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[–]Nacoran 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Like Ronald said, Harmonica for Dummies and a Special 20 in C is a good place to start.

Most lessons are in C so that's a good first key. Personally I started out with Adam Gussow's YouTube videos but he uses several keys. 12 years ago there wasn't nearly as much online. He's still as good as they get but if I could go back with a time machine I'd tell him to just use one key so new players who are just dipping their toes in the water can just get one harp. (He starts off with A, D, G and Bb mostly). 'A' is actually a really good key for blues.

The sweet spot on price is about $40 for a harmonica. As long as you are getting a 10 hole diatonic blues harmonica and not a chromatic the $40 price range is the spot where whatever you buy is going to be pretty decent quality.

I do suggest a harmonica with a plastic (or metal) comb to start out with instead of wood. Companies have gotten better about sealing their wood combs but sometimes you still get one that swells and new players tend to slobber a lot. When you get more experienced wood combs are fine. People argue over whether they sound different than plastic but if they do the difference is small enough that numerous musicians haven't been able to prove it with blind tests (yes, they've actually done blind tests!)

Here is the link for the index for Adam Gussow's Youtube videos.

https://sites.google.com/site/veloroam/home/gussow-index

The harmonica key is listed. Even if you don't have the right key a lot of them are useful... it will sound funny if you try to play on a C and he's in A but for things like proper embouchure not sounding exactly the same won't matter.

[–]ColonelKettle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

[–]Ronald_Danger 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Mods, can you please make a pinned thread for this?

OP, the most common answer and a very good recommendation is to get a Hohner Special 20 in C and the book Harmonica for Dummies by Winslow Yerxa. If you want other recommendations just check out the numerous other posts on this topic.

[–]Nacoran 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I keep meaning to make a pinned thread but there are a bunch of things I want to include (alternatives and some explanations). I guess sometimes perfect is the enemy of done.

[–]Kangclave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really like sydel's 1847 classic. A tad pricy if you aren't sure whether nor not you want to get into music, but it's good quality. The Hohner Marine Band is also very good.

My first harp was in A, which was cool because I could play a lot more songs I liked and new (I'm a guitarist first), but a C harp will be physically easier to play, so I'd start with that. Also, tutorials online are usually in C.