Harping Again

[thehappypm]

I can kick myself. I remember as a kid, yes 50s, getting a Marine Band harp as a Christmas gift from a friend of the family, nobody thought anything of it, it was only a buck or two. Oh how I wish I'd take better care of it and not treated it like a "toy"

 

[Rllink]

I have two harmonicas. Sorry, my sister-in-law plays the harp, the one with strings. That is what comes into my head. Anyway, they belonged to my dad and I somehow ended up with them. I can play Oh Susanna, Streets of Laredo and Red River Valley on them. That's about it. They are like my grandpa's fiddle, I have them but never get around to taking the time to learn to really play them. Maybe the next generation will.

 

[Down Up Dick]

Today, my left hand index finger tip was sore so I decided to skip the fretting and play my harps instead. I had a good time playing folk tunes and some made-up minor keyed stuff. I had a good time.

 

[Down Up Dick]

I haven’t played any of my mouth harps in a long time. When one has a lotta different instruments, it’s difficult to keep up with ‘em, and if one doesn’t play them alot, he/she may have trouble progressing. If had been studying and playing only the same kinda Instruments since May of 2014, mebbe I’d be a heck of lot better than I am Now.

I guess what I’m sayin’ is that maybe buying all the instruments some of us are buying may not be that good an idea.

 

[rustydusty]

Our band is getting ready to cut their 6th CD and I realized that a couple of my harps might need some fresh replacements. One is a “high F” blues harp (my Special 20 that is probably 30 years old) and I will need a newer “chromatic slide harp”. I ordered an Easttop F harp and an Easttop chromatic harmonica in C. I’ve had good luck with this brand so hopefully they will do the job… everything else is in good shape,

 

[Down Up Dick]

We all just go on and on don’t we? I often wonder when I’ll be too old to play ‘em all.

 

[Tin Ear]

Bought a Special 20 awhile back, but haven't cracked it open yet or played. On my list of stuff to do !

Tryed to start Harmonica well over 40 years ago. Forgot about it, lost it. Special 20 waiting for me. One of these days....

 

[KohanMike]

My group played a real gig a couple of weeks ago, I played uke, and also harmonica on a couple of songs. I watched a video of me playing it, I thought I sounded terrible, too much, over done, just bad. I have a lot of work to improve.

 

[Down Up Dick]

My group played a real gig a couple of weeks ago, I played uke, and also harmonica on a couple of songs. I watched a video of me playing it, I thought I sounded terrible, too much, over done, just bad. I have a lot of work to improve.

Ha! Don’t we all.

 

[Yukio]

Bought a Special 20 awhile back, but haven't cracked it open yet or played. On my list of stuff to do !

Tryed to start Harmonica well over 40 years ago. Forgot about it, lost it. Special 20 waiting for me. One of these days....

Here is some good inspiration that may move you to crack open that Special 20! Juzzie Smith recently did this video tutorial....

 

[rustydusty]

Spent about four hours yesterday in “Secret Sounds Studio”, recording all the harmonica parts. Some songs I did three different recordings with different types of harmonicas, such as “blues harp”, “chromatic harmonica”, and “tremolo harmonicas”, giving the producer and our band leader choices for the final mix…

 

[Down Up Dick]

Wow, that’s sensational! Sounds like a big job.

 

[ElvishParsley]

I've had the harp collection out lately, after getting into a couple of long conversations about harmonicas with my Dad over Skype. Been working on harmonica parts for a few baritone uke songs I wrote last year, and also getting to grips with negected or troublesome instruments. There's a Suzuki C tremolo that needs a LOT of warming up - I rarely use it in public because of that. And 2 different kinds of chromatic I've never got the hang of. One is a Hohner Chrometta that sticks like the Devil's frying pan. The other is a pair of stacked octave harps - no sticking, but a mite cumbersome.

I can kick myself. I remember as a kid, yes 50s, getting a Marine Band harp as a Christmas gift from a friend of the family, nobody thought anything of it, it was only a buck or two. Oh how I wish I'd take better care of it and not treated it like a "toy"

My second ever harmonica was a pretty nice Hohner diatonic of some kind. I liked it so much I kept taking it to school, where of course it got nicked. No-one ever touched my filthy old Song Bird.

 

[Down Up Dick]

Well, I’m playin’ my harps again in conjunction with my string playing by ear. I’ve given up trying to play with written music (except for my mandolins and Irish banjo).
I’m usin’ the harps to correct my tune memory and, then, maybe with a harp rack.

I’ve been brushin’ up on my DGBE strings and working on their chords too. String music is gittin’ harder and harder for me, but it’s either struggle or quit . . .

 

[Down Up Dick]

I bought a Hohner (German) 364/24 harp in C, years ago, and found that it was tuned differently from any other harp that I owned. I messed wid it for a bit, couldn’t figger it out, and put it away for another time.

Well, that time is now, years later. I’ve got it out, looked it up in one of my harp books, studied it ’til I could figger it out (The book wasn’t really much help.), and now I can play it. True, I need some practice, but I’m gonna play some blues along wid my Uke blues and slide.

It’s tuned similarly to a chromatic, but doesn’t have a button. It’ll play a C scale for two octaves, but one has to bend an F#! It’ll also play two octaves of 2nd position, but one has to find the way to blow and draw through it that’s not too difficult. I plan on using 2nd position mostly.

It was a favorite of some of the old time blues harp players.

 

[ElvishParsley]

I bought a Hohner (German) 364/24 harp in C, years ago, and found that it was tuned differently from any other harp that I owned. I messed wid it for a bit, couldn’t figger it out, and put it away for another time.

Well, that time is now, years later. I’ve got it out, looked it up in one of my harp books, studied it ’til I could figger it out (The book wasn’t really much help.), and now I can play it. True, I need some practice, but I’m gonna play some blues along wid my Uke blues and slide.

It’s tuned similarly to a chromatic, but doesn’t have a button. It’ll play a C scale for two octaves, but one has to bend an F#! It’ll also play two octaves of 2nd position, but one has to find the way to blow and draw through it that’s not too difficult. I plan on using 2nd position mostly.

It was a favorite of some of the old time blues harp players.

I've heard of that tuning, but never encountered it! Heard it described as "country" tuning, mainly used in 2nd position as you say.

 

[Down Up Dick]

Yeah, it also plays in D 2 Octaves, and I mostly sing in C or D. It won’t bend the high F# though. I’ll hafta look into it.

 

[rustydusty]

I would love to see a picture of this harmonica…

 

[Down Up Dick]

It’s a Hohner Marine Band 364/24, and it looks like a regular Marine Band only it’s got 12 holes instead of 10. It’s tuned differently though, but it’s fun to play. New, it costs $75 bucks. Mine was much, much cheaper a long time ago.

 

[rustydusty]

I have a Seydel” soloist pro” 12 hole harmonica that may have the same tuning. It’s definitely different than my regular blues harmonicas. I find the tuning kind of tricky to use, but I guess I could get used to it …