Want to learn harmonica? This Wichita workshop teaches absolute beginners how to play

No experience necessary.

You don’t have to have any musical experience to learn how to play the harmonica – at least that’s what the blues musician Hamilton Loomis says.

Loomis, a Grammy-nominated blues artist, is teaching a weekend of classes from March 3-4 in Wichita that promise to teach absolute beginners how to play blues harmonica.

Loomis has been teaching classes like this for nearly 20 years, he said.

“It’s a wide appeal, which is why I teach harmonica workshops and guitar workshops – which is actually my main instrument,” he said. “Anybody can do it, and that’s the fun part.”

Loomis, who has toured through Wichita “many, many times” with his blues band, will be teaching the classes at Emerson Biggin’s East, 2120 N. Woodlawn.

It is a two-part workshop, held between 1-4 p.m. March 3 and 4.

On Saturday, he will teach the basics of harmonica playing, and on Sunday he will teach more advanced techniques.

“Depending on people’s goals, I talk about how to play and communicate with other musicians in a blues context,” he said. It’s “something that’s not ever taught by anybody except those of us musicians who grew up on stage getting yelled at by old blues guys.”

Admission is $60 per person. That admission includes a 10-hole harmonica, practice CD, and handouts/materials to practice with after the workshop concludes.

The class is for anyone over 12 years old.

“I get retired couples, I get mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters – all ages,” Loomis said. “It really is a blast with everybody doing something new.”

Reservations may be made at www.hamiltonloomis.com/harpwichita.html or by phone at 832-978-5451.

This story was originally published February 22, 2018 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Want to learn harmonica? This Wichita workshop teaches absolute beginners how to play."