Playing Chords with your Harmonica

A chord is a set of three or more notes sounded simultaneously. Chords are most often
played as accompaniment to other instruments. For instance, a piano player might play
a series of chords, called a chord progression, while a guitar player plays a solo over
those chords.

The Main Types of Chords

Chords come in a wide variety of types based on the specific notes they contain. For
instance, some chords sound harmonious and pleasant, while others sound jarring or
foreboding. The most popular types of chords are major, minor, and seventh chords.
Major chords: Sound bright and pleasant
Minor chords: Sound dark and menacing
Seventh chords: Sound unresolved and somewhat dissonantneither bright nor dark

The Chords of the C Harmonica .

All harmonicas, including diatonic harmonicas, are capable of producing at least a few
chords. On the C harmonica, its possible to play at least one of each of the three main
types of chords. The chords you can play, and the notes you must play simultaneously in
order to sound them, are:
C major: Blow holes 123, 456, or 789
G major: Draw holes 123, or 1234
G7 (seventh): Draw holes 2345
D minor: Draw holes 456, or 8910
The fifth and final chord you can play on the C harmonica is called a B minor-seven flatfive, a chord that combines the qualities of a minor and a seventh chord. Play it by
drawing holes 3456 or 78910.

Blow Chords

Draw Chords

How to Position Your Mouth to Play Chords

To play chords, use the same hand and mouth positioning that youd use for tongue
blocking, but keep your tongue at the bottom of your mouth, away from the holes. Since
your mouth and lips cover 34 holes naturally, youll only need to shift the harmonica in
order to position the right holes to your lips. For instance, to play a C major chord:
Place the harmonica in your mouth.
Move the harmonica to align holes 123 with the area that your lips cover.
Exhale from your diaphragm to blow notes 123 and sound the C major chord.
Unless youre familiar with the different sounds of major, minor, and seventh chords, it
may be tough to tell whether youre playing the right notes of the chord. Start with the
C major chord by following the steps above. The chord you play should sound bright,
happy, and resolved. Try playing the D minor chord next (draw 456 or 8910). It
should sound dark and brooding, entirely unlike the C major chord. If the chords you
play match these descriptions, youre likely playing the right notes.

When Do Harmonica Players Play Chords?

The limited number of chords that the diatonic harmonica can produce makes it unlikely
that youll ever use the harmonica to play chords as accompaniment for another
instrument. Instead, youll likely play chords as part of your harmonica solos. If youre
already a guitar player, for example, you might play harmonica chords as a solo over a
chord progression on the guitar. Harmonica players such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young
have popularized this style of playing harmonica chords

Playing Arpeggios Instead of Chords

Since the number of actual chords that can be played on a diatonic harmonica is very
limited, harmonica players usually play chords as arpeggios. An arpeggio is a version of
a chord in which you play the notes of a chord separately rather than simultaneously.
Harmonica players play arpeggios as substitutes for chords that are impossible to play
on the diatonic harmonica theyre using. For instance, if you wanted to play an E minor
chord, you would instead have to play an arpeggio containing the notes of the E minor
chord: E, G, and B. In order to play arpeggios, you need to know:
The individual notes that make up the chord: Consult a chord dictionary online or in
print. How to play those notes on your harmonica:
Some chords include notes that will require special techniques to sound, such as
bends.