Top 5 WORST things about playing the Harmonica!!
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- Опубліковано 11 лют 2025
- Today we take a look at some of the interesting challenges that come with playing this unique instrument we love so much! #bluesharp #bluesharmonica #harmonica #hohner #music #2025 #review #fyp #explore #blues #adamgussow #cover #musician #top #top10 #top5 #worst #best
Hey man, just wanted to thank you for your videos. Just started learning and after some months got distracted and discouraged, but listening to your vids makes me want to pick it back up, and it's in the middle of the night right now. You're grounded and down to earth, so thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
I am absolutely not grounded man. Every single day of my life I think about killing myself. Anyways, thanks for watching, good luck on your journey
Hey, thank you for the great video 👍
I just disagree with the first point- harps are expensive.
Harmonica is a musical instrument so we should compare it to other musical instruments.
Same as you I love MB 1986. It's a professional made in Germany instrument so we should compare it to other professional instruments. A full set of them costs around 700$ (less here in Europe). Compared to guitars it’s slightly less than the cost of the Mexican-made Fender Telecaster. If you want an American-made Fender it would cost you more (same thing with more expense harps, but a high-end Hohner or Seydel set would still cost you much less than a high-end Fender/Gibson)
Of course, many well-made guitars cost less than Fenders or Gibsons, but the same thing with harps. Easttops are great for the price. If some beginners would want a set of all main blues keys (for example G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F) it would cost them approx 180$. Of course, they are Chinese-made, but the same thing with guitars in that price range.
And there are still cheaper options. I have good experiences with Fender Blues Deluxe. Set of 7 of them costs 70$. Of course, you can find bad ones too, but again, the same thing with low-end guitars.
Moreover, until now I compared harps only to the guitars. But guitars are still pretty affordable compared to many other instruments (violin, saxophone, flute, double bass, and many others).
There is of course the aspect that harps will not last you the years. But to be honest, buying a new harp every time we blow out a reed is our laziness. Many brands offer spare reed plates or even reeds. Yup, it's definitely more complicated with MBs 1896, but I am talking about harps in general.
And back to the guitars, there is also a need to change strings. If you play guitar regularly (maybe it's different if you play mostly with slide) your strings become worn out pretty fast. And I don't want to play a gig with the old strings because there is a bigger chance to break a string for example with some more aggressive bend. So if I don't play more gigs in a short time I change the strings before every gig.
The “problem” with harps is, that we don't need to buy a whole new set if we want to try a new model or brand, so we tend to buy new harps much more often. But if you would want to experiment with many different guitars, you would spend a lot of money too.
Of course, John Popper decided it was worth the money to avoid the irritation of repairing the harp when he blows them out. Which is one of the reasons his gimmick is to throw it out into the audience after a performance. Although I recently heard he's started buying cheap instruments to throw out to the audience and not his Special 20s.
@ Yup, I would be also lazy to replace a single reed. But replacing reed plates is an even faster process than restringing the guitar. And they are usually approx. half of the price of a new harmonica.
@@dannydan7139 Thanks, I'll keep that in mind the next time I need to replace one.
Excellent post!
A Marine Band 1896 retails for only $30 in Germany which after watching a documentary about the Hohner factory is astonishing. I was surprised to see the amount of skilled hand labor that goes into making harmonicas.
I don’t know why the price is jacked up to $55 in the United States, but even at $55 a Marine Band doesn’t seem expensive as musical instruments go.
I started playing in the early 80’s. At the store a marine band, golden melody and blues harp were 20-25 dollars.
Good to see you back Frank your absolutely right about learning to play the harmonica I am just learning to play have been playing on and off for about four months now and it seems like I’m just stuck in a rut I didn’t go into this thinking it would be easy but then again I didn’t think it would be this hard either living in Alabama I have always been familiar with hearing the blues played on the harmonica and at the same time I grew up in a time listening to Led Zeppelin and I remember when the song when the Levee breaks came out and hearing Robert Plant playing the harp on that song just blew me away and of course there was Neil Young and of course Bob Dylan and Canned Heat I’ve always been captivated by that blues sound of a harp it just gives me goosebumps but now at the age of 67 and just picking it up I feel like I don’t have a whole lot of time to really learn it or should I say my time is limited to learn how to play I go to all these UA-cam sites and I just get so overwhelmed but I just wanna give up but I’m still trying the best I can to pick up what I can but damn it’s hard but I really enjoy your channel because it’s down to earth and I pick up a little things that inspire me to play but now I’m rambling but anyway hope you are enjoying your new harp ..oh and one more thing I wanted to ask you have you ever listen to the theme song for the movie the midnight cowboy it was played on a chromatic harmonica but damn it’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard on a harp I have seen other people play it on a diatonic harp and I know it’s played in the key of C if you have never heard it and you should go to UA-cam and give it a listen but anyway my friend take it easy and looking forward to your next video😎✌️
That's a nice one.
I know how you feel. I'm 68 and we don't have enough years in our lives left to put in the 10,000 hours to become proficient. But from the beginning my goal has been to become as good as I can before I die. If it's where I am now, well, sobeit, but if I can improve slightly every day then I've succeeded.
Great video as usual. Yeah, it was the pandemic, I was at work alone listening to music, a lot of Blues. One group in particular, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. And Kitty is playing harmonica and it suddenly went through my head, hey I bet I could do that. And not in a snarky way, Kitty's not bad and it's her third or fourth instrument, and I knew I'd never be as good as her, but I knew I could get good enough to come close. Then I ran into Adam Gussow's "Crossroads" and I'm thinking, nope, not in a million years could I do that. But they each inspired me in a different way. So, I bought my first harp have played every day for at least 15 min. since Jan. 15, 2021, watch a lot of the teachers on UA-cam, Adam Gussow being my favorite, and I've achieved a little success. Play with a group of guys every Wednesday, and they're much better musicians than I, so every once in a while we'll have a paying gig. The point being I bet there are a lot of pandemic stories similar to mine.
Great list man, love that lower tuned thunderebird. Was thinking of saving up for a LLF one eventually. My biggest gripes about harmonica playing would be when one rips out facial hair, learning music theory and keys, and the overall cost when really digging into the hobby. Im glad i can just get a cheap easttop and know it will work for me to test out a key then i just get a better harp later when i know i like that sound. This week ive been playing my Marine Band Deluxe in Bb and am really loving how it plays. It probably bends easier than any of my other harps after i got used to it.
You are right in everything. You know, people really don't know harmonica and what it can do... So, it's easy to surprise them
Listen to Howard Levy. He can play full scales by over blow and over draw. He is a classical pianist that can play the diatonic as if it is a chromatic.
Thanks, I am well aware of Howard Levy! He is a talented player
A special 20 is a great harmonica,but I prefer the Ms series 👍
Cheers mate !
Cheers 007
Frank 🎻 😎
Hey Jeffery! Thanks for popping in
Worst thing about harmonica. If you go round someone's house and they have a guitar or keyboards you can have a go with their guitar or keyboards but if they pick up their harmonica and hand it to you that is a big No, also you cannot eat a sandwich when playing harmonica trust me this is a very bad thing to do 😮
I get no respect. Until i play.
Light beer or straight whiskey 😎