Here are some ideas I have come up with and use to help me play the harmonica...

1) I print out the tabs I want to play... yes I know we almost all do, but I will also cut out the "hook", "refrain" or "chorus" of some of them. Then I fold it neatly to fit in my shirt pocket. I had six such tab hooks at one point. It's easier for me to learn excerpts of favorite songs, and most harmonica playing in songs seems to be brief solo or backup playing anyway.

2) This lead me to idea #2. When I was practicing in the football stadium on my lunchbreak, I had to deal with some wind. I decided to print up some of my favorite tab excerpts with "wordpad" in smaller type and laminate them with card-size self-laminating sheets that you can get for about $3.00 at Wal-Mart. This gave me smaller, uniform card size tabs that won't easily blow away and are easier to keep up with and are both neat and organized. The cards will prop up on my car or van dash if I care to practice at a stoplight or in a parking lot. I can fold a longer tab over before laminating to keep it all on one card. They slip in my shirt pocket or FRONT pants pocket with my Delta Frost harp in the Hohner leather snap pouch.

3) I have my favorite full-sheet harp tabs organized for quick reference.

I hope that someone can use any of these ideas.

If you have some ideas, please post them.

-rufus

Great ideas Rufus... I keep tabs I'm learning on me all the time, but never thought of laminating 'em... so of course they try to blow away...

Genius rufus,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,pure genius,,,,,,

Rob,

That reads like pure flattery...

Yet if that were so, then there are many throughout this website- start with our webmaster, Nick, continue with Frank, Bray, Maria... many others..I could go on and on...

If I have any genious, then I must credit the Lord.

-rufus

I have a folder on my desktop named harmonica music and I copy and paste it to word or notepad. I name the file the name of the song. I also have a folder in my room of just Christmas music and it's all alphabetized. I'm too scared to play in front of people. So it's okay that it's all in my room.lol
-Adam

Practice makes perfect. There's lots of people who play the guitar but never in public. Being afraid of missing or hitting wrong notes is part of practicing. The only way to experience mistakes is to watch live performers. Listening to recorded music is not a single take, finally got it right, performance. Recordings are done over many takes until each segment is perfect. It's then edited to a final master. We all make mistakes. That's what makes live performances special. You don't have to have a huge list of songs that you can play. 2 or 3 is enough to put a smile on someone's face. Even if you just know some of the intro's posted here. That's enough to get comments from listeners even if you don't know the entire song.

I'd take my harp to work to practice however being a heavy duty mechanic, my hands are always dirty so playing a harp isn't practical.

Adam whereas you mentioned that you are too scared to play in front of people, consider that many of the people that we would play around probably would not know if you were messing up.

Some of my co-workers think that I can REALLY play well. They simply do not know how well I can REALLY play. And I do tell them that I'm not that good. But the important thing is, that when I do play around them- it's not every day- I just have fun. It is sometimes scary, but I consider it an adrenaline rush, and try to enjoy the excitement.

My kids, on the other hand... ...well at home I sometimes practice outside...

I have only been playing for about three months, and I have been going through the same sort of "phobia" about playing in front of people. My sister and another friend of mine are both band directors, so their music knowledge is far more extensive than mine, and thats what worried me....But then I realizeed they are music TEACHERS, if anyone is tolerant of people messing up, its them....And as someone mentioned before, Ive also realized that for the most part people dont notice when you actually mess up-We are all our own worst critics. So while I certainly am not to the point where I could play in front of a large group of people, playing with a few friends who also play guitar is certainly not a big deal for me anymore....

And I am convinced that your friends probably enjoy you playing along with them...