Frequently asked questions about harmonicas.

1. I want to buy a harmonica but dont know where to start.

At the harmonica company we have tried to make it as easy as possible for you to make those important first decisions about which harmonica to choose to start off with. We reccommend visiting the "your first harmonica" section of the website which can be found at the top of the menu on the left hand side for a good range of starter instruments and good advice about where to start.

2. What is a good blues harmonica to start off with ?

Any harmonica from the diatonic section of our website would be great for blues.

Popular beginner instruments include the Hohner blues harp,Suzuki promaster,Lee oskar major diatonic and the Hohner pro harp.

3. What is a good chromatic harmonica to start off with ?

Any harmonica from our chromatic section of our website would make a good choice but there is a large price range.

Popular beginner chromatics include the Hohner chrometta range including a 10 hole,12 hole and 14 hole instrument. The most popular choice would be the 12 hole.

Other good choices would be the Hohner chromonica 270, this is the worlds biggest selling chromatic harmonica.

4. Some notes are not playing very well on my new harmonica, is my harmonica faulty ?

Possibly but not very likely, the vast proportion of all harmonicas produced are built by hand and tested before shipping.

In the majority of cases, poor sounding holes on an instrument is down to technique.

Practice different styles of embouchure and also use different pressures of drawing(sucking) and blowing, generally on lower and higher notes on the instrument you should use a softer technique than on the middle notes...the key however, is to practice as often as you can as getting a good tone is the key to successfull harmonica playing.

5. How much is my old harmonica worth ?

We are sorry but we do not value old harmonicas.

Feel free to call us any time if you have other questions that have not been answered here, we are always happy to help.