hi Liam Ward here at
learntheharmonica.com this week we're
going to be playing OD to Joy from
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a great
one for beginners this I'm on a c
harmonica and it's in the mid-range of
the harmonica so it's going to be useful
for just getting used to moving around
the different holes we'll go down to
Hole three at the lowest which will be
good practice for getting down to that
hole and just your all around playing
getting nice smooth clean notes there
aren't too many lines so it won't take
us too long to get through it you'll see
the tab on the screen and we'll go
through it line by line so let's get
started grab your C harmonica and we'll
start with line a which sounds something
like
[Music]
this okay so the tab is five blow five
blow five draw six blow six blow five
draw five blow and then four draw four
blow four blow four draw five blow five
blow and then four draw four draw to
finish okay so in terms of the Rhythm
and the sound of the tune it should be
recognizable to a certain
[Music]
degree it's actually very angular most
of the notes would uh are the same
length da da da da da da da da very um
sort of uh regular rhythm which makes it
quite useful when you're learning it
it's just really near the end
[Music]
there that that five blow um is kind of
held uh okay so follow the tab on the
screen I'm going to play that once more
maybe play it a little bit slower so
I'll count us in on four so just the
first line line a one two three
[Music]
four okay I'll play that slower again
still in case you're not quite getting
it that speed so one 2 3 4
[Music]
okay good now line B is similar the
start of the line is similar but then it
does change near the end of the line
because this line sort of
resolves which uh by which I mean it it
goes back to the the C note it finishes
on the C so we're playing in the key of
C on a c har Monica it goes back to the
C which in our case is a four blow so
the first part the line is all the same
we've got five blow five blow five draw
six blow six blow five draw five blow
and then we've got four draw four blow
four blow and then it starts to differ
slightly we've got four draw and five
blow but then we've got four draw four
blow four blow so that's the four blow
I'm talking about the C note where we're
resolving so in total that line would
sound like this
[Music]
so it's really just that last little
[Music]
bit which is going to sound different
from the first line so we'll try that um
together I won't play it too fast one 2
3 4
[Music]
okay so that was line B if we put those
two together it would sound something
like this so count us in on four play
along if you can one 2 3 4
[Music]
good really really nice so line C this
gets interesting here we go we have to
go down to a lot uh a three blow at one
point now if you are a beginner whole
three might be a tricky one you might
not be too used to getting down there so
a good little bit of practice for
getting to those lower notes so we start
uh on whole four and we've got four draw
four draw five blow four blow four draw
five blow five draw five blow four blow
four draw and then five blow five draw
five blow four draw four blow four draw
then it's the three blow and then the
last note of the line the five blow I'm
going to talk about a little bit more
when we get to it um because that needs
a little bit more explan I suppose so
the line sounds something like
[Music]
this
okay so the five blow at the end there I
feel I should uh explain this a little
bit if you actually look at the next
line so you look at line D you might if
you're Eagle eyed you might have noticed
that that's the same as line B apart
from it's missing a five blow at the
start so if you look at all those notes
they're all the same it's just that D
doesn't have an extra five blow at the
start and that's because I've actually
tagged that onto the end of line C and
there's a good reason for that because
it comes sooner than you'd expect it
it's quite quick from that three blow up
to the five blow okay so I've put it at
the end of that line even though you
could consider it the start of the next
line just because they sort of run into
each other so it goes four uh three blow
and then straight onto the five blow and
what I actually did at the end of that
line was I slid I I did a glissando if
you like a rip up from three
blow I'm actually keeping on blowing or
breathing out as I move up the harmonica
so I didn't uh miss out Hool for
although it's not written in the tab
that you don't have to do that that's
just an option there if you want to but
that five blow comes on quite quickly
after the three blow I'll just play it
again so you can hear how it sounds this
is line
[Music]
C
okay so let's try it together I'll count
us in on four one two 3 4
[Music]
okay and at that point we'd be straight
into line D so that five blow is almost
well it's almost like C and D are the
same line they're all just one big line
cuz they run on from one to the next um
so let me just play line C and D
together I know we haven't looked at
line D yet but I just want you to hear
how one runs into the other so I'll play
lines C and D here okay one 2
[Music]
3 okay so line d as I said is the same
as line B it's just that that five blow
is actually tagged on to the end of line
C so I won't bother reading out the tab
you can see it on the screen um anyway
so if we put lines a to d together um it
would sound something like this uh have
a go joining if you want I'll try not to
play it too fast um and we'll come in on
four so one 2 3 4
[Music]
n
[Music]
good how did that feel hope you enjoyed
playing that um I did something sneaky
there the end of line C into the start
of line D I actually
played I suppose I just played one
breath instead of playing a five blow at
the end of line C and then a five blow
at the start of line D I kind of just
went I just did a
little instead of going two separate
notes it was just a little bit of a
subtle articulation if you like um
anyway minor point but just something I
I I didn't mean to do it or I didn't
know I was going to do it I just did it
so uh one of those things if you're a
beginner you'll start to find out as you
experiment with things that you might
start to do these things yourself so
lines E and F are actually just repeats
of line C and D so you would play line c
and d and then you play the exact same
thing again just to finish off this this
section of the song and that will be the
end of the section that we will look at
um there are other movements obviously
there's a whole Symphony but this is the
section that we'll be looking at that
ends the OD to Joy section if you like
it does repeat a few times so you could
play the whole thing over if you wanted
to so just to give you a taste of that
I'll play part c and d and then E and F
which as I say are just repeats of C and
D um so it'll sound like a doubling up
of C and D um play along with me if you
want I'll do a kind of medium Tempo and
we'll be in on four one two 3 4
[Music]
okay I put a little bit of uh tremolo on
the end
there kind of a bit of Decay on the note
I'm just
going just a little bit of a a kind of a
breathy sort of sound just to finish off
the tune okay so I'll play Parts a to F
now the full thing uh please play along
if you'd like to I'll do it uh sort of
medium Tempo and we're in on four one 2
3 4
[Music]
n
[Music]
great that gets us to the end of the
section on o to Joy I hope you've
enjoyed today's lesson um do give me
your comments and your questions your
requests for future lessons if there's
something you'd really like me to play
um or if you just got a question about
anything harmonica related put it in the
comments below and I'll try and answer
it if I get the chance also subscribe um
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week cheers
a
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