Instant Harmonica - play the gorgeous Skye Boat Song now!

Here's the first lecture that starts the tune.

This lecture covers the first four notes of the tune.

Please look carefully at my face as I play and you will be able to see when I breathe in and when I breathe out.

You will also see which hole I am on if you are eagle eyed.

Certainly you will see if I move holes, how far and in what direction.

So study the face of a harmonica player to learn what they are playing.

In this lecture we pick up from the previous lecture - the work 'like' is where we start.

This lecture introduces the idea of playing with a band.

You will find three versions of the backing track in the introduction lecture on the right under 'view resources' and the download tab.

Let's finish the top line starting with the word 'wing'

Play it with me and also using the backing track - slow version.

Take a look at the phrasing as I describe on the video.

So now the first line is complete we find that the second line is very similar.

The only difference is the last note which is a 5draw instead of (in the top line) a 4blow.

5draw gives you a lift and leads into the second part of the tune.

Finding the first note of the piece is important.

If you want to know where 4blow is, knowing 1blow is an octave lower might help you.

The third line has a much more pensive feel. The words are different as well and it is a direct contrast to the first part.

Practice the first phrase 6566 all breathing in - over and over.

The second phrase is much more tricky but if you slow it down enough it becomes quite easy. Start with 6blow 4blow back and forth and then add the rest.

Now an easy bit on holes 5 and 4 - 'Thunderclouds rend the air'

Let's play from the top to there now with the band.

We made it - the last line!

Apart from the last note it's the same as the third line.

We found the same with the first two line if you remember.

Now we can play the whole thing from soup to nuts.

You might want to use the medium speed backing track if you are ready.

Time for you to consider the dynamics of the music as well now.

I'll tell you all about it in the video and we'll go into it further in the final lecture but first I want to tell you about the scale of C in the next lecture.

This lecture explains what all the notes are and where they are

Here you will learn the scale of C which is a very useful tune for playing tunes

If you aldeady know this stuff you can skim or skip it

Like I said earlier, I have a bigger course with five lectures on this subject if you want to go deeper - it's called 'INSTANT HARMONICA - how to get single notes in 5 easy steps' so dive in and take that one if you like

Now we have the tune down, we can play it over and over.

Then let's look into the dynamics, octaves, tongue blocking, playing in different octaves, adding vibrato and other decorations.

Use the different speed backing tracks.

Now it's YOUR tune - good luck, please leave a Udemy review, and tell your friends about this course!

See you next time

Ben