Gary Jugert's Big Book of Harmonica

The main purpose of this website is to encourage you to make music on the harmonica melodically with other people and as a soloist. All sheet music posted is arranged for ensemble play with other musicians. It should also give you a more comprehensive view of how all music works and make it easier for you to tackle other instruments too.

Gary Jugert's Big Book of Harmonica: I update the book regularly so don't waste paper by printing it out. The Public Domain Version does not include modern songs under the haze of copyright protections. If you plan to do something fishy, please email me to let me know your plans.

• Your Official DAY ONE Book: PDF
• Ukulele chord chart: PDF
• Our Weekly Schedule
• Our Video Archive
• Big Book September 9, 2020: Public Domain Version: PDF

 

 

Recordings of All of Our Songs!

Need to slow these recordings down? Try these apps:

• TempoSlowMo for iPhones
• TempoSlowMo for Androids
• Audacity for Computer

 

Individual Files from the Big Book:

Member songs are available to students attending our daily workshops or by email if I know you.

Diatonic Daily Warm-ups

• Monday: Kumbaya 4 PDF
• Tuesday: Ode to Joy 5 PDF
• Wednesday: Simple Gifts 6 PDF
• Thursday: Shenandoah-ish 3 PDF
• Friday: You Are My Sunshine 3 PDF
• Saturday: When the Saints Go Marching In 4 PDF
• Sunday: On Top of Spaghetti 4 PDF

Diatonic

Resources:

• Diatonic Notes in C PDF
• Practice Log PDF

Songs:

1. All My Loving ~5 (via email)
2. All Through the Night 7 PDF
3. Aloha 'Oe 6 PDF
4. Amazing Grace 6 PDF
5. Au Clair de la Lune 7 PDF
6. Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair ~6 PDF
7. Blowin' in the Wind 6 (via email)
8. Blow the Man Down 5 PDF
9. Brahms’ Lullaby 5 PDF
10. Buffalo Gals 6 PDF
11. By the Light of the Silvery Moon 5 PDF
12. Camptown Races 5 PDF
13. Colorado Trail 5 PDF
14. Down in the Valley 6 PDF
15. Edelweiss 5 (via email)
16. For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow 4 PDF
17. Ghost Riders in the Sky ~4 (via email)
18. Hallelujah 4 (via email)
19. Happy Birthday 6 PDF
    
20. Happy Birthday Blinky Style 6 PDF
21. Home on the Range 6 PDF
22. La Cucaracha 3 or 6 PDF
23. Love Me Tender 6 (via email)
24. Mister Bojangles 3 (via email)
25. Moon River 6 (via email)
26. Morning Has Broken 4 PDF
27. My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean 6 PDF
28. Pop Goes the Weasel ~2 PDF
29. Puff the Magic Dragon 7 (via email)
30. Red Red Wine 6 (via email)
31. Soft Kitty 6 (via email)
32. Streets of Laredo 6 PDF
33. Taps 6 PDF
34. Tenting Tonight 6 PDF
35. Tom Dooley 6 PDF
36. Try to Remember 8 or 6 on chrome (via email) VIDEO
37. Wayfaring Stranger ~6 PDF 
38. Wildwood Flower 5 PDF 
39. Yankee Doodle 7 PDF

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Chromatic

Resources:

• Chromatic Scales PDF
• Chromatic Notes in C PDF
• Practice Log PDF

Songs:

1. America the Beautiful 3 PDF
2. As Time Goes By ~4 (via email)
3. Ash Grove 3 PDF
4. Ashokan Farewell ~5 (via email)
5. A Whole New World ~6* (via email)
6. Beautiful Dreamer ~5 PDF
7. Blue Moon 7 (via email)
8. Come Josephine in My Flying Machine 3 or 7 PDF
9. Daisy Bell 9 PDF
10. Danny Boy ~2* PDF
11. Do Re Mi 3 (via email)
12. Fly Me to the Moon 4 or 8 (via email)
13. Ghost Riders in the Sky 2 (via email)
14. Girl from Ipanema 6 (via email)
15. Hedwig’s Theme 2 (via email)
16. House of the Rising Sun ~3 PDF
17. It's Only a Paper Moon 3 (via email)
18. La Vie En Rose 8 (via email)
19. Last Rose of Summer 5 PDF
20. Leaving on a Jet Plane 5 (via email)
21. Minstrel Boy 3 PDF
    
22. Over the Rainbow 5 (via email)
23. Parting Glass PDF
24. Scarborough Fair ~3 PDF
25. Smile 5 (via email)
26. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes 4 (via email)
27. Summertime 6 (via email)
28. This Little Light of Mine 3 PDF
29. Tomorrow 3 (via email)
30. Unchained Melody 5 (via email)
31. Water is Wide 3 PDF
32. What a Wonderful World 3 (via email)

***

Holiday Tunes

Christmas Diatonic

1. Adeste Fidelis ~9 PDF
2. Auld Lang Syne ~10 PDF
3. El Noi de la Mare 5 PDF
4. First Noel 5 PDF
5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 4 (via email)
6. Over the River and Through the Woods PDF
7. Silent Night 7 PDF
8. We Wish You a Merry Christmas 6 PDF

Christmas Chromatic

1. I’ll Be Home for Christmas 5 (via email)
2. In the Bleak Midwinter ~3 or ~7 PDF
3. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear 3 PDF
4. O Holy Night 2 PDF
5. Silver Bells 4 (via email)
6. White Christmas 6 (via email)

Diatonic Easter

1. Peter Cottontail 6 (via email)

***

Ear Training for Harmonica

Try a few tunes on diatonic harmonica "by ear" without using sheet music. Try to guess what the next note is without writing anything down. Play the backing track in the MP3 player above and start on the hole listed after the name of the song:

• Mary Had a Little Lamb 8
• London Bridges
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Michael Row Your Boat Ashore
• This Old Man
• Three Blind Mice

Theory & Standard Notation for Harmonica

• Resource: Diatonic Notes in C PDF
• Resource: Chromatic Notes in C PDF
• Resource: Chromatic Scales PDF
• Tab Your Own: Drunken Sailor PDF Answer Sheet (no peeking!) PDF
• Tab Your Own: Frère Jacques PDF Answer Sheet (no peeking!) PDF
• Tab Your Own: Go Tell Aunt Rhody PDF Answer Sheet (no peeking!) PDF
• Tab Your Own: Merrily We Roll Along PDF Answer Sheet (no peeking!) PDF
• Tab Your Own: My Spaghetti Monster PDF Answer Sheet (no peeking!) PDF

 

 

Big Book of the Future

Which ones you wanna do first? Requests: Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Ain’t No Sunshine, Annie's Song, At Last, Blowing in the Wind, Both Sides Now, Can't Help Falling in Love, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Close to You, Follow You Follow Me, I Will Always Love You, My Girl, We’ve Only Just Begun, Without You.

Harmonica Stories

Ethnic stereotypes aside, Hohner felt harmonicas were for everybody. (What the heck is going on with the Navy dude?!)

Read more about harmonica history in the Smithsonian: Industrial Espionage and Cutthroat Competition Fueled the Rise of the Humble Harmonica LINK

• First instrument played in space: Jingle Bells on a Hohner Little Lady harmonica by Wally Schirra
• Listen to some sheng ensemble music (the great grandfather of the harmonica) HERE

What do the Yankees baseball team and the history of harmonica share? "Harmonica Incident" LINK

Oldtime Central's article on the early days of the harmonica is HERE.

Some Silly Stuff

LeBron James plays harmonica not as good as you.

Lanny and Deb had a gecko sneak into their house and hide behind the printer. When Deb plays harmonica the gecko comes out to listen. She's the pied piper of harmonica. If being a musician doesn't work out, she could go into the lizard wrangling business.