hello
new to harp tabs great site iwas looking for some easy tabs and came across,
harp tabs only been playing afew weeks ( when i say playing i mean huffing and puffing) ican playing single notes and play some small melodeys i.e when the saint's etc. just thought i would say hello .
i'm at present playing Hohner special 20 (c).
has any one made the move over to chromatic and found them more easy to play?
thanks for any replies in advance.

Welcome aboard! Glad to meet you!

Hi charlatan,

I'm a newcomer to this site also - welcome!

You asked if anyone has made the move over to chromatic...speaking personally, I've never really played anything other than a chromatic...the few times I did try a diatonic (albeit a cheapie that a seller threw in as a bonus when I bought a chromatic) I found it very limiting and soon got tired of it...when I think "harmonica" I always think chromatic...to me, anyway, as an "instrument" a chromatic is so much more versatile and once mastered (if even only partially so) so much more fulfilling...

...easy to play? I've only been playing "seriously" for about 2 years now, but so far so good, and I had ZERO musical knowledge or experience prior to picking up my first Hohner 260 - which soon progressed to 16 holers, which is basically all I play now...thanks to this site and others, there's lot's of great advice and assistance available...

Just my 2c...

GeorgeIII

I'm also a bit curious about chromatics. Thing is, I've heard from several sources that they're pretty brutal to mustaches. If this is true, it's definitely not worth the cost of a chromatic for me, since I'd never play it. I have a particular diatonic harp that's a killer on the stashe, and I can't play the thing at all. If I even try to jump 2-3 holes I end up flinching and/or chickening out from the memory of the pain that's stamped in my brain from it having happened so many times. I really wish chromatics weren't too expensive to buy just to try them out.

Hi,

I must admit I've not thought about the 'stache point of view...but I do know that one of the greatest harmonica players ever - Toots Thielemans - has (I believe) always had a mustache, and a pretty long one at that.
It seems like there would only be a problem if the cover plates were somehow not tightened down, but if they weren't tightened down properly the instrument would be too "airy"...
There are several "entry level" models available, especially on ebay, but like everything else, you get what you pay for, and in my (limited) experience the cheaper the model, the less satisfaction I got from it.

GeorgeIII

I bought a 12 hole Chromatic Hohner a few years ago, never really got the hang of it, and was never satisfied with the sound it gave. It always sounded kinda tinny to me. I learned a few songs that you can't play on diatonic, but never really liked it much. I'm not blaming the harmonica, it was most likely my fault. I don't like to blame tools for poor performance on my part.

The first chromatic that I tried was a Hohner 260 in "C" (10 holes) which I didn't like at all and it sat in a drawer for years - then a coupla years ago I tried a 270 (12 holes) which I liked a little better, then I found out there was such a thing as a 16 holer, which I tried and got hooked on right away...
...but I must say I marvel at what players like Brendan Power, Charlie Musselwhite, Lee Oskar et al can do with a diatonic.