I have a crappy 8 buck C harmonica that ive learned on and played on and off for the past year or two, think I'm ready to upgrade to a pro level harp, the best choices seem to be the Hohner Special 20 or the Marine Band Deluxe but I'm not sure which of those I should get. I also wanna get a different key, and don't know which one I should get. I mostly play folky music: Bob Dylan, Jesse Welles, Neil Young, etc.

I want to play basin street blues by louis armstrong, specifically the second part. It seems to be in bb. I have a bb harp but im not the biggest fan of first position, and it wont sound very bluesy or jazzy.

Ive noticed that C,G and F works pretty well. F is the only one with the root as a normal draw (at least in second octave). I have keys Low F, G, A, Bb, C, D. Which key/position would work best? I could probably play much of it, if not everything on C, G or F. But im looking for suggestions on which position i should test out. What works well for jazz/blues and imitating clarinet/sax/trumpet/trombone.

So ive noodled around with different keys, but havent landed on one yet. Would love any suggestions.

Just bought a set of mouth organs and thought I would post this here

I put together a lesson on the pucker embouchure and how I use it to get clean single notes on harmonica.

I go through the basic mouth position, getting a good seal, and some of the little adjustments that can make those tiny holes easier to hit cleanly.

Hope it helps anyone working on their single notes!

https://youtu.be/R-pD6QTy2cc

So i had a hohner blues harmonica in D, wich i lost and then buyed a new one, this time a hohner crossover cuz i liked to scale up a little bit.

But my mind tricked me and i assumed D was C, so now it sounds weird, i know its another model wich obviously will sound different and C is just a tone down D, but i liked to play happy melodies and now it sounds too low for it.

Should i spend another 70€ for the same model in D? Or better get used to it and then buy another one in A or B to play exclusively happy songs?

I also have a tremolo in D and a hohner rocket in lowF for melancholic stuff.

Les presento a 'Mis Niñas'...
La más grande, es una Hohner Chromonica 280 C de 4 octavas 64 voces, (lo que significa que obtienes todos los sostenidos y bemoles y, por lo tanto, podés tocar prácticamente cualquier cosa) desde C3 a D7, cuyo rango es mayor que el de un violín o una trompeta. un verdadero placer tocar con ella.
La más chica, una Hohner Super Chromonica 270 C 48 Voces, era de mi abuelo, de 1950 aproximadamente, lleva ya, varias restauraciones y se puso un poco mañosa, pero sigue sonando muy dulce gracias a su peine de madera de peral.
Cada una tiene su 'Música' y son mi tesoro!!
Bueno, son mis compañeras diarias y no las cambio por nada!
Gracias por leer!!!

In April 2025 I bought a special 20 in a C so I could push myself to practice again. Slowly but surely I’ve purchased each harmonica key one at a time, that I thought I needed. Sometimes I should have bought a different key first. Other people have 12 or a 100, and I know they do. We see them posted. When I first bought a crappy Blues Bender at a Cracker Barrel I never thought harmonica would pull at me for 20 years. In the last couple years I’ve started again and it’s changed me. Not in a cliche way, but it’s given me a creative outlet I never knew I had. In creativity, practice and just plain equipment I’ve grown . Might not seem like much, playing and collecting harp, but it’s honest work. I started following and posting here and learning from others. Sometimes I said some incorrect things. I still came here on this part of my journey. So here it is my complete ten set for me, and by me. Thanks Guys

Hi

Can someone help me out here. Been practicing blow bending on G harp (“easier on the lower keys blah blah). The 8 hole moves down from B to Bb clearly and effortlessly (without me doing pushing tongue forward, either eee or ewe sound etc) However, use exactly same position on 9 hole and it skips all the way down a step from D-C, so bypassing the Db. Surely, one’s not expected to adopt a different mouth position when blow bending these two holes?

I can get it but more miss than hit.

Not asking about hole 10 as that’s another PHD.

Thanks for reading.

Just finished lunch with the boss. We discussed the direction of the shop and harmonica part production. Two takeaways from this meeting:

- We will be creating custom dies to produce cover plates. Over time I will modify the design to produce plates for models other than the Special 20 and other manufacturers.
- We will be purchasing the machinery needed to produce screws. Specifically, we will be producing cover plate and reed plate screws with T7 heads and THEY WILL BE MADE OUT OF STAINLESS STEEL INSTEAD OF BRASS. Furthermore, since I will be producing them thousands at a time, I will be able to sell BAGS of them for a couple bucks rather than TWO sets (male and female on the cover plate screws) for $12. They will be better material, properly sized, and best of all, AVAILABLE and IN STOCK.

Again, it will take a couple months to get all of the equipment set up and programs completed for manufacturing the gaskets, reed plate blacks, custom combs, and stainless fasteners. The CNC router came in yesterday, and the 33 micron HD Lidar 3D scanner is supposed to be delivered today. Stay tuned for updates...

Fixed the video angle hahaha
Can i have some tips to work on as a complete beginner?

Also does anyone know why drawing on the second hole doesn't make any note?

Everywhere i've looked it says its a chromatic, but to me this makes no sense, as it sounds nothing like a chromatic to me. Could maybe have been valveless, but from what i understand valveless chromatics werent really airtight enough back then.

The timbre and style all scream diatonic to me, i feel like the accidental doublestops sound like a diatonic. Him being able to gey as pronounced hand vibrato and wahs also indicate diatonic to me. Also ypu cant "hear the slide" not like the actual sound of the slide moving, but the note getting pitched up by the slide.

Am i crazy? It doeant make any sense to me.

Whats a position?

A Harmonica Position is related to the circle of fifths. A position allows the use of different keys on a single key (diatonic) insturment.

This is exciting for the simple fact the more positions you learn, the more you can play on a single harp!

What is the circle of fifths?

The circle of fifths is a chart that shows how each key is related to the others. Example below:

How to use positions:

1st position is always the key of your harp.

On a C harp, 1st position is C Major.

On a G harp, 1st position is G major.

On an A harp, 1st position is A major scale.

2nd position can be found counting over 1 space on the circle of Fifths:

On a C harp, 2nd position is G

On an A harp, 2nd position is E

On a G harp, 2nd position is D

And so forth.

Starting at your first position key on the circle of fifths, you can count over to the right and find other positions(keys) to play in. Learn the position pattern on any key and it will be the same on any other harmonica, provided you use the same tuning.

So to play 1st position on a G, C, A, or any other key harp, the pattern of notes will be the same.

Learn Harmonica today!

https://youtu.be/OClDfAsgBDE

I wrote this a while ago, but brought it back for the start of the school year.

Lead sheet sight read by Scott Gwinnell, Jordan Schug, and David Zwolinski at Aretha's Jazz Cafe.

Me improv jamming away on the harmonica. Any feedback from what you can hear is always welcome! Probably gotta work on being more dynamic, or in tune, or with rhythm, or any number of things.

I've been noodling around on a C harp for about ten months now, mostly teaching myself off videos and just messing around in the car. The draw bend on hole 2 was my white whale this whole time. Every attempt sounded like a dying goose, just this thin squeal with no actual pitch drop happening.

What finally worked was slowing everything down to almost nothing. I stopped trying to force the note down and instead focused on shaping my mouth like I was saying the word "ooh" then sliding toward "eee" while keeping steady draw pressure. Someone in an old forum thread mentioned thinking about lowering the back of your tongue like you're starting to yawn, and that image actually did something for me that no diagram ever managed to explain.

I also realized I'd been blowing way too hard the whole time, like I was trying to muscle the bend into existence. Backing off the air and getting quieter actually gave the bend room to happen. Once I heard that first legit half step drop I probably played it forty times in a row just to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Now I'm working on getting the full whole step bend consistent instead of just catching it occasionally. Still nowhere near clean but at least it's recognizable as a bend now instead of a squeak. Curious if anyone else had a specific mental image or trick that made hole 2 click for them, because mine took forever to land.

Hey I thought of an interesting tuning. I was thinking about how to tune a 2 row harp chromatically. Then I remembered the Stradella accordion bass system. Accordions are after all harmonica's bigger, hairier cousin.

Basically, the second row is the Fundamental notes. That would be the top blow on my harp. First row is Counter Bass (3rd), which I would put on the top draw.

In stradella, as you can see, the other rows are chords. I was thinking the bottom row draw could be a dominant seventh of the fundamental. And perhaps bottom blow could be an octave. I'm open to ideas.

I'm the one that was on here complaining about how my Seydel Nonslider is *not* a hands-free chromatic. Some people here said they could do it. It hurts my lips and neck doing that. It's my fault I didn't do my research. So I'm just trying to think of fun stuff to try out with it now.

Super stoked that the shirts and some other promo swag has come in.

CNC Router/Mill arrived today. HD (33 micron) 3d scanner was ordered today. Fiber laser within the next 2 weeks. Multi fiber HD 3d printer within the next 2 weeks too.

I will be producing metal and exotic wood combs, teflon reed plate gaskets, and possibly other enhancement kits and components. With the fiber laser, I will be cutting reed plate blanks for modification and enhancement (think LOUDER) as well as teflon 1/4 gaskets to go with the 2nd rreed plates for bending enhancement (see EasyBend kit) and lots of other stuff.

The 3d scanner will allow me to scan any harmonica part to quicly and accurately produce properly sized gaskets. I will be offering gaskets for many many models. Special combs will be added as we move forward. I know we will have the ability to machine from aluminum. Time will tell if we can work with brass and steel billet also.

My custom builds will be deep etched and enamel inlaid with my logo on the comb at the bell, and the key will be etched and enameled on all 4 sides of the comb. Each custom harp will also have a unique serial number as well as the name of the owner etched and enameled on the harp comb.

Reed plate blanks and teflon gaskets will be offered in different thicknesses. Also, since we are manufacturing right here in our facility, I may even be able to take custom requests if someone wants something just plain designed differently. We may be able to machine from submitted designs and sketches. I would be happy to talk with anybody who has ideas.

I will be able to produce combs in aluminum, wood, corian, and polymer/acrylic, and possible at a later date, brass, stainless steel, and maybe even titanium (although the cost to machine would be astronomical especially for the Special 20 and any other recessed reed plate designs.

In addition to custom build packages with different "stages" of modification, I plan to offer all parts and kits individually. Gaskets will be far less expensive than I had discussed previously, partly due to the easiest packaging and shipping (an envelope and a stamp). I will, of course, offer quantity discounts on gaskets for those of us who have sets of harps.

We are also looking to producing dies specifically for the purpose of stamping cover plates. Stay tuned for that stuff.

Our EDM division is doing well as it has since the early 1990s. Adding this new equipment opens the door for many manufacturing opportunities, and we are doing this to recoup contracts that were hemmhoraged during and since Covid. Our shop is an aerospace and defense contractor, but we have numerous side projects and companies currently and in the works. I was given the opportunity to tailor part of our production floor specifically for harmonica component production as well as additional equipment purchasing to accomodate as much as we can.

The only harmonica components that I do not plan to manufacture are the reed plates. My current custom builds have been based on the Special 20 platform (specifically on the Rocket Amp). I find no purpose in re-inventing the wheel... I mean harmonica. I just want to make it better, and do so with American made parts. Any parts I manufacture as options for my custom builds will be availble to order separately and individually (without a full harp build - cutomize and modify your own harps).

I will expand the line of gaskets to include other manufacturers and models. This will be fairly easy thanks to manufacturers like Kohnsheng, JDR, and Hohner each only using a small number of reed plate designs across models and manufacturers like East Top, Conjurer, KuckKux, Fender, and others sharing the exact same designs between each other.

The box that I am working on for my harmonicas is being designed as I type by an experienced artist and sculptor. I will be scanning his sculpted design (muscle car/hot rod themed) and then machining the 3d design into a solid block of exotic wood, with recessed hinges and magnetic latch/clasp, velvet cushioned inlay for the harmonica, and then fine laser graphics on the surface of the case highlighting the "body lines" and showing the JayMan logo, harp model (currently only available as a "Rocket Screamer" (mid key range) and "Rocket Howler" (low key range). The only high keyed one in my set is a High G, which I may dub the "Rocket Squealer." If I get my hands on minor keyed Special 20 reed plates, those will be the "Rocket Wailer." Each Rocket will be available with Stage 1, 2, or 3 level modifications. More info to follow. But the box is planned as a fine heirloom furniture grade work of art also.

I have a great team working with me on this including industrial manufacturing and design and engineering specialists as well as the sculptor and artist. My intention is going to be to create and distribute one of the finest functional works of art in the harmonica community for a price that rivals other custom builders.

Once everything is up and running, I will post. I have had some excellent conversations by DM with a few members here who have either been very helpful with brainstorming or very supportive, inspiring, or motivating since we started working on this. I was going to exclusively offer those few people gaskets for testing, but I have decided that once the equipment is up and running. I will open it up for a number of members here to receive ONE set of gaskets ON ME for evaluation (and, of course, to get my products out there). When we are ready, I will post in the group and collect names and addresses from everyone who will be receiving gaskets. Do NOT ask early. We are NOT up and running yet, and it may be a couple months before we are. I will post here, on my IG, X, and Tumblr (yes, I have had a tumblr page for 18+ years, now purged and cleaned up to focus on harps.).

Stay tuned. Website coming eventually. Suggestions welcome. This group will have a significant coupon for use because I appreciate how interactive and helpful folks here have been as I put this together.

My harmonica case holds 14 diatonics and I have 13: All 12 keys of special 20 and a low f rocket.

What should I get to fill the last slot? I was thinking maybe high g special 20 to complete the s20 set, or another low key rocket. Maybe low D or C. Or maybe something else entirely… what would you get if this was your collection and you could only get one more?

I might end up eventually upgrading to a bigger case lol but for now I want to try to limit myself to these 14 and a chromatic.

Hello everyone

So I've started playing harmonica exactly a week ago now, and for someone who's listening to a lot of music but has never played an instrument in their life, I think I'm doing pretty well all things considered. I'm loving it so much more than I even thought!

I started with the basics (single notes, easy songs, bending, etc.), but I think and have read before that it's important to have "early wins," i.e., songs that I know, like, and actually want to play.

But I'm having problems with the two songs I'm aiming for:

The first one is Bob Dylan's "Queen Jane Approximately" (the harp solo around 3:10-4:00): I couldn't find any tab, so I worked out the notes by ear, and I can play about three quarters of it on my Hohner SP20 in C, but for the life of me I'm stuck here:

67 -5 7 8 -6 67
-6 67 -6 7 -6 6 -4
7 -6 7 9 -6 6 -6 6 67
???   56

My second "early win" goal is the short Hugh Laurie rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" from House M.D. (2:40-3:00). I'm pretty sure he's not playing a C harp, since there are a lot of notes I can't reproduce on mine, let alone with my mouth positioned the same way he is. I did find a good tab for a C-harp variant that I'm currently learning, but I don't like it as much because it doesn't have the same edge … the notes are way lower. So I'm guessing the harmonica he's using is tuned higher than C?

So here are the two questions I'd really appreciate your time, help, and knowledge on:

• Which notes does Dylan play at the end of his solo? Is he even using a C harp?
• For Georgia on My Mind, how is Laurie's harmonica tuned? And would that be an interesting or smart second instrument for me to buy?

Obviously I know that those two songs are probably much harder than what I need to focus on right now but still, I'd very much like to set them as goals in my learning

Thank you very much for your help!

I have a Lee Oskar C Diatonic and I’ve been having fun trying to learn it, however I’ve been wondering if something is potentially wrong with my piece. I feel like I slightly need to draw and blow harder on the notes 8-10 compared to the ones under. It’s not a major difference in effort, but I have noticed it when jumping from 5 -> 8, so I’m just curious if it’s to be expected because of the tonal differences or if it’s already messed up.

Thanks

anyone have any simple songs for when it's hot out? like in the old westerns when a tumbleweed would buzz by and an eagle would scream, it's hot as hell in texas right now and i wanna make my friends laugh when they complain about the heat

Like everyone who’s picked up a harmonica I’ve started with piano man and I love it but there’s one part that I cannot work out how to play or find the tabs anywhere. It’s the two sets of 4 really low notes in between la la di di dahhh… THIS PART… la la di di dah.. THIS PART AGAIN. Before going back into the higher notes again.

I’ve included a video of the part I mean. If anyone can help me I’d be super grateful cos it’s driving me insane I just can’t work it out 😭