Lee Oskar Harmonica Lesson: Playing International Musical Styles

The Harmonic Minor harmonica, with its five altered notes, is the traditional minor tuning for diatonic harmonicas, ideal for playing minor ethnic music.

The Harmonic Minor produces a distinctive sound, suitable for playing many different musical genres, such as gypsy, Yiddish, Asian, Eastern European, tango and reggae music.

In this short video featuring Lee Oskar Harmonicas artist Randy McQuay, you will see how easy it is to play a minor scale, blow to play an Am chord, draw on the lower half of the harmonica to play an E7 chord, and then combine with the guitar strumming different rhythmic patterns.

You can try playing guitar along with the harmonica to play an Eastern European slow waltz, an oompah rhythm and a tango rhythm.

Check out how enjoyable and easy it is to explore different cultural styles and get a soulful, international sound to your music!