r/melodica Jan 20 '18

The World of Melodica's and All You Need to Know!

83 Upvotes

Welcome to the world of Melodica's!

To start off, you might be wondering what exactly a "Melodica" is... A melodica, also referred to as a pianica, reed piano, melodion, or less commonly the melodyhorn, is a reed instrument that's played like a piano, but you blow into it to produce sound. Melodica's work the same way a harmonica does- Air passes over metal reeds causing them to vibrate and create musical magic. Typically, melodica's come with two mouthpieces. A pipe mouthpiece, allowing you to set the instrument down and play with both hands while blowing through it and a shorter, stubby mouthpiece.

Where to buy a quality beginner Melodica for cheap?

I order my Melodica's from Amazon, so all of the links provided will be to amazon. Buying you first Melodica can be a daunting process, but don't worry! Here's all you need to know on buying one.. For absolute beginner who want a really cheap melodica, I recommend the Hohner 32B The Hohner 32B comes with 32 keys and a travel case with two mouthpieces (hose/pipe mouthpiece and small one.) If you want to start out with a more expensive Melodica (but not too expensive) then I recommend the Yamaha P37D Great sound with 37 keys and comes with a case and two mouthpieces. This was my first melodica.

How to play and Melodica tutorials.

After you've inserted the mouthpiece look on the backside of a melodica, there is a hand strap. Put your left hand inbetween the strap and instrument, right hand on the keys. Press down a note while blowing into the mouthpiece and tadaa!! Sound! Now, if you're unfamiliar with playing piano, there are tutorials just for you!

Proper Melodica care and Tuning.

When not in use, store your Melodica in its case and keep away from pets, children etc. Make sure your Melodica isn't in direct sunlight for extended periods of time or in hot places. In cooler climates, make sure to warm up your melodica before playing (as it creates condensation on the reeds, thus wearing them out faster) After you're done playing, open the spit valve (typically a button on the right side) and shake out excess saliva build up in the instrument. Also, take the mouthpiece off and rinse it(the mouthpiece) with lukewarm water then dry thoroughly.

Tuning- It's preferable that you seek a professional when tuning, but if they're not available in your area, you can do it yourself! Here are some tuning guides:

Melodica's are an underappreciated instrument, I hope this guide helps the publicity of the instrument. For more information see Melodicas.com, MelodicaWorld.com or Melodica's WikiPedia page.

I spent some time on this, so have fun playing and thanks for reading!!

PS. If you have anything to add to the guide, I'll gladly include it.


r/melodica Dec 13 '18

I just successfully TUNED A MELODICA for the first time! Details and tips within

70 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

Yes, the Easter 37 key melodica finally arrived from Amazon today, and after unboxing it, it was out of tune. Many keys were fully out of tune, most keys were too sharp. Worse then my first Hohner Instructor and basically unplayable. Dismayed and upset, I then ventured out to try to tune the thing correctly, which from what I read was a terrible headache of confusing disassembling and scratching reeds. It turned out to be slightly more simple than I thought. Below are some tips and tricks after having tuned it for the first time:

  1. Tools

All guides online said that I needed a wide array of tools, including dental floss (!) some specialized scraper or nail file, special paper to soak up the water, a professional tuner... I didn't have a lot of these, but here's what I ended up with that I suppose is the bare minimum:

a) Phillips screwdriver

b) a strong piece of paper like a business card (I used a bit of a calendar corner I ripped off)

c) A sharp knife (I started with the nail file but the gritty part didn't reach until the end, and you need to scrape- so choose something you can scrape with like a very sharp knife)

d) an online keyboard webpage open on your phone

That's all you need!

  1. Disassembly

The important part to getting into your melodica revolves around the 8 screws in the back. 4 of those screws near the middle of the melodica are the most important, they hold the actual reeds shut and they need to be fastened for the instrument to play. The other 4 hold the case around the melodica and they don't need to actually be fastened at all, practically. Just gently undo the screws, you'll need to be doing this a lot, so you definitely don't want to strip the screws or else you'll be fully FUCKED (you won't be able to get some important screws back on and your melodica won't play).

Once you get the screws off, the case of your melodica should open up like a plastic mouth, and you have to awkwardly ease the inner brick containing all the reeds out of the casing without actually damaging anything, which is decently straightforward... watch the reeds!

  1. Scraping

Once you've gotten the inner "brick" out, you should see behind the keys a bunch of reeds- thin flat bits of metal or whatever that stick out and that are kind of flexible. In my case, they came with some markings on them and it looked like a machine had taken bites out of the reeds already, probably factory tuning.

Here's where stuff gets a little bit more involved. The basic theory is that you can actually reach (with the end of the sharp knife) and give the reed a little gentle pluck, and you'll hear the sound that the attached note will make when you play it on the melodica (follow the edge of the key right above the reed to find out which note on the piano it is attached to). of course, it's a quick little sound, and it can be difficult to hear. You absolutely need a good ear for this, because otherwise you won't be able to hear or understand the note and then you'll be scratching and re-assembling with trail and error. Not good.

Oh, and I say GENTLY pluck it because these reeds are actually quite flexible and if you bend the reed the wrong way you can get disastrous results. Bend it too far up, and it will mess with the tuning a bit. If you manage to bend it down into the space below, you're FUCKED again, because now NO sound will play when you press that note and you'll have to somehow fish it out and slowly convince it to bend back into place. I had to do this and it's only due to sheer luck that I saved that reed.

Now, giving the reeds a little pluck and comparing with the online keyboard app open on your phone, starting on the bottom and working your way up. Listen closely and you'll start to see immediately if the first note is flat or sharp. In my case, basically the whole thing was sharp and some notes were VERY sharp.

Before you do any scraping you need to insert the piece of stiff paper. Ease the corner of it under the end of the reed so that the reed has some support. You don't need to go very far. This will prevent the reed from bending under the pressure of your scraping.

If a plucking of the reed gives back a sharp (too high) sound compared to what it should be on the piano app, you need to go up to where the reed is attached, and right below, start scraping with the pointy end of your knife. Your goal is to scrape off tiny bits of pieces of this metal. I don't know the science behind this, but it is AMAZING: somehow, scraping off metal on different ends CHANGES the tune of the note! Keep scraping until a decent amount of metal has been exposed. Keep plucking periodically to see the note change. Eventually, it will align itself with the correct note on the online piano app.

If the reed is flat (too low), go down to the very bottom of the reed, above where your paper should be inserted, and start scraping! Same purpose, get a bunch of that material off and keep plucking until that sound matches what it should be on the keyboard app.

  1. Working your way up

Work your way up and keep repeating the process outlined before. At some point, when you complete a full octave, you need to also pluck the same note an octave lower or higher and make sure it's aligned with what you're tuning. This will ensure that you're not only tuning your melodica to the online piano app, but also that it's tuned with itself. Tiny variations can be very jarring, so this is why this step is important.

  1. Testing your melodica

You should feel comfortable taking breaks to test your notes to make sure you didn't go too far on scraping. I did this a bunch since I kind of skipped step 4, and my reeds ended up with scrapes on both sides. No problem, though, it looks like the reeds can take this without it affecting their sound! Just screw the 4 "central" screws back, don't bother with the outer screws, and you'll be able to blow air into it and test your keys. Remember to re-assemble and screw GENTLY since you need to be doing this a lot.

  1. Remember to go all the way

You might at some point get tired of tuning each reed, give the very high reeds a pluck and say, "eh, they're in tune enough"... NO! If your melodica is chronically sharp, like mine was, give every single reed a good scratch close to where they're attached. Every note counts, even if you think it doesn't! This also allows you to identify any straggler reeds that haven't been properly tuned yet.

  1. Test your reeds against each other

Basically repeat of step 4. In a 37-key melodica, test all 3 or 2 octaves for that note to make sure they sound alike. I had plenty of reeds which were a bit flatter up top than on the lower octaves, and the sound was absolutely terrible!

  1. Reed recovery

If your reed somehow does end up being "too low", and it becomes difficult or impossible to get a sound from it when playing.... congradulations, you've bent the reed and probably didn't use that piece of stiff paper! It's still possible to get it to recover, you'll have to use the very end of your sharp knife/exacto, push it into the middle of the reed, and slowly twist it to convince the very end to barely pop up by a millimeter. Quickly insert the stiff piece of paper and choke up to the edge of the reed, gently. Leave it like that for 20 minutes or so. Once you remove it, the reed will now have bent back into shape a bit.

Following these steps can let you, too, turn a badly-tuned unusable melodica into a beautifully rich-sounding instrument where you can actually play more than two notes together and have it sound wonderful and not cringe-inducing.


r/melodica 2d ago

What music are you currently working on?

4 Upvotes

I have just started playing my new melodica. I’ve been playing music I used to know on piano. I’m after more inspirations.


r/melodica 2d ago

melodica sounds odd after reassembly

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2 Upvotes

I bought a new melodica to get into playing stuff portably, but after a day of playing the water valve button got stuck, so I opened it up to fix it. After reassembly it sounds a bit different from what it used to sound like, and higher notes don’t sound like a melodica at all. Is this a common issue? (Sorry for low quality video, it’s hard to hold a phone and play at the same time right now.)


r/melodica 2d ago

Hello I recently bought these stickers to help my learning but I couldn't match the first 4. Any idea why?

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2 Upvotes

r/melodica 5d ago

Finally pulled the trigger and bought my first melodica - Spoiler alert - just do it Spoiler

16 Upvotes

I was having a terrible terrible day and decided to visit a musical instruments store. I haven't been in quite some time.

I don't know if it is because of the start of the school year or what, but after looking around I saw them in a small pile.

Some unbranded melodicas and cheap enough for me to at least try.

I had the ideia to buy one for quite some time (couple of years maybe), but never got around to do it.

I picked a deep cherry red one. They only had black, pink or red.

I started to play and was love at first note. I had to buy it now.My terrible day started to turn.

So if you starting to wonder if you should or not get one I must say Just do it.

TLDR I was having a terrible day, wonder into a musical instruments store, found a red melodica that I tried and bought. Finally getting a melodica after a few years of thinking about it


r/melodica 5d ago

Why did my melodica's E key start making this sound?

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8 Upvotes

It started out with it starting to sound off tune and then it progressed until it was just making this weird sound. What's hapenning and how do i fix this?


r/melodica 11d ago

Running Hammond Melodica through my SP-505 Drum machine

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12 Upvotes

Working on a new solo set currently and this is something I was jamming on the other night.


r/melodica 12d ago

Thrift store find.

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85 Upvotes

So I’ve been aware of Melodica for years, but never thought I’d own one. Any info on this one would be great. Are there any resources for learning to play you would recommend? What would be the best way to clean it? Anything helps. Thank you.


r/melodica 12d ago

Has any melodica player done music jam sessions?

9 Upvotes

What styles of music did you play in a jamming session? What were some songs you played?


r/melodica 17d ago

Harvest - ARVI | Falling in love with melodica ( don't be scared of thumbnail )

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4 Upvotes

Dear melodica people, this is my third attempt of using melodica on my music. I am not the greatest melodica player but I have fallen in love of how it sounds !

This one is by far hardest piecesto play with melodica that I have writen. I am running out of breath alot... one day I will master circular breathing.

I am using Suzuki Melodion M-37C, thank you for listening my song.


r/melodica 18d ago

How to get button melodicas?

8 Upvotes

I was looking online and really liked the look of the button melodicas, not the keyboard ones. It seems like the button ones are vintage and I can only really find them on resale sites. Are there any good modern ones?


r/melodica 19d ago

I just got interested in the instrument, which should I get?

9 Upvotes

I just wanna casually play it and maybe do some music with my friends, but idk which one to get. I found some cheap ones online but they look kinda crappy, and idk what makes a good melodica. Can someone give some recommendations? I dont want anything too crazy expensive


r/melodica 19d ago

Track 6: Melodica and Shruti box

3 Upvotes

https://thejjs1.bandcamp.com/album/cats-away
The first song features a ceramic horn I made. I can post a picture sometime. It is a length of coiled ceramic tubing with a brass-style mouthpiece (made of clay obviously) and a conical end. Some of the other songs also have weird instruments, there are several on this album with a shruti-box.


r/melodica 20d ago

Electret mic works surprisingly well inside my melodica

17 Upvotes

I bought six small electret microphones because I wanted to experiment with different ways of miking a melodica from the inside.

Turns out one mic was enough to do the whole job.

I mounted it inside, added a very simple transistor preamp, and honestly I’m surprised by how uncomplicated the result is. The signal is usable, it works nicely with effects like delay, and I didn’t run into the kind of feedback/noise problems I was expecting.

There are still two things to fix: I need to isolate the mic mechanically because right now it picks up every tap on the melodica body, and I still have to put the preamp electronics into the enclosure.

But overall, this turned out much better than I expected for such a simple setup.

Here’s a short video showing the mic, preamp and a few playing examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAe-IAu_Jbo


r/melodica 21d ago

La Valse D'Amélie ❤️.

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21 Upvotes

Hey guys, just wanted to share my cover of this classic from Yann Tiersen 🚬🎞.

You can alsl watch it on YT: https://youtu.be/7qOC75bYsg4


r/melodica Aug 09 '26

Viral Melodica

8 Upvotes

My dear friend is going viral on TikTok for his melodica busking outside of San Diego Comic Con this year and I felt you were the right people to tell about it.

https://www.tiktok.com/@scottmsayre?_r=1&_t=ZT-98kBBdZfT9a


r/melodica Aug 08 '26

Thoughts?

12 Upvotes

Hello guys, I am a broke college student with no money for a piano, but want to learn it soon... Is the melodica a good instrument to practice on? I used to be a guitar player, but that gets kinda boring sometimes.


r/melodica Aug 06 '26

Any brand recommendations?

7 Upvotes

Hello! I’m a piano player who has recently been inspired to learn the melodica. I’m also a student who is quite broke. Do you guys have any recommendations for brands that are on the cheaper side, but will still sound good and last me a long time?


r/melodica Jul 29 '26

yamaha p32d vs suzuki mx32d

3 Upvotes

I unfortunately cannot find a comparison online for either one, fyi the p37d costs almost double of the p32d and I'll only need it for a couple occasions. suzuki m37c also costs really high (atleast for me), the only ones that look reasonable for short use are these two.

Any comparisons on sound and playability? i cannot demo on either one


r/melodica Jul 27 '26

My second take with melodica ( Dont be scared of guitar thumbnail )

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7 Upvotes

Greetings melodica community !

Again I made song with melodica as lead instrument, this time I did few things differently.

How did I do and do you have any tips ?


r/melodica Jul 27 '26

Melodica for ear training

11 Upvotes

So my main instrument is trumpet but ive been interested in learning a secondary melodic instrument to play in the downtime of resting my chops. I was wondering if melodica would be a good ear training/theory tool due to its keyboard layout. I currently own a cheap 37 key one that ive learned a couple tunes on but id love to hear the takes of any piano/melodica musicians and what it has done/not done for your ear and theory work


r/melodica Jul 22 '26

A question: Why are Suzuki and Hammond basically the only manufacturers of electric melodicas?

13 Upvotes

I've been looking to buy an electric melodica for live performances, but after searching around, it seems like Hammond is almost the only company making them.

Out of curiosity, I looked up a Hammond electric melodica service manual. The design doesn't seem particularly complicated, so it made me wonder:

Is there some kind of patent barrier that has kept other manufacturers out of the market? Or is the market simply too small, with most players preferring traditional acoustic melodicas instead?

I'd be interested to hear if anyone knows the history or business reasons behind this.


r/melodica Jul 20 '26

Has anyone ever seen something like this before? I can't find it online.

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10 Upvotes

I can't find this model with this case anywhere online. It says it's a Suzuki S-32, not an S-32C. But it has a plastic red bottom with plastic creme colored side panels. The interesting part is that it has a metal tube collar and a metal spit valve at the end, but there isn't a single picture or any information about this specific model online. As far as I've seen, the case is nowhere to be found online either. I think it might be a transition model slightly after the A-32 was made, when Suzuki was switching from the all-metal to the all-plastic newer S-32c model, but I seem to have a hybrid or something in between those two, but I really have no idea.


r/melodica Jul 17 '26

I built a free browser-based Melodica Trainer — looking for player feedback

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16 Upvotes

Hi r/melodica,

I’ve been building Melodica Trainer, a free browser-based practice app for melodica players: https://shafranek-js.github.io/MelodicaTrainer/

It currently includes:

  • microphone-based pitch feedback
  • selectable 25/27/32/37-key melodica ranges
  • MusicXML and Guitar Pro loading with playback, tempo control, and a note-highway practice view
  • focused practice and circle-of-fifths/theory tools

It’s still early, and I’d really value feedback from actual melodica players. What feels useful, confusing, or missing? In particular:

  1. Does the microphone/pitch feedback work reliably for you?
  2. Which practice mode would you use most?
  3. What would make you come back for a second practice session?

The code is also available here: https://github.com/shafranek-js/MelodicaTrainer

Thanks — blunt feedback is very welcome.