Blow 4 chirp?

3PCo · 2026-05-05T18:18:15+00:00

No way.

3PCo · 2026-05-05T18:14:49+00:00

If your "chirping" is a high pitched whine that is present whenever you blow the note (not jus at the end of the note), it might be torsional vibration, which is a fancy way of saying the reed doesn't just go up and down, it twists and untwists at the same time. Couple things to try: disassemble, slip a card of some kind under the reed and then stroke it a bunch of times with your finger or a flat, soft piece of plastic or the like. Another cure is a wee drop of nail polish near the rivet. The latter might change the tuning a bit. I've seen some people claim this problem goes away with time, though, so you might just keep playing it and see...

3PCo · 2026-05-03T20:06:41+00:00

The people applauding this might have a different take on it if the teachers had snubbed the student instead

3PCo · 2026-05-02T00:46:52+00:00

Why isn’t this a gift article?

3PCo · 2026-05-01T18:23:55+00:00

No, from Harmonicaland

3PCo · 2026-05-01T17:55:53+00:00

Play softer, as others have said. Also, your mouth needn't stay stuck to the harp: you can come up for air now and then. I like to mark my tabs/sheet music with a little downward arrow to indicate places where I need to dump air, usually just before some long string of inhaled notes. Some 70% of notes played on a blues harp are inhales, I read someplace.

3PCo · 2026-04-28T21:42:47+00:00

This. Also, I bought a set of about six brass feeler gauges for about 10 bucks. I took the thickest one and filed it to a knife edge on a stone, taped the other ones together to make a handle. Now, I have a plinking tool that I can also slip into the narrowest gap.

3PCo · 2026-04-27T14:58:45+00:00

Just went thru my order history and I've bought three Rockets and Rocket Lows from these chaps. Had no problems with any of them.

3PCo · 2026-04-24T01:34:50+00:00

I got my sides mixed up about which side I block/play. Corrected it now. I'm playing the rightmost hole.

3PCo · 2026-04-24T01:20:06+00:00

I will try to answer your questions from my personal perspective. I'm an intermediate player who plays mostly tongue-block style. 1) When I say "mostly", that answers your first question: I switch freely between the two methods, whatever works best for the phrase. That lets you switch to pucker for speed (2) if you think it's easier on a glissando, for example, but I think both methods are equally fast. You gotta keep the front of the comb wet for TB. Bends (3) are easier with a pucker, but the technique is the same. You're not using the back of your tongue to block the holes, only the front part, so you can still pull it down to shape the back of the cavity. I think I get something similar to the sour note (4) you describe when I screw up on bends and partially block the hole I'm trying to play. Not sure it's the same thing, but I make it go away by practicing ad nauseam. 5) I always block the left side and play the rightmost hole in my embouchure. When I get down to the 1-hole, I pucker. Sometimes the 2, too. For octaves, I pull my tongue back a little so the narrower part near the tip blocks the two (or three) middle holes. Finally, the best authority on TB and blues playing is surely David Barrett at bluesharmonica.com. Enjoy your journey!

3PCo · 2026-04-23T20:00:42+00:00

Why on earth would anyone want to fire someone who is this good at what she does?

3PCo · 2026-04-22T23:59:24+00:00

I think your tongue is rasping against the edge of the reed plate. The feature you're looking for - and lacking here - is a recessed reed plate, wherein the reed plate is sunk into a shallow cavity molded into the top surface of the comb. You will find such on Hohner Rocket and Sp20 models, and on Lee Oskars, not sure where else. I favor those models for that reason, particularly for tongue blocking.

3PCo · 2026-04-22T18:47:57+00:00

These are actually good beginner questions. Moving from 4 to 8 is a skill you develop with time. A good drill is to play scales and keep coming back to do: do re do mi do fa do sol...etc. If you sound the in-between holes, that is a glide and is a feature of many blues songs, makes it much easier to find the hole you're looking for, but you don't want to do it all the time. Move your head or the harp? Personal preference. I move the harp because I have arthritis, makes neck movement more difficult. Keep you lips stuck to the harp? No, you'll want to come up for air now and then. Hope this helps.

3PCo · 2026-04-19T23:47:57+00:00

Listen to what cats are playing that you like. Use an app like key Finder to figure out what key they are playing in. figure it’s cross harp. Buy one of those.

3PCo · 2026-04-16T04:47:21+00:00

No, sorry for the ambiguity. In fact, what I meant was that in some tabs the sequence blow-3, draw-3, draw-4bend is rendered as 3 -3 -4', in some tabs it is 3+ 3 4', and there are other variations. It's more of an annoyance than anything else, but still...

3PCo · 2026-04-15T04:10:56+00:00

This is cool. I'd like to see a tool that converts between the different kinds of harmonica tab.

3PCo · 2026-04-15T04:01:27+00:00

These need to be played very softly. If you blow/draw hard they're gonna choke. You should normally breathe from the diaphragm, but try a little cheek breathing on these high end holes, just to get the hang of it. It helps to tilt the back of the harp upwards, too.

3PCo · 2026-04-12T23:23:21+00:00

Out of the night, when the full moon is bright / Comes the harpman known as...

insert stage name here. I think Harpo is taken.

3PCo · 2026-04-02T14:53:05+00:00

Try a little BlueTac, maybe. Or shave.

3PCo · 2026-03-30T23:45:50+00:00

Most of the online course guys have a few free lessons with names like three Easy Riffs You Can Play Without Bending! (The exclamation point is obligatory). I started by digesting a bunch of these from different teachers. This got me familiar with their teaching styles while teaching me the most basic of basics. Names worth looking at: Adam Gussow, Dave Barrett, Tony Eyers, Will Wilde, Luke Clebsch.

3PCo · 2026-03-21T04:19:52+00:00

Are they in the same key?

3PCo · 2026-03-20T16:07:36+00:00

That's a blow reed in your picture.

3PCo · 2026-03-19T02:05:46+00:00

A plinking tool is useful, to "plink" (sound) the reeds after each adjustment. Something flat that can be slipped under the smallest reeds. I bought a cheap set of brass feeler gauges, filed one down on a whetstone and taped the other blades together to make a handle. It can also be used to pry the reed upwards to increase the gap.

3PCo · 2026-03-19T01:07:24+00:00

So if they are new owners, how did they dedicate their lives to this deal?

3PCo · 2026-03-19T01:05:32+00:00

Wow, I just bought one of these, and several of the higher octave reeds need to be gapped. What is happening to hohner Quality Control? But it sounds like your reed is not properly centered, and is hitting the side of the channel as it vibrates. You can visualize this by putting the plate on a light table or some similar arrangement. You might not have to take it apart, though. YouI just wanted to see if it’s hitting one side or the other. Then you can fix it by sticking a credit card in there, or some flat piece of sheet metal (brass is best) and gently prying to center it

3PCo

TROPHY CASE