I am a tone-deaf, rhythm-impaired musical dunce. Fortunately, this deficiency has not made its way into my nephew’s genes. He, apparently, is quite the budding musical talent from what I’ve been told. He just started HS and is in the marching band and an outside orchastra, playing the trumpet which he adores.
But you can’t play a trumpet on a camping trip or when you’re balled up in your jail cell for passing a fake ID, waiting for your uncle to bail you out. (I’m such a fatalist when it comes to kids these days.) But you can play a harmonica! So that’s what I want to get the kid for Christmas – a nice, medium- to high-quality, all-purpose harmonica that a student his age can master.
But, what do I get? Where do I get it? How much do I spend? Can I get something decent for around fifty bucks? Please advise.
The traditional starter (diatonic) harmonica is a Hohner Marine Band in the key of C. Though my own preference is for the Hohner “Special 20”. Both are under $20 at Musician’s Friend.
This is a good quality standard 10-hole harmonica (aka a “Blues harp”). This is the type you see guys playing in jailhouse scenes :). I got three of these for my kids last year. The good thing about diatonic harmonicas is that you can’t really make them produce dissonant notes together
Don’t bother getting a larger (e.g. 12-hole) or double-reed harmonica as a starter. They’re generally considered somewhat esoteric.
You may also consider getting him a chromatic harmonica – this type has a “slide” that allows a player to do sharps and flats without using a “bending” technique as is necessary on the diatonic harmonica, often used for jazz (for example, on the Eurythmics song There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)). However this will require using two hands to play, so he won’t be able to do the harmonica-on-the-neck thing while playing a guitar. They also are considerably more expensive as they are basically two diatonic harmonicas (usually 12 holes instead of 10) set a half scale apart, with the slide shifting the air flow between the two plates.
Use the extra money to buy some kind of beginner’s harmonica book and tape. I got a “Harmonica for Dummies” or somesuch type of gift when I was about 16, it was a lot of fun. I didn’t get really deeply into it (like jamming with a band or anything), but I can certainly pick out a tune if I need to.
Hey, I see you’re in NYC. Head on down (or up, or over) to Sam Ash near 48th and Broadway. Big selection of all sorts of instruments and a friendly and knowledgable sales staff. You’ll walk out with the goods in your hand, and you’ll also be supporting one of New York’s great institutions rather than an on-line e-tailer.
I personally prefer harmonicas with combs made of plastic, such as the Hohner Golden Melody (the marine band and blues harp models have wooden combs, and plastic holds up better to cleaning in water than wood does).
The Golden Melody can be found for less than $20 online, which is a little more than the aforementioned wooden models, but still a good deal IMO.
As an alternative, a melodica is only a little bigger, gets all the sharps and flats, is polyphonic, and maybe not much more expensive than a good chromatic harmonica. I’m fuzzy on price because I got mine at a flea market for $10.
Since I did not know what a melodica was, I went to robardin’s link to the *Musician’s Friend * site and did a search.
No offense there 11811, and I don’t doubt that a melodica is a more versitile musical instrument, but that has got to be one of the dorkiest things ever designed to go into a human being’s mouth! I’m trying to elevate my nephew’s coolness score here, not sink it for eternity. I’ll just stick with my harmonica idea. (But like I said, no offense, 11811. I know you were trying to be helpful, and I do appreciate that.)
Thanks for all the great suggestions and advice so far. Please keep it coming.
Reading this thread has rekindled my interest in playing the harmonica (funny how that works…), and I found this site dedicated to harmonica instruction:
In their “Beginners / Which Harmonica?” section they specifically recommend the Hohner Special 20 (which unlike the “standard” Marine Band has a plastic, not wood comb) and the Lee Oskar diatonic harmonica, which I have also heard a lot of good things about but have never seen/tried. In fact they give the Lee Oskar a slight nod over the Special 20. I may have to pick one up to compare, as they’re only $20
Their FAQ section about harmonicas and harmonica playing may also be useful to you.
Robardin’s link to harmonicalessons.com inspired a follow-up question. If I want to get my nephew an instruction tool to go with the instrument, what do you suggest – a book, a video, an instructional computer program (if such a thing exists) or a subscription to a website like the one linked above?
Please be as specific as possible with your picks – like exact titles and sources – as, remember, I am a musical ignoramus.
