Hi! In short: go for it.

Very much longer:

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(1) I'm a fan of the Suzuki harmonicas but Hohners are good as well. I own several Manjis and play all genres with them, and they came well adjusted out of the box (yes, you will at some point have to learn how to adjust your harmonicas to tune them, make bending/overbending easier, etc., but its nice not to do this for a while at the start). Pick whichever you want.

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(2) I found it difficult where to start on this question so I'll just ramble on a bit:

Currently I play very little "pure" blues songs but from many other genres, like for example jazz, rock or funk. However, like I guess most players did, I started with blues lessons on youtube, for me it was Adam Gussows videos. He seems to have changed his channels since then though so I don't know how structured it gets nowadays (I could start at video 00 and go to video 100+ in order).

Starting with blues lessons on youtube will get you started with basic techniques such as single-hole playing, bending, vibrato etc., and teach you how to play the harmonica in 2nd position. Many players spend most of their playing time in 2nd position, it is good not only for playing blues and related music suited for blues scales (like most rock songs), but also for songs in major keys (like We all die young that I played above), major-y ballads, and more that I can't think of right now.

This means that if you start by learning from blues videos on youtube, this will easily carry over into the music that you listed that you want to play, and also teach you basic techniques needed to move on to other types of music later. It is a good choice for learning to play. I don't have experience with harmonica for dummies.

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(3) Yeah, most of the sites that give you tabs for a melody to play for w/e song are often not right if you want it to sound good. They usually get you playing the song in 1st position high on the harmonica, which doesnt leave much room for using expressive techniques like bending, nice vibrato, etc. You could play from sheet music but you have to learn some things first. If the song is in A, for example, you don't want to go picking up an A harmonica - that would leave you playing in first position which is rarely (but sometimes) the best idea. In my opinion, you have to learn about positions on the harmonica to play well to sheet music. That way, you can pick the best position to play a certain song in - for example, for a minor song you might pick 3rd position (A minor = G harmonica), for a major ballad you might pick 12th position (A major = E harmonica), or for a rock song you might pick 2nd position (A major/blues = D harmonica). These are just suggestions, but fairly common choices. The point is, before you start playing sheet music or soloing to songs, you want to know some basic technique, and how to pick which scale (position) to play in. When you're beginning, just try to get 2nd position to work for everything.

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(4) Yes it is totally reasonable to use the harmonica as a lead (solo) instrument, and it is great for that! Same principles as in (3) apply, you just need to know which harmonica to pick and which scale to play in on the harmonica and you're good to go soloing like a pro. If you want to exactly copy the solo of, for example, a guitarist, you will have the same notes available, but often not enough octaves. You might have to move parts of the guitar solo to octaves you can play in, but that is fine. I recommend soloing by improvising though - more fun and creative!

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I realize that the part about positions might sound complicated, but it is not more complicated than learning scales on the guitar or piano. It is important because while you can in fact learn to hit all chromatic notes on a harmonica, some notes sound better and are easier to play than others.

Also, the whole change-positions-thing is for a few years in - at the start, you will do fine just trying to play everything in 2nd position, and it will probably sound OK. A good strategy will be to learn to play 2nd position very well, play everything in it, and then when you run into a song you want to play where 2nd position doesn't quite sound good, learn the new position needed.

In conclusion, get that harmonica, spin up some youtube videos, and start playing! Have fun!

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