(Part 3) Best products from r/harmonica

All else considered: a high-end harmonica set... like seven different Crossovers... or five different Seydel Session Steels... will cost you far less than an equivalent professional clarinet, professional violin, professional piano, professional guitar, or professional Trumpet.

Basically, you're gonna have to leave professional-grade and get a "student trumpet" if you want to compare costs to a set of high-end Session Steel harmonicas.

Special 20 is highly recommended around these forums. I haven't tried that one yet, as I've only really tried the Marine Band 1896. Frankly, the Marine Band is almost perfect for me, I just need screw-based construction to make it perfect (I open it up to tweak those reeds relatively often. I know this harmonica won't hold in the long run with the nails). Marine Band Deluxe might work out, but with only two harmonicas, its hard for me to form a solid opinion still.

IMO, ~$40 Lee Oskars and ~$40 Special 20 is the definition of "midrange" for me. High-end Diatonic Harmonicas are ~$60+. One day I'll try each of them, but it'd be a while. I'm not sure if I'm able to jam with a band yet with my skill level anyway.

Hmmm. Maybe one of these pipe humming harmonicas from Suzuki would be good. One end of it can be used to get the wah wah (which they incorrectly call "vibrato") effect. I have one and it's pretty cool. So you don't have to do any double hand "fluttering" with it.

I recommend this album. It will give you a taste of blues spanning some prime decades, from tinny old recordings to rocking newer tracks. All the greats are in here and some greats you didn't even know were great.

Also, spend some time on YouTUbe looking up lessons by Adam Gussow and Ronnie Shellist. Well worth your time.

A is optimal because it is not too deep or too high, and it's cross position (blues position) is E, which is very natural for the guitar to play blues from.

Edit: this book is good stuff and it is in the key of A https://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Portnoys-Blues-Harmonica-Masterclass/dp/B00005KJ36

Edit: also check out this site http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/

I do not have experience with these mentioned but if you're looking for a steel reed harp I highly recommend the Suzuki Promaster. I bought one in D on a whim and ended up getting an A after a month or two.

If you ever try both I'd love to hear a comparison! Sucks that you can't try before you buy

Thanks for the link! If I wanted key of G could I get the same brand as well? Like this? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007IE5GP0/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481479275&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=hohner+blues+harmonica+key+of+g&dpPl=1&dpID=51o2L2ghl5L&ref=plSrch

Sonny Boy does the no hands thing in this video.
But I think OP is referring to tiny harmonicas like these. They have one full octave and are surprisingly easy to pucker. They are a real instrument, not just a toy. You can get them on Amazon for about $30 (though there are other brands as well).

I just bought a https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002D00Q4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Getting started myself, dunno if it's any good though. Kinda piggy-backing off your thread to see if I made a smart pick..

This book has quite the collection: Cowboy Songs for Harmonica if you want to learn to play them. I’m sure you could also find them online/YouTube/etc

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0745FG4WV/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

Another interested beginner here- any comments on this particular amazon harmonica? I’ll be big on folk and blues

I have a Shaker Mad Cat that I like pretty well.

In her other videos the sleeve resting at the top appears to be too big to be closed in the case.

I think it's something like this and you can just pick the little squares out to make the harps slide in vertically.

https://www.amazon.com/SRA-Cases-Aluminum-Insert-Inches/dp/B00NPYDF8W/

If you're willing to pay a little bit more ($178) then I'd recommend the Hohner CX-12. Its my favorite chromatic out there at the moment. It's THE most airtight chrom under $500.

But if you want to stay in your price range, You can look at the Chrometta-12 for $108 or the Educator 10 for $56. The educator 10 is so cheap because it doesn't have windsavers. You won't have to warm it up before you play it, but you also will lose quite a bit of airtightness.

You might also have some luck with SWAN harmonicas, although I've never played one so I can't give you too much advice there.

http://www.amazon.com/Play-Harmonica-Instantly-Alfred-Publishing/dp/0936601671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304022971&sr=8-1

I used this book when I was first starting out. Nothing unique about the book, they all pretty much outline the same stuff. Work on hitting one note at a time. Blow first, then draw. pm me if you have any specific questions.

This book has really helped me.

The Natural Blues and Country-Western Harmonica: A Beginners Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/0825699231/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GkFiDbFE8KW3K

Do you think they might get a kick out of something a little out of the ordinary? Hohner makes a tremolo harp in the $20-$30 range. Look up Hohner Echo Celeste.

Also, this octave harmonica looks really cool and affordable. Link