10 Easy Harmonica Songs for Beginners (Notes and Tabs)

Learn how to play harmonica songs fast and easily with our easy-to-follow notes and tabs.

Iman Rahimipour

Iman Rahimipour

Musician, Composer, Instructor

Fall in Love With Your Harmonica With These 10 Easy Harmonica

Are you new to the harmonica and looking for easy songs to get started with? Or maybe you’re an experienced player looking for some new tunes to add to your repertoire. Either way, you’ll find what you’re looking for in this 10 easy harmonica songs list.

Each one is written out in notes and tabs, so even beginners can give them a try. So grab your harmonica, and let’s get started!

what you need to know before playing these harmonica songs

Playing Single Notes:

There are two methods for producing single notes on a harmonica:

  • Puckering
  • Tongue Blocking

Puckering:

In puckering, all you need is to form your lips into the pucker shape and put your lips over the hole.

Puckering method - Harmonica single note

Tongue Blocking:

For tongue blocking, put three or four holes in your mouth, block the two or three left holes with your tongue, and start blowing and drawing through the free hole on the right side.

Tongue blocking method - Harmonica single note

Blues Harp

These songs are arranged for 10 Holes Diatonic Harmonica (Blues Harp). If it’s your first time playing the blues harp, please check these two articles before getting started:

Blues Harp Notes

The blues harp is a type of harmonica that has 10 holes, and it gives us two notes per hole—one on the breath in and one on the breath out. But, of course, we have more than two notes on some holes that we can produce with the bending technique.

Notes on harmonica Blues harp

My Top Harmonica Picks

10 Easy Harmonica Songs For Beginners:

All the songs come with harmonica tabs. The tabs have two lines, one for blow notes and one for draw notes, and the members represent the harmonica hole numbers.

Support my passion & enhance your skills! Purchase this curated collection of 10 song tabs and sheet music to unlock more quality content.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is one of the best songs to learn and play on the harmonica. For beginners, it’s best to know only notes from holes 4-6. There is no need for more notes than those. Plus, there’s not a vast range of these notes required.
Also, there are no big jumps between the notes, making it easier to play.

This portion of the harmonica, from holes 4-7, represents the middle octave of the instrument and is an excellent place to start.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Diatonic Harp - Iman Music School - 10 Easy Harmonica Songs

This Old Man

“This Old Man” is one of the easy harmonica songs to play with the harmonica in the middle octave.
In some parts, there are eight notes that you need to play two notes per beat, so for a better result, start slowly and then increase the speed over time.
Using a metronome is recommended.

Iman Music Studio Harmonica Tabs 600 × 800

Mary Had a Little Lamb

The rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a classic children’s poem used to teach kids about rhyming. It’s also one of the songs in most musical repertoires to learn an instrument.

The melody is simple and memorable, and the transitions between the notes are smooth, making them easy to play without any jumps from note to note.

For playing Mary Had a Little Lamb you need to know C, D, E, F, and G in the middle octave (holes 4-6).

Merrys Little Lamb Diatonic Harmonica 10 Easy Harmonica Songs

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!

“Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!” This song is one of the world’s best-known and most commonly sung American songs. It was written by James Pierpont in 1857 and has been a popular Christmas song ever since.

This song is included in our list of 10 easy harmonica songs because it is short & easy to learn and can be a part of your Christmas playlist.

Jingle Bells harmonica version blues harp Iman Music Studio

Lightly Row

Lightly Row is one of those songs where you can learn how to “slide” between blow notes and draw notes. Sometimes, you will need to play an ascending line of C, D, E, F, and G.
This song is an excellent exercise for learning slides and scale, which is why I put it in the 10 easy harmonica songs list.

Lightly Row, Easy harmonica Songs, blues harp - Iman Music Studio

Happy Birthday To You

“Happy Birthday To You” is one of the most popular songs all around the globe. The song is easy to learn and play. So what stops you from learning this song and surprising your family and friends on their birthday.

If you want a deep dive into the intricacies of the Happy Birthday Harmonica version, visit the Harmonica For All website for more information.

Happy Birthday To You- Easy harmonica songs, blues harp- Iman Music Studio

Ode to Joy

“Ode to Joy” was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1824 and is the final movement of his Symphony No. 9.
The melody is memorable and has a repetitive theme that helps to learn and memorize it quickly. That’s why it’s in our easy harmonica songs list.

Ode to Joy - Easy harmonica songs, blues harp,Iman Music Studio

Camptown Races

Another easy and beautiful song from our 10 Easy Harmonica Songs list is “Camptown Races,” written by Stephen Foster in 1850 and published in Foster’s Plantation Melodies. The lyrics gained immediate popularity when they were first released, and it became one of Foster’s most popular songs. At the first bar, we have a pick-up note, in which you need to count 1, 2, 3, and start from bar 4. Start slowly and then increase your speed gradually.
Camptown Races Easy harmonica songs blues harp Iman Music Studio

Oh Susanna

One of Stephen Foster’s most well-known songs, Oh Susanna! This song caused him to become an instant success as a composer. The song was written in 1847 and published the following year, in 1848.
Oh Susanna- Easy harmonica songs, blues harp- Iman Music Studio

When The Saints Go Marching In

The last piece of our 10 Easy Harmonica Songs is “When The Saints Go Marching In” This jazz tune, made popular by Louis Armstrong, comes from a black gospel spiritual with many variations over the years. It sounds better when you play it faster, but not too fast. So maybe around 144 BPM should be OK, but keep in mind, start slow and make it faster.
When The Saints Go Marching In Easy harmonica songs blues harp Iman Music Studio

Conclusion

If you need help with your harmonica learning, please send me an email and I would be more than happy to guide you through your guitar learning journey. At Iman Music Studio, I offer Harmonica lessons for all ages.

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You can schedule a personalized, hour-long online session for a fee of $50.

During this session, I’ll explain all ten songs and share a video of myself playing them.

Iman Rp Harmonica Instructor

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