Hi everyone! Firstly let me say I am a complete beginner to harmonica's. I stumbled upon the site which has helped me a lot and the forum has an impressive amount of helpful posts! I've spent the last week or so just lurking around reading posts and tips and you guys make everything incredibly easy!

Now to my problem. I bought a lee Oskar Major Diatonic Harmonica on the weekend and everything seems fine apart from hole three. When I blow into it, everything sounds fine and I get a nice wavy tone, however when I draw, it takes a lot of effort to make a sound and I either get a high pitch shriek or a sound somewhat to a kazoo rather than the nice wavy harmonica tone. It is actualy impossible for me to go from hole 4 to hole 3 as I literaly have to suck it in to make a sound and that not only doesn't sound right, but it also puts the song out of alignment considering the force that it needs to even get a normal sound.

I'm just wondering if one of the reeds may be damaged. It is a brand new harmonica and although I am no beginner, I used to play a clarinet many years ago so this note and the force needed just doesn't seem right.

So I'm just asking for any tips. Is there an easy fix or is this a common thing? Or should I just take it back and have it replaced?

Thank you all kindly both for reading my long post and for any help you can give, along with all the help you have already contributed here which has helped me a great deal!

Welcome aboard, Jim. I'm sure you'll get more and better answers than this, but here's someplace to start. (And this will be more general than specific to a Lee Oskar.)

Some notes are finicky - before you do anything else, "experiment" with mouth position and force of air - but you should never need a lot...

However, I'm guessing that won't do it. First, it doesn't sound exactly like a fussy note. Second, as a musician, you're probably more in-tune to a problem...

So...do you like to tinker? I would take the harmonica apart and look at the 3 draw reed. The draw reeds are on the bottom plate. First, in good light, look for something that may be blocking the reed. If you see something, try to remove it with something soft and lint-free. I like to use a soft toothbrush very gently, in a motion along the reed toward the free end. Next, dim the lights, except for a single-bulb source. Hold the reedplate up to block the one bright light and "look through" the 3-draw reed. It should have even spacing on both sides, and there should be space at the free end.

Thats's all I've got. At that point if it's still not working I'd head back to the store with it, or if you got it on-line, to a store that could replace or repair it.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

And you don't need to let that one hole keep you from playing. There's lots of tabs on this site that don't touch that reed...

I believe that ricanefan is correct, I use the Suzuki Bluesmaster, and on my key of G, I encountered the same problem, I could draw as hard as I liked on the 4 hole, but if I tried to draw hard on the 3 hole I would get nothing and the harder I would draw the worse it would sound, but as I would draw lighter the sound started to come out much better. One of the common problems is trying to draw to hard on the holes, remember that you should play by breathing in and out, not blowing and sucking, start by light breaths both on the draws and blows and using different mouth positions and after more practice try using more air pressure. One way to test this is to pucker your lips then put the harmonica in your mouth at the 3 hole position, and lightly and slowly start breathing in with your mouth relaxed it should have a good sound, then if you slowly draw in harder you should notice the sound getting worse then not at all. If that works it is your technique, if it doesn't then try ricanefan's advice on checking the reeds.

Gentlemen, thank you both for all the help and please accept my apologies for getting back to you so late.

Basicaly my Lee Oskar is a key or A and after pulling it apart and giving it a clean, I found that I can play the 3rd note, It takes a LOT of effort meaning that when I hit 3, I just get wind like I'm blowing through a tube. The only way to actualy get a note is to pucker on 3 (tongue blocking does not work by any means on 3) and REALLY try hard and concentrate. I may get a squeal or I may actualy get a note but it sounds low and airy.

So, I jumped on ebay and bought the 7 set of Hohner Piedmont Blues and find that none of them produce that problem. To be honest I am not too fussed any more as I have more than enough to play with atm. Normaly I'd take it back and get it replaced but the shop I bought it off looks like it had seen beter days and the guy behind the counter was so nice and helpful, that even though I am out of pocket, I kind of feel bad in case he cannot return it himself. I think I'll call him up on the weekend and if it's not a problem for him, I'll take it back otherwise, I'll wear it.

On the other plus side, my father gave me his old Chromatic Hohner (Larry Adler Professional 16). He bought it 20 or so years ago and hardly played it, so I can't wait to get onto that once I can at least play a bit.
I've got Bendometer and I'm spending a couple of hours each night on and off, so I'm having a blast making mistakes and making improvements! I've picked 3 songs with low, high and mid notes and I think I'll keep on those until I can perfect them.

So, once again thank you both for the for the warm welcome and for all the help! I'll be sticking around indefinately )

It sounds like the gap is a bit off on the Oskar, you could probably play with it a bit. The Adler 16 holer sounds interesting.