How to get the harmonica in Death Stranding

If you’ve sat down to rest in Death Stranding, you’ve likely noticed that you can make Sam whistle. However, whistling isn’t Sam’s only available musical instrument. You can get a harmonica in Death Stranding that Sam can play in his downtime to sooth his and BB’s nerves.

We’ll show you the location the harmonica is found in Death Stranding. We’ll also let you know the best strategy to earn the harmonica from the individual who gives it to you.

How do you get the harmonica in Death Stranding?

You can actually find the harmonica very early on in Death Stranding. However, if you’re not keeping an eye out, you’ll likely pass right by the prepper who has it without even noticing their shelter.

To find the Musician, the prepper who gives you the harmonica, you’ll need to look in the southwestern part of the Eastern Region. You’ll find him right before you enter the hilly area with BTs that leads to Port Knot City. Near the waterfall, high up on the ledge, you’ll see an easy-to-miss optional shelter that is kind of hard to get to. Your best bet is to carry a light load and climb up the rocks, using ladders and climbing anchors as necessary. I found it was easier to get to the ledge above the shelter and rappel down than to try to climb straight to it.

To get the harmonica, you need to get the Musician to join the UCA, and to do that, you’ll need a two-star connection level. Luckily, he gives you a mission right off the bat. You’ll need to retrieve two lost containers of sheet music from near the stream below the Musician’s shelter. This is pretty easy. You just need to rappel down to ground level, grab the containers, and hoof it back up to the shelter.

In my game, this one mission was enough to two-star the Musician. When he joins the UCA, he also gives you the harmonica as a gift.

How do you play the harmonica in Death Stranding?

Now that you have the harmonica, you’ll want to learn how to play it. To have Sam play the harmonica in Death Stranding, you’ll need to equip it. The instrument can be found in the same menu that you use to equip your hat and glasses. Just hold up on the D-Pad and hold the right stick in the direction of the harmonica on the equipment wheel and press X. This will equip the instrument to a bracket that fits around Sam’s neck, giving him easy access to play.

To actually play the harmonica, you’ll need to rest. You can do this pretty much anywhere during gameplay by holding Circle. Sam will plop down and start relaxing. You can start playing a song on the harmonica by tapping on the touchpad on the DualShock 4. Just tap away, and Sam will continue playing as long as you want.

Can you play different songs on the Harmonica in Death Stranding?

Unfortunately, the only song Sam can play in my experience is BB’s Theme. Playing it obviously makes BB happy and rewards you with likes, but try as I might, I couldn’t get Sam to switch up his tune.

It’s entirely possible that Sam could play different songs, and I just didn’t figure out the trigger to make it happen. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there were some kind of easter egg associated with the harmonica. However, I wasn’t able to find it. If we do discover a way to play another song, I’ll be sure to update this guide with the details.