What kind of harp do you use?



Post Edited (07-19-04 23:18)

Currently I play on two diationic harps and these are: Hohner Special 20 in 'C' and Golden Melody Classic in "A" The latter has far more soft blues sounding that the Special 20. And what kind of harp do You use? And how long do you play?

I am very new to the harmonica I started playing it in March, teaching myself. I play a Hohner Diatonic harp I got as a gift.

Marvelous gift. From someone who plays harmonica too? I have only two firends who play harmonica in my city. We have tried to search other harmonica players but either they do not exist or they have camouflaged. How does the situation look like in your place of living?

Kepp progressing!

HarpSpirit

The only harp play I have come across other then myself was someone at JFK Airport security who saw my harmonica as I was passing through and we had a brief conversation.

I use a Lee Oskar major diatonic in 'C' and another in 'G'. I'm 15 and I've been self teaching myself for a little less than a year. I'm really impressed with the Lee Oskar-I think they hold up real well, and if you wear a reed plate down, you can just get a new one and keep the harmonica.

What harp do I use? ---> The one that's between my lips :>}

What harp's have I used? I'll give you a list (with the keys I know I've used in parenthesis, and I may be missing a couple) and my opinions:

Hohner:

Special 20 (A,C,Bb,D)--Sound great, fun to play, easy to bend, but depending on how good and how hard your note bending is---they don't last as long as some other brands

Pocket Pal (C)--For $5 what do you expect?

Old Standby (G, A, C, D, E, F)--got a deal for $8 each. And as expected, they are not very airtight and their volume and tone is not near the special 20, but if you like to play amplified harmonica they sound pretty good and are fun for the price

Blues Harp (D)--I produced by first overblow on this harmonica, not as comfortable or as smooth sounding as the special 20, but it is more airtight out of the box than a Big River Harp

Big River Harp (Low D, Eb)¡XLove that low D, it¡¦s lasted a long time but may be due to the fact that it is difficult to bend those big reeds. I haven¡¦t played the Eb a lot yet, but my initial thoughts were that it needs to be sealed better, but it gives a good sound.

Marine Band (D minor)---Only marine band I¡¦ve tried, Good time, awesome sounds, can inspire you if your in a funk. The ¡§corncob¡¨ harmonica feel. The Best tone, but that wood has warped the shape of the cover-plates by ¡¥swelling¡¦ and ¡¥de-swelling¡¦ based on humidity and the amount of saliva I impart into it.

Weekender ( C )¡XOkay, this is a tremolo harmonica, but after playing diatonic for a while I wanted to bring the shipping weight for one of my orders to the next nearest pound (just to get more for my money) and thought I¡¦d try this $8 beast. It¡¦s just cool, and fun to play around with, great for playing hymns and stuff, very good deal here.

Lee Oskar:

(A, C, D, Gm)---Sounds almost as good as special 20¡¦s but lasts much longer, plus you can buy replacement reedplates. These harmonicas are fun to play, take abuse, airtight, and project the sound well. The only downsize is that they don¡¦t overblow very well and are not as aesthetically pleasing or comfortable as the Promaster. I love that Gm, it can be used to improvise some wild stuff.

Suzuki:

Red Rider ( c )--Another $5 harmonica, but this red dog packs a whallop. Great sound, awesome tone and takes a beating---best $5 I¡¦ve ever spent on a Harp..had it for over a year now it¡¦s all beat up but still is in tune. The holes are a little bit smaller than on other harmonica.

Promaster ( C )¡XThe best C harmonica I have ever purchased. It looks and feels awesome (love that metal comb), plays good, bends well, and can even give overblows right out of the box fairly well (although they don¡¦t recommend it, it just stresses the reeds out faster although a good break-in time before attempting should pro-long the inevitable). Day in and out this is a workhorse, while it is $10 more than Lee Oskars or Bushmans (other quality harps with replacement reedplates), it¡¦s cool to have the heft and feel that a metal comb provides.

Johnson:

Blues King (A, Bb, C, D, Db, Eb, F, F#, G)---spent $2.50 each. Similar to the pocket pal in many respects, not quite as much volume though. Small holes and leaky, but they can sound nice if you play amplified.

First Act:

( C ) Okay, don¡¦t laugh, this harmonica is marketed for kids, but I was in need of a C harmonica and this was all I found on short notice. But hey, for ~$5 it performs as well as any out of the box cheap harmonica.

Hering:

Vintage 1923 (A, E)---Best harp out there for playing chords. More comfortable ¡¥wood¡¦ than Hohner¡¦s offerings, awesome tone, awesome looks, awesome feel. For the A„³ Not so awesome longevity (2 weeks and gone). E is still together, but I don¡¦t play the E nearly as much and when I do I baby it due to fear of destroying it.

Bushman:

Soul¡¦s Voice (G)---A nice black harmonica. Gives a nice clean sound, comfortable, and when I got mine it came in the coolest leather pouch (best thing for storing a harp in your pocket, but I guess they discontinued it). Airtight, nice projection, all and all a good quality harmonica, nothing bad about it, but at the same time there is nothing that sets this harmonica out from the crowd, perhaps if I tried a higher pitched key my opinion would differ. I¡¦m not a big fan of the black paint as I feel it adds friction to my movement across the harp.

Delta Frost (A, Db)---I like these a lot. Not only do they sound very similar to the Special 20, but they last longer with abuse and they have replacement reeds (in the set and draw only) that for <$10 can resurrect your harmonica (instead of ~$20 on a new one). Gives a nice edgy blues tone to music, sound is A++. These are airtight, easy to bend, not the best for overblows (but I don¡¦t really do it a lot anyhow) and slide nicely over my lips. If I where to buy a 12 key set under $300 this would be it.

Hi there!

I'm totally new in the harmonica's world. I just play the guitar. I'm really interested about a self paced learning of harmonica, cos its sound is just amazing to me.

I have two harmonicas and I would like your help to find out what kind they are. How can I find out the key and the type of them?

Thanks in advance.

Roberto Leite - known as Easy
Brazil

Usually the harmonica key is printed on the harp. You can usually tell the harmonica type by the number of holes. If it has ten holes and doesn't have a knob it is a Diatonic. If you have the knob it is a Chromatic. Those are the more common harps and my guess is that you have a diatonic if you don't know.

I am starting off with a Hohner C Adventure!

Man!
I liked the Review of Ichabod.....Some people collect stamps.And others...well.
It's relly stuff like this that is so good....
It's not so easy to get the chance to blow in a variety of harps so I think
this thread is a very valuable one.
I play on two Lee Oscar Major diatonic C and F
and I'm going to try some different brands and tunings this spring.
Harp on!

I use a Hohner Marine Band in C. It seems to be alright so far. . .I'm teaching myself so it's kinda slow. What kind do you think I should get next and in what key?

Once you have been playing a while you will know what you want to move to. It all depends on what you want to play.

I JUST started playing harmonica about 2 months ago, and I am playing on a, dont laugh, Suzuki Easy Rider. $10 CDN.

Its not bad to start out, but I think that what I have learned so far could have been learned easier had I had a more expensive harmonica. I am just starting to learn bends (been trying for about a week now) and I CANNOT do it. Dunno if its me or the harp, but I have heard that bending is tough on this harmonica.

I am deciding on a new harmonica and also have a couple of questions if anyone wants to help me out.
What key should I get? I have a C right now on this Easy Rider, and it seems too high of a sound. I don't know what keys are lower or higher or anything! Preferably: I'd like a tone that is lower, but only slightly. Sure, the first hole on my harp is low enough, but the tabs I play usually have #7-10 notes.

Also - im trying to decide between a Bushman Soul Voice or a Special 20, because both of those harps have good reviews on the site I was looking at. Bushman has the best review at 5/5, but only 8 reviews. And the special 20 has a 4.5/5 with about 30 reviews.

My personal opinion on the Special 20 vs Souls Voice is as follows:

Pot-ay-toes Pot-ah-toes. I've got them both, and in my opinion, even though, the Souls Voice is somewhat more responsive and durable than the Special 20, the Special 20 has a more familiar feel and doesn't seem to require as much air to play.

heero_fox wrote:

...
>
> Also - im trying to decide between a Bushman Soul Voice or a
> Special 20, because both of those harps have good reviews on
> the site I was looking at. Bushman has the best review at 5/5,
> but only 8 reviews. And the special 20 has a 4.5/5 with about
> 30 reviews.
>

To answer the question, I use primarily a 10-hole Hohner Marine Band in the Key of G. I pretty much just play for my own amusement, and that's the harmonica that I found to have the most appealing sound. It also works real well for doing train whistles.

C diatonic Hohner blues harp ms

B-flat M. Hohner Marine Band

My first harp (about 10+ years ago) was the Pocket Pal that came with a book...suprising enough I have lost the book but still have the harp...somewhere. Used it to toot around on but did not get serious about harping until the begining of 2003. I checked around the web and bought a Lee Oskar Major Diatonic in C which I have played with a little more consistancy lately. ;-)

Recently for my birthday my wife found a Hohner set that came with A-G keys Blues Harp, Harp case, and Harp Sling (a little on the small side) from Musicians Friend www.musiciansfriend.com. So I am stoked to be able to play in any of the major keys.

Keep harping.
KR

i have an odd story on how i got my harmonica. i was walking home the street carrying some eggs and tomatos. i decided to cut throught this alley to save time. then this street gang jumped me. they knocked the eggs down and threw my tomatos at me. just then this bum jumped out of a dumpster and beat the bullies up with some sweet ninja crap. the bum helped me clean myself off. i found out his name was steve.
i started to talk to steve everyday after school. i began to learn a lot about steves life. i found out that joe hadnt always been a bum. he originally had ran a samll business that went under. he played the harmonica and i thought it was super neat, so i started to learn that and ninjitsu, the art of the ninja. i started to take steve home for dinner.
then one day i was walking home and saw about 6 people holding the dumpster lid shut. i knew from the yelling inside the dumpster that it was steve. i grabbed a flag pole from a nearby store and rused in. with a flury of super high quality ninja moves i pummelled the brutes into a pulp. steve was very grateful.
a few weeks later, steve found out that he had inherited some money. he bought a house and cleaned himself up. i still had him over for supper every now and then. my mother and him started dating and just got married last month. everything is wonderful now.