let alone jam until you learn this. Â There is also a small harmonica piece right at the beginning of the song which you can learn as well. Â I am sure the harmonica to buy for this song is an A...but it might be a C come to think of it.
Anyway that is all to get you started and should keep you busy for 6 months. Â After this I will show you what next to do...it is a great journey and you will discover INDEPTH the world of Blues music and the lives of the musicians who formed it. Â You are not just learning an instrument...you are learning music history as well. Â It is a great world and the competent harmonica player is seen by many people as someone who has learnt something that is very difficult to master....not the norm type of musician.
