And how should I do it? I heard that bending notes on a 24-hole harmonica is more difficult than on a 10-hole one. I own a 24-hole harmonica in C at the moment, but I’ll go for a 10-holes or 12-holes the next time. And how should I choose which key to buy? Thanks. Well, I have your answer right here. 24 holes is a double reed harmonica. Every pitch has two reeds either slightly apart or in octaves. The problem bending one of those is that it’s two reeds for each pitch which effectively doubles the amount of pressure needed to make the bend – very, very difficult task and incredibly hard to bend them both the same amount at the same time which is the only way to keep them in tune. But, if you can play on the isolated single reed (either top or bottom) then it’s as easy to bend as any other harmonica. The other issue is that we don’t mostly use that sort of harmonica for blues playing and the whole bending of pitches is a blues technique. The tremolo and octave harps are for tune playing and especially folk tunes. What to buy in a 10-hole. Hohner Marine Band, Special 20, or Blues Harp; Lee Oskar major diatonic; Suzuki bluesmaster or folkmaster; etc. . Any of these should run you between $30-50 depending on where you get it. If you have to buy cheap then the Hohner Big River will save you any money. If you have to go really cheap then the Hohner Blues Band can be had under $10 and sometimes under $5. But, these lower level harps won’t last as long and won’t respond as well as will the better instruments. What key depends on whether you have a specific need for a specific key (such as a teacher told you to buy one, your lesson tutorial book/video is for a specific key. Or you play with someone who only knows one key) – C is most common to start with because most tutorials are written for C harp. Very many lower-level harps only come in C. A is a good choice because it responds easily as is G. The higher pitched harps (E F F# HG) tend to get on any people’s nerves and they can be a little more difficult to bend on. Ultimately, if you play seriously, you’ll need harps in each key and different type of harp for different tasks. Starting out, you won’t go wrong with a Special 20 in C to see what you like and don’t and to get started well. Then you can pick other models/keys based on what you do or don’t like about the Special 20 in C.
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