Harley
I have just gotten my first harmonica. Its a Hohner Pro Harp. Its in the key of G.
I don't know if its normal but I am really struggling with the 3rd, 4th and 10th hole. Its like it blocks up when I try to suck and blow on it. It doesn't always happen, but most of the time it does. Also the sound is't always as "clean" as I imagine it should be on these specific holes.
I don't know if its just me, but I can't imagine why it could be my playing cause it only happens on these 3 holes ☹
Is this normal because its new, or is there something wrong with it. Just want to know if I should take it back (was R400) or if I should just carry on playing it.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
DonovanB
I'd take it back. they should all work easily as far as I know.
AlanRatcliffe
Donovan Banks wrote:
I'd take it back. they should all work easily as far as I know.
+1. They aren't complicated and you should expect each note to play as easily as the next.
Ray
I play a bit of harmonica but not much. Last night I started typing some stuff here but then didnt submit it becasue I realized I'm not sure either (like the title of your thread says hey) so why say anything. But some thoughts here is why did you buy a G harmonica? That's really deep and low hey. Maybe think of getting a C. Most of the instructional material you going to get on the web is going to be for C. But the lekker thing is the pattern is the same for all the keys anyway so that isnt a big problem. Then again, if you're going to play some bottleneck and want to play harmonica over that then chances are you'll play your guitar in open G tuning and the C harmonica when you play cross harp is going to be in G which may be the key that you'll play most of your guitar in. Well, that's how it's worked out for me anyway. But you know what? I only have two harps and my other one is in G like yours because I only got it becasue I wrote one song that is in D. and that is the cross harp key for a G harp. But it really is a deep and low harmonica hey which makes me wonder are you giving the thing a solid draw or blow?
Last comment is I think that you've made a pretty solid investment in a beginner harp here. If and when you take it back why dont you see if you can get Big River harps (what I got and maybe two to fit into the price you paid for yours). No, I've got another comment. There is an oke called Fritz that plays more harp than me and maybe he will know something but I havent seen him here for awhile so send him a PM and he might hop on and know something about your problem.
DonovanB
Ray, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but some harp players like to play in 5ths to the actual key of the song. it adds colour.
rikus
Hey Harley,
From your description it sounds like the reeds on those holes are gapped incorrectly. Unfortunately a common problem with harmonicas (the other problem being misaligned reeds that buzz when you play them). The 10th hole is almost certainly a gapping problem, the gaps are almost always set to high on 8, 9 and 10 (I'll explain gaps below).
With this being your first harmonica I have to ask though how hard you're playing. I ask this because a G harp is very unforgiving and will choke up easily and not sound when played to loudly, but this is something that would manifest across the whole of the lower register of the harp. Ideally you should basically just breath through the harmonica and not specifically blow and suck air any harder that you would while breathing. If you're easily able to get good clean single notes from holes 1 and 2, specifically the 2 draw it's probably not your playing.
If it's not your breathing and unless you feel comfortable with opening up your harmonica and tweaking it a bit the easiest would be to return in. Most shops should have a little test bellows machine which can test blow and draw notes. Try giving each hole a run across the bellows playing softly and loudly, you should be able to spot a dud reed that way.
If you're not scared of a little diy read on: For each note of the harmonica you have a little reed that sits in a slot in which it swings up and down, so that's two per hole, one for blow and one for draw. When the reed is at rest it sits slightly higher than the reed plate on which it is mounted. When harmonica players talk about adjusting the harmonica's gaps, it's the gap between the reed and the reed plate their talking about.
The gap is super important because it's one of the major things determining how airtight the harmonica is. You want your harmonica to be as air tight as possible, because a leaky harmonica sounds terribly wheezy and makes bending very difficult. Both reeds play a role when you play a note even though only one is moving, if you play a blow note and that hole's draw reed's gap is to big the note will sound wheezy, because too much air is escaping through the draw reed's gap.
Now the way you want to set the gap of a reed is that it's as close as possible to being closed (i.e. airtight), but still sounds easily and doesn't choke up. Gapping can be very tricky though. If you gap the reed too much it's not going to be very airtight, but most importantly it will be very difficult to play, the bigger that gap that harder you will need to blow to get the reed to sound. If you gap the reed to close it will be very airtight, but it will choke up if you even play slightly to hard. A good measure for gapping is that the gap should be equal to the thickness of the reed's tip, which means that the gaps will stagger from being bigger on the low notes to smaller on the high notes.
There lots of stuff on youtube about harmonica maintenance that you can have a look at if you're going to diy it.
I hope that helps answer your question.
R.
PeteM
@Rikus - thanx - I've got a few mouth harps floating around the place that need attention and your info is much appreciated - Thanked. Time to make a few tweeks.
Harley
Thanks for all the info guys.
@Rikus, I am able to easily get clean single notes from holes 1 and 2. Thinking I should maybe take it back.
I've only had the harmonica for a week, so I wasn't sure if it was just my playing. I got the G cause they didn't have much variety, was looking for a C, but the store did't have any. Also they didn't have much variety in models, so I figured the more expensive one should be better than the cheapy ones they had.
Will take it back to the store and see what they say.
Thanks
