3 Famous Rock Stars Who Made Playing the Harmonica Famous

There are few instruments stranger than a harmonica. While there are chromatic versions of the harmonica, most players use the ones that are set in a certain key. That way, no matter what you blow, it will sound in tune with the song you’re playing. But what a sound! Like a train going through a tornado, the harmonica is a lovely but odd little construction.

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We wanted to take a look at three artists who helped make the harmonica famous. Let’s take a look at a trio of songwriters and performers who took the thing and turned it into an all-time musical addition. These are three artists who made playing the harmonica famous.

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Bob Dylan

In a way, seeing Bob Dylan play the harmonica is a juxtaposition that’s hard to get over. The man wrote some of the most beautiful, detailed, and poetic songs of all time. And then between these masterful verses, he stuck his mouth on this shrill instrument and blew, blew, blew.

But in another way, it’s a perfect match. The harmonica gives a little levity to the seriousness of Dylan’s language. It’s a breath of fresh air between all the sonic inquisition. Either way, it worked for the Bard and the instrument has in many ways since become synonymous with him.

Stevie Wonder

There is no artist in history who has made the harmonica sound as sweet as Stevie Wonder has. While Bob Dylan’s harmonica sounded like the wind through a string of tin cans, Stevie Wonder’s playing style sounded like sprites dancing from flower to flower. It was pretty, lilting, and melodic. And when he played it on songs like “Isn’t She Lovely”, the whole room would melt. There is no one better, and yet, playing the harmonica is just one of about a billion musical things Wonder does well.

John Popper

While Dylan and Wonder are known for their harmonica playing, no one is quite as connected to the instrument as Blues Traveler frontman John Popper. The man even wore a vest with a pocket for each harmonica key—C-major, A-minor, D#-major, and the like.

Popper, who was discovered in the halls of his high school in Princeton, New Jersey, by the same band teacher who inspired the movie, Whiplash, would become a recognizable figure in 1990s rock music. Today, his jam band rock group is still making music and touring the globe—largely thanks to that ol’ harmonica.

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