Harmonica Extractor and Remover

How to extract the harmonica from a song

1. Choose a file. Drop in an MP3, WAV, M4A or FLAC of up to 10 minutes. You sign in with Google on your first upload.
2. Press Extract the harmonica. The button shows what this song will cost, at 1 credit per minute, so you know before you start. New accounts get 5 credits. If the job fails, the credits come back.
3. Play each reel. The left reel is your original; the other two are Harmonica and Without the harmonica. Click a reel to solo it, and download whichever you need as a 320 kbps MP3.

Harmonica in the blues and beyond

The harmonica is a small reed instrument, and it belongs to blues, country, folk and rock. It plays the wailing solos in a blues number, a rhythmic chug behind a country song, and the lonely fill at the end of a folk ballad. Players bend notes to make it cry, and that bending is the part everyone wants to learn.

A harp player can use the Harmonica file to hear each bend and breath. A guitarist can use Without the harmonica to play the fills. Sample makers look for a short phrase, and film editors for a mournful line.

Harmonica, accordion or something else?

The harmonica is a reed instrument, so its tone is close to an accordion. In a folk or zydeco band they can bleed into each other; compare with the Accordion Extractor. A very high harmonica can sound like a flute or a whistle, so the Flute Extractor and the Whistle Extractor are worth checking. It is not a woodwind in the strict sense, but the Woodwind Extractor is nearby on the site.

To MIDI

The bends make a harmonica hard to turn into clean notes. Try it in Audio to MIDI and keep pitch bends on to see what happens.