Hi everyone,

I own five diatonic harps (A, G, C, D, and, as of recent, F (Hohner Pro-Harp)). Unfortunately, I'm completely unable to do the 2-hole draw whole-step bend on the F harp, while it works nicely on the others.

If I bend the half-step and then try to lower my jaw / adjust my tongue position in a similar manner as with the other harps, the bend just breaks off. With some harps, it took some getting used to, but I haven't faced a hard wall like this before, so I'm currently at a loss.

I got the impression that it's very unlikely to be a manufacturing problem, so I'd be very thankful for any tips or tricks, if someone has had similar experiences!

Thanks and all the best!

I saw a harmonica teacher on Youtube give some questionable harmonica buying advice that made me think about sandwich style vs recessed comb harmonicas. This instructor contends that they've never played a recessed comb harp that plays as well as a sandwich style and recommended only buying sandwich style harps.

Setting aside the over-confidence of someone declaring that sandwich style harps are categorically superior, does this person have a point? Are there differences you can hear or feel in responsiveness?

I've always assumed that any perceived difference is from other aspects of the harp's build, but that video made we wonder if the style of comb could affect some aspect other than comfort.

After decades of playing guitar, mostly blues and hard rock, I picked up the harmonica this summer — because my kids asked for one. I bought three cheap plastic harmonicas from Thomann, assuming (wrongly, of course) that I'd have to help them figure it out. Within a week, I'd ended up with three harmonicas of my own — and honestly, three turned out to be perfect: one in the car, one in my jacket, and one in my "man cave."

The harmonica was perfect for me: it fit in my pocket, and whenever I had a few spare minutes I'd pull it out and try some basics I'd watched online. I paired a Superlux D112 with a champ-style amp to get the sound I was after.

After two months, I brought the harp to band rehearsal. We were playing a tune that just didn't sound right — way too much guitar. Swapping a guitar for the harmonica gave the mix a more balanced sound.

Three months in, I played my first gig on harmonica.

How about you? When was your first live performance?

I grew up learning music with the Doremi system so I'm quite confused with the ABC notes.

I bought this chromatic harmonica and I'm really enjoying it but the diagram shows no it's for 12 holes and mine only has 10. Does someone maybe have the same one and know what notes are being played when? What is the easiest way to transpose this graphic in the doremi system so that I can understand better what I'm playing?

My Special 20s leave dents in my left hand, but my Marine Band Deluxes are threatening to break the skin! I’m obviously holding too tight and I’ll work on this with practice, but do people generally file or refinish sharp edges on their harmonicas?

hi i bought a hohner 270 chromatic that i found on sale, i have played guitar for many years so i have some musical background however, i cant for the life of me figure out how to play this song. i found a tab for it but i cant make it sound correct and i dont know if i need to translate it over for my chromatic. any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi everyone, as from title I’m looking to buy my second harmonica (I think either Mars or Blue Bird Kongsheng), but I’m not sure what key I should get that. (My first is C of course).

I read a lot suggest A or G, I was wondering if anyone could give me any suggestion on what could be the nest one if I’m mainly into covering pop music, in order to have the widest range of notes maybe even transposing music into my harmonicas key.

I guess the best would be finding which harmonicas have the least amount of sharing notes? But maybe even if two harmonicas don’t share nearly any notes, they are just one half step to nearly fully transpose so I think it’s more complicated than that.

Thanks everyone in advance for taking the time to reply

After watching some youtube vids on breathing, holding, etc, then what to do? Play nursery rhymes until they come out smoothly? Are there drills?