I’ll say it. The jaw harp’s the coolest instrument there is. People who play guitar think they’re so slick. Drummers do fancy tricks. Ukulele–strummers think they’re quirky or something. But everyone forgets about the jaw harp.
The jaw harp, also known as the Jew’s harp, has attained a legacy status. It’s one of the oldest instruments in the world, pictured in a Chinese painting from the 4th Century BCE. Before getting sucked into the jaw harp YouTube vortex for hours on end, I thought it was solely a Southern instrument based on its twangy sound and its associated genres. Boy was I wrong. This instrument has been played all over the world and figures into many cultures: Sicilian, Pakistani, Indian, and Lithuanian, as demonstrated these two talented monks giving a TEDx Talk.
It’s not a very complicated instrument, but it has the ability to produce a wide variety of sounds and beats. Bob La Beau best describes how the jaw harp works during his live performance of "Turkey in the Straw." As he grasps the miniature instrument he explains, “the way it works is it’s got a little twanger.” He then proceeds twangs the little twanger with his finger. “That doesn’t make much noise at all,” he shrugs. “But we are going to investigate an acoustical principle of amplification. Just like on the guitar, if you were to take a guitar string and stretch it tight and pluck it, it wouldn’t make much sound, but when you attach it to a box full of air, all of a sudden it’s loud.”
Now we’ve already established that, compared to a jaw harp, the guitar is lame. But La Beau is right: it is the same principle. You use your mouth as the acoustical chamber for the harp. To hold it in place, you use your teeth or lips, which must be slightly parted to let the reed (or twanger) vibrate. Then, by changing the shape of your mouth, you can create different overtones.
I’ll admit that doesn’t sound all that incredible. What's actually incredible is the array of music you can make on one of these.
Bob La Beau obviously shreds "Turkey in the Straw" on the jaw harp, but there is other Southern talent. IHatchedTalent throws in a little boogie into his jaw harp freestyle.
Paul Frey can improvise like no other. His jaw harp tunes actually bang all on their own.
Can your guitar do techno like this?
Now let me make the case for a jaw harp. Though it's a tiny instrument, it packs a punch. I can only wish it was commonplace to whip out a jaw harp at a party, as I've soured on the people who think it's kosher to play a guitar to a party. Guitars are too big anyways, so if you brought one to a function, you already pre–decided that you were going to stunt on the crowd. A jaw harp is so much smaller, an instrument you can always have on your person. And playing a jaw harp in public will never be douchey; it's an infallible party trick.
You don’t even need to carry around a proper metal jaw harp to play those sweet, sweet tunes. There are bamboo harps. Or even better, you can achieve the same effect with a run–of–the–mill credit card.
The jaw harp is such a humble yet powerful instrument. Play it wherever you go. Play whatever music you want. The sky is the limit with the jaw harp. I know that my children will not be learning the guitar, drums, or even piano. They will be classically trained in the jaw harp, and I urge you to follow suit.
