I learned to play by ear when I was 10 years old and my first song was Home on the Range. I continued adding new and simple pieces and purchased new and better harmonicas and listening to Recordings by Larry Adler and the Harmonicats . Hours & hours of practice enabled me to learn new and more difficult pieces. I knew I was getting pretty good when I played MALAGUENA at a high school talent show and got a big ovation. I was able to listen to a song and then with a little practice play it by ear. The more difficult the song the more practice. My harmonicas went with me during my military service and I played at many shows. When bars and cocktail lounges started giving me free drinks and a jar for tips I knew I had turned Pro.
So I'm certain you've been amazed by the playing of Toots Thielman, Lon. I have my dad's old Horner Chromatic he carried with him through WW2.
I have a Golden Melody by Hohner that I got in the service which has been in a drawer for years. I have it out intending to learn, but there it just sits. One of these days.
Put a harmonica with a country-western band and...........YAHOO!! But, that doesn't happen much today, but can still be seen/heard at The Grand Old Opry. One of Garth Brooks songs, Ain't Going Down 'Til The Sun Comes Up, has a terrific harmonica in it.
I'm thinking of getting a Chromatic Harmonica, Lon...one with 12 holes to cover 3 octaves. They run from about $50 to over $600. Hal
I fondly recall many years ago teaching my little sister (deceased) how to play "On Top Of Old Smoky" on the Harmonica. I would tell her to blow into the holes as follows: Words: "On Top of Old Smok-ey" Notes: ...C....C.... E...G...... C..... A Holes: ...4.....4....5....6.......7..... 6 (suck) You have to draw (suck) on the second syllable of "Smokey" to produce the right note, so I would tell her "On Top Of Old Smoke-Suck"! Hal
Twenty-Four Holes? Are you sh***in' me, Lon? (Unless you're meaning a 12-holer with the slide giving another 12...) Hal