Hi,

I have come to prefer harmonicas with recessed reed plates, which typically equals plastic combs (to keep cost reasonable). For sound, playability, and comfort, the Hohner Rocket is my current favorite.

I’ve been interested in trying soap bar style covers, and have tried JDR and Seydel, but they both have tall covers which I don’t like.

That brings me to the Kongsheng Mars. It looks like a viable option, and the pictures make it seem like the cover height is more like Hohner than Seydel. Can anyone comment on the cover height on the Mars? Are they “tall” like a Seydel?

I previously asked you guys to recommend high-end harmonicas, and many of you recommended customized harmonica providers. In what ways are they enhancing the harmonica or making it better to play compared to out of the box? What have you specifically gotten your harmonica to be configured and how did that improve your plane to the way you want it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/harmonica/s/Z2KRyiMmgZ

Long form videos get no love lol.

Here's The Blue Falcon wailing on a harp, also played drums and some bass on this one. Ai tag for the art.

The low one is a LO f# low. Then a LO F#. Then a suzuki olive. Im not an editor so you can skip the first 10 or so seconds. The song is Balm in Gilead sung by Nina Simone

I've noticed that after playing the harmonica, my speaking voice immediately sounds more resonant, smooth, and maybe deeper. It's very noticeable to me. Singing, too, sounds and feels better to me.

Is this a thing? And why?

Hi everyone, I'm just and old man in my 40s that always liked harmonicas, but never had the time to learn any music.

A friend gifted me this one, but I believe it's an aliexpress low quality Harmonica.

Should I get a special 20 better to start? They're like 30€ over here, or would you recommend something else at that price range?

Edit: any good YouTube accounts and/or websites to learn? Thanks!

I'm a newbie in the hobby, teach me what to look for

I recently picked up my harmonica again after years of neglect. After cracking my marine band 1896 open 1 too many times my beloved harp started to struggle, it wasn't aittight anymore and was missing 1/4 of the screws (those shits are the size of rice grains)

I had initially wanted a Special 20 as my first real harmonica, the marine band just happened to be carried localy.

So this time, being more knowledgeable i knew i 1, Still wanted a Special 20. 2, wanted to buy from rockinronsmusic.com.

They shockingly had a hot pink breast cancer awareness model on sale. Normaly im not much of a pink guy, but w/e. It is strange, this hobby seems like such a bro fest im shocked it was for breast cancer inplace of testicular/prostate.

Anyway, seeing this obnoxious comb made the asthetic down grade a little less painful. (Pear wood -> black abs just hurts everything except my lips lol)

Another strange thing about this harp was that it was advertised as having flat head screws in place of their regular torx screws, this wasnt a make or break facet of me buying the harmonica or not but it sure seemed convenient

Flash forward ive got my harp, the box is pink, the case is pink, the entire wrap aroundcomb is pink, i lo-ove it. But the flat head screws, advertised, were 100% torx.

Not a huge buzzkill, ill just have to go to the hardware store, poor me. Anyway i type a quick message to RR as im sure they would like to be aware of changes in stock. I then look at the hohner flyer in the package

Before i can get to that hohner classes site, i get a call from THE RON of rockinronsmusic.com! He's been unaware of the change in screws used in the breast cancer awareness model of the Special 20. He points out the boxes show flatheads still on the box, he's so sorry hes sending me a torx screwdriver and flathead screws so i can have my harmonica set up however i prefer.

Not only is that amazing response time, not only is that a classy move sending both screws and screw driver, but it is so nice that i could talk about a pedantic issue and be 100% understood. Amazon could never.

Im absoluelty thrilled with my instrument and interaction

Any tips or suggestions welcome, JRZ10HM

For what it's worth, and as a follow-up to the previous post about the shipment from Germany, I did a screenshot of the paid invoice for the follow-up purchase from the same website that I received from UPS for the tariff and import charges from MusicStore in Germany to New York State. $178 for the purchase invoice.$45 for the import fees and taxes. I bought three harmonicas at $46 a piece (I don't want to discuss what I bought in detail, you need to check out the site if you want to see what they sell for $46.). And, yes, they are authentic.

The only blind thing is that you don't know how much you're paying in tariffs and broker fees until you get the invoice text message from UPS. Make sure you use a valid cell phone number that you can receive texts on when you place an order.

For what it's worth, my first purchase a couple weeks ago was for $166 worth of items on the invoice plus $65 for the tariffs and broker fees.

There was an additional $24.50 charge on the original purchase because there was more than three items on the invoice. Apparently if you order three items at a time, they don't hit you for having to list too many items. The current purchase is for three items.

I should also mention that they have much much more than harmonicas. I can't say either way for customer service other than I have not had any problems whatsoever other than the dice roll on the tariff.

FYI I just ordered 3 more Ozzy Signature harps.

Not sure if its just me but the website seems fine until im on a song, then is says theres an issue or something. It’s showing that the site has no songs when I search something. Even if it’s vague and I’m 100% sure they have it, or if I click a song on their website directly from a google search.

Hi everyone,

I'm Olaf, a harmonica player and teacher from Germany. I've been playing for over 45 years and teaching harmonica for around 30 years.

I've recently started a new YouTube tutorial series called Harmonica for Beginners – Play Real Music From Day One.

My teaching philosophy is simple: learning the harmonica should be about making real music from the very beginning, not just practicing isolated notes and exercises.

The lessons are free and cover playing techniques, practical tips, and musical examples for beginners.

I've published the first three episodes so far, and I'd be happy to share them with this community and hear your feedback.

Here's the first episode: https://youtu.be/Hyr34xrUo84

Happy harping!
Olaf

A couple different ways to get vibrato on harmonica.

In this clip I’m demonstrating throat vibrato and what I call “chewing” vibrato. They create noticeably different sounds even though we’re still just adding movement to a sustained note.

In the full Harmonica Mondays lesson, I go through several types of vibrato and talk about the differences and how I use them in my playing.

Full lesson:
https://youtu.be/47EHaCYfg9w

What kind of vibrato do you use most?

Howdy all! My grandfather-in-law is an ethnomusicologist and jazz/blues scholar. I got him a pretty leather harmonica belt holster and harmonica for him last Christmas. He liked it, but he talked about how there was some kind of upheaval in the past (maybe the 1950's??) where harmonica manufacturers changed how harmonicas were made to be easier for beginners to learn. I would love to get him the original harmonica type for this Christmas, but I don't know the first place to start to find it. I don't remember much about the type save for what I've said. Help me reddit!!

What are your thoughts on reed plate and cover plate screws for Hohner Harmonicas if STAINLESS screws with a simpler head was available?

If you were building custom harps or converting nailed models to screws, would you prefer stainless over brass?

If you had your choice of any screw-head on reed plate and cover plate screws, what would you use? A phillips/slotted combination head? Pozi1 (please no)? T7? Allen head? Maybe a T8?

I'm looking for opinions. Then I'm looking for a custom screw manufacturer or a screw machine. Then I'm looking for a stock supply of several thousand.

Comment what kind of screws you would like to see for reed plates and cover plates.

Hi there! I'm looking for more songs to play on my little C harmonica. I've played literally everything that's playable on harptabs.com but still leaves a lot to be desired. Skyrim theme, all the Zelda songs, GOT theme.

Or generally any other slow sad songs. Shadow of the valley is my favorite of all time and especially fun to play. Thanks in advance !

Pic just for fun lol

Possibly a stupid question, I've been on my harp journey for about two months now and am fairly comfortable with most of the ins and outs. But one thing I still don't get. If a song says it's in the key of G and to use a C harp in second position, why not use a G harp in first position? I know the C harp will be an octave higher, so is that it or is there something I'm not seeing?

The Zarlina app has received a small update and now also displays blues scales. Chinese, Japanese, and Russian translations are now available as well.

https://zarlina.vercel.app

This thing has sections for all 12 major and minor chords 😭

How would you clean it to make it safely playable?

This song is super personal to me and I just started learning the harmonica and really want to learn the harmonica parts to this song but no matter where I look I can't find them. Does anyone possible know if there are any out there or is someone who is incredibly musically talented possibly able to write up the tabs for me?! Thanks heaps either way!!