How to play Long Train Running on harmonica

Sep 8, 2014 | Intermediate Harmonica Lessons, Songs

This week’s lesson is how to play Long Train Running by The Doobie Brothers. You will need a C harmonica and you will be playing in the key of G in 2nd position.

Breath control

Breathing in this is really difficult as there are lots of really long sustained notes. The key to playing it is being able to play it fast enough to get through without running out of breath. This is impossible to do straight away so you need to break it down into manageable chunks and bring each one of those chunks up to speed before trying to put them all together.

Also, you want to ration your breath as much as possible. This means not attacking the notes very aggressively as this wastes air unnecessarily. You also want to try and spot the breathing opportunities. These occur during the 2 draw stabs. Practice these notes and catching really quick out breaths in-between.

Part 1



Part 2

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See you again for the next harmonica video!

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