Just a good beginner Harmonica
Horner is a good brand. If you aren’t planning on playing it with recordings or live bands, any key harmonica will do.
I just bought a harmonica and am starting to learn how to play, how often should i clean it out??
Before playing your Harmonica your mouth must be free of foreign matter.
Once a year is fine.
stupid question? maybe, but i still need and answer. So I’ve been playing the Harmonica regularly for the past 3 months, gotten pretty good, but i wanna hook it up to my guitar amp. The question is, how do you? do i need a specific or new harp, or can i just alter my current ones (hohner big river) to go electric?
Hohner and Shure make mics specially made for the harmonica
small tube Guitar amps work best to plug them into
if you need more volume, mic the little amp into a PA system
I cant find the song when they play at the end of the episodes with the Harmonica only. please send me a link !
Well.
There were 3 OST album of HXH have released. But this track never released on those 3. I really wonder why.
Don’t worry, you can find it in here:
http://208.109.166.228/tv5/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3429&start=0
But there is a little problem here. The speech is still embedded in the track. :p
I am a beginner that just got a C Harmonica.
It is tough for me not to blow in a couple holes a time.
I just need help learning to do one hole at a time properly.
Everyone plays differently. The conventional wisdom is to make a fish face so you have an hour glass shaped opening to blow air through. There is the lip blocking method which is also called the whistle method where you blow and draw like you had a straw in your mouth. There is the tongue blocking method where you give yourself a big fat tin sandwich, and block the channels that you are not using with your tongue. You have to slobber a lot using the tongue block method. Whether you use the whistle or the tongue block method, you should get as close to the reeds as possible. The reeds perform better the deeper into your mouth the harp goes. It sounds like you have a rather loose method and you are catching more than one channel at a time. You should be able to get crisp clean clear single notes. There is no such thing as a two note chord. It’s either one note, or three or more notes at a time.
Enough of that conventional wisdom garbage. The advice above is what you hear from everyone else but me. Granted that you are a beginner, I highly recommend that you take the experts advice for a certain period of time. You should be able to use all the methods at will. But note that the experts themselves tend to gravitate towards one method or the other.
If you blow into two channels at a time, just make sure that you hit the extra channel to the left, not the right, of the intended note.
You are going to have problems with the harmonica itself if you use a loose method. If your harp is in equal temperament it is going to sound awful. It will sound good if it is in Just Intonation. Equal Temperament is best for playing in unison with other instruments that are also in Equal Temperament, that is, if you are playing one note at a time. Chords sound awful in equal temperament, and they sound great in just intonation. The problem with just intonation is that it is difficult, not impossible, to get different instruments to play well in unison. There are many different ways to tune an instrument into just intonation, and only one way to tune to equal temperament. So the "cop out" position of the manufacturers of musical instruments is equal temperament.
Those are the kinds of problems that you are going to be faced with if you don’t tighten up your technique.
You can always tune the harp yourself. It can get expensive with the mistakes you make. But there are replacement reed plates available for some harmonicas. Tuning instructions come in the Lee Oskar box.
Try putting a drop of elmers non-toxic school glue above and below channels 1, 4, 7, and 10. Please don’t replace with some toxic glue if you don’t have the good stuff. This will help you keep track of where you are on the harp. You will also find that putting the same vice grip on the harmonica every time will improve your aim. You should work on your grip if you have any intention of using hand effects, Wah wah wah! See my citations and fish around. You will find instructions on grip.
Let me give you some cites.
I am trying to learn how to play the harmonica. My wife abhores this hobby and I’m just beginning so you can imagine how I sound. I have actually been too self conscious (and to busy really) to practice but I want to jump back into it. My problem now is trying to find a time and place everyday or so to work on this.
It is a very portable musical instrument and requires no setup time at all so I never thought this would be a problem.
I had thought the stairwell at work in our little six story building was OK but aparently a company is on two floors and there is people in there every few mintues.
Where do you practice musical instruments? Where do send your "kids" to practice?
GreenDragon – Yea, those things are the top seller on http://www.coast2coastmusic.com
I guess I know why now. 
Dan – While sitting next to my kids while they bathe, I have gotten 10-15 minutes in before. The acoustics are nice and the wife can’t hear and children are forgiving. Plus I am working on children’s tunes so they like to see if the can "recognize" what I’m playing. I think you earned 1/2 a thumbs up.
jmat: Yes, when I use the phrase "self conscience"…I mean that I suck!
I just started playing the harp about 6 months ago and had the same problem your getting. I had to play when no one else was around, not because I was self-concious, but because I sucked. I would suggest playing in the basement; you can still be heard, but not nearly as much. I also would suggest going to an empty, nearby park.
You get better the more you play, so eventually your wife probably won’t mind you playing as much. The harmonica is a real simple instrument and you should be able to pick up on some simple riffs real quick. Check out youtube for "harmonica lessons" or "Harmonica techniques", some of these guys are really good teachers. Also, check out a website called www.harptabs.com – this site is huge.
Good Luck !!
I play harmonica – Hero brand, made in china.
i give performances – Indian songs, but some songs, tuning i am unable to get it, hence cannot sing.
For a professional, is there any best Harmonica available.
Please suggest.
Thanks in advance
We’re talking about a 10 hole, diatonic, right? Chromatics, tremolos, octaves, and special tunings are more expensive. There are a lot of good models around, but many professionals like designs like the Hohner Special 20, Lee Oskar, and Suzuki. In the US, an S20 or Lee Oskar is around $20 or $25. Some are more expensive, sometimes ridiculous.
Indian music? Try the Yahoo! group Harmonica Hindisongs. They might be more help.
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Harmonica_Hindisongs/join
A neighber gave me a Harmonica it looks like a good one, but wont use till i know it,s germ free. Thank you
I’m not sure, except make sure you don’t get water on the reeds, or else it will warp and then you’ll have to buy a new one which you should do anyway. Perhaps some isopropyl alcohol wiped gently around the metallic areas would do. But do NOT soak it in water.
I got a nice harmonica as a gift, and was wondering how hard it is to learn how to play compared to other instruments??
Not hard at all. It may seem a bit awkward at first but the note pattern comes naturally and you’ll be playing simple familiar tunes by ear in no time. Stuff it in a pocket, play it any time and you’ll picking up new tunes soon too and be looking to move up to larger and more complex models. Like they say about riding a bike, you never forget how to to do it, unlike other musical instruments that you can lose your knack for .I could grab a Harmonica and play as well right now as I ever did. Maybe the reason for that is from the fact that I never layed that well in the first place, lol.
I don’t have any musical background, although I can identify and label notes in sheet music. (i think), so bear with me.
Now how do I map these notes to the notes on a C diatonic Harmonica?
For example, how do you translate a C note on sheet music to the harmonica if 1,4,7,10 blow notes are all ‘C’s? try not to go into technical stuff please.
magic?