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Best Harmonica for beginner


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Looking to learn Harmonica for a goregrind death metal band, but not sure which one is tuned for my needs...Is there a drop A or at least a drop D tuned harmonica? Alternatively are there any minor tuned ones? I need the presence of the dark lord coming out of it.

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Give this a listen.

[YOUTUBE]BeUA9MWE18A[/YOUTUBE]

Remember with most harps(except for Lee Oskar Minor, Harmonic Minor and Melody Maker) you have to figure the cross harp key. That is to say if you want to play in the key of E (popular for Metal) you'll need an A harp. Just count up a 5th to get the Cross Harp Key. So for A you'd have A,B,C,D and your Cross Harp, E.

You can get harps in Low tunings like Low F, Low D, ect but it's not the same as a guitar in Dropped D, the entire key structure is tuned lower. Hope this has been a little help.:thu:

 

P.S.

Hohner Special 20's are pretty good harps as are the Lee Oskar Major Diatonics but it looks like the lowest you can get in the Spl.20 is Low D.

http://folk-instruments.musiciansfriend.com/product/Hohner-560-Special-20-Harmonica-Low-Tuning?sku=584355

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Thx for the advice :thu:

 

But I also have a few songs the use 8-strings(low F, Drop E, etc) would this harmonica you linked to work for that?

 

and are their any cheaper ones? $32 seems kinda step for a harmonica, would they have what I need at a wal-mart or similar outlet store?

 

It needs to be studio quality too, 44hz, etc

 

Thanks!

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I've been playing for about 3 Months and I've given a few of the $20 buck and under Chinese harps a try and trust me, they're pretty much junk. You can get a Big River from Rockin' Ron's Music 4 Less for $22.50 but that's about as low as you can go to get anything playable and with any kind of quality. Lee Oskars are around $28-$30, you can find Special 20's for $29(give Ron a call) or get something like a Bushman Delta Frost for around $28-$30 if you shop around.

Tuning on your guitar doesn't matter, what key will you be playing in, that will determine what key harp you'll use. If you'll be playing songs in A then you'll need a D harp, if you'll be playing songs in E then an A harp is what you'd play Cross Harp to play "in key" with the song.

Do a google search on Harp Keys and I'm sure you'll find a ton of info. :thu:

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Special 20, Lee Oskar, HarpMaster or Delta Frost will all be "Pro" quality although most actual Pro Harp players have their harps customized to some extent. I'm sure that any of those would work out well for you. Just need to figure out what key you'll be playing in and get the right key harp for the song.

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Thx for the advice
:thu:

But I also have a few songs the use 8-strings(low F, Drop E, etc) would this harmonica you linked to work for that?


and are their any cheaper ones? $32 seems kinda step for a harmonica, would they have what I need at a wal-mart or similar outlet store?


It needs to be studio quality too, 44hz, etc


Thanks!

 

My concern would be that if you are looking for studio quality, yet only willing to pay a low price, you run the risk of procuring brittle-sounding instruments.

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Do they have these in 96khz or 192khz sound quality?

 

 

Like I said, it doesn't really matter about sample rate. A Harmonica is an acoustic instrument and as such you can record it at any sample rate that you want. There's no "sample rate rating" for harmonicas.

Also, I don't think Am would be a good key to get unless the music you'll be playing to is in Em. I'd go for a standard A Major Diatonic, that'll let you play along Cross Harp in the key of E.

Give these links a look:

http://www.jt30.com/jt30page/pup/pup4.html

http://www.patmissin.com/index1.html

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Lowest-tuned diatonic you can get is the Seydel Low Low F. That's F, like just above the E on a guitar. But these low harps get low by adding silver solder to the reeds. Won't be able to do any thrashing riffs on that one til you get to about the 3/4 holes

 

For melodies in alternative tunings - I imagine the harmonic minor would be great for metal (it's in straight harp so you can get the same key as the guitar). If you guys play any uncommon chord voicings (m6, etc) you might want to check out the Melody Makers

 

For chugga chugga stuff - A natural minor tuned diatonic will give you 7th chords (power chords) that have a flatted 3rd for a minor sound. It still doesn't have the pure ROCK sound that a regular old two-string 7th chord/dyad does though. Some chord harps have just those regular 7th chords in them, but most are really maj7 chords

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As for recording your harp, the sample rate it gets recorded at will be tied to the sample rate of your interface (if you're recording straight to computer) and you can mic up an amped harmonica just like any guitar or bass amp. Just ensure to isolate properly so you don't unleash any hellish feedback

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Alright I think I am going to look for an A minor to start with..Do they have these in 96khz or 192khz sound quality?

 

 

If you're going to change harps to go with the key changes in the song, make sure that the harps were made from the same batch. Although most people won't notice it, you run the risk of introducing phase cancellation effects, if the harps were manufactured out of phase. I think the only way to be sure is to test them side by side on an o-scope. You will either see the sine wave in or out of phase and it will be quite obvious. Just my two cents.

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As for recording your harp, the sample rate it gets recorded at will be tied to the sample rate of your interface (if you're recording straight to computer) and you can mic up an amped harmonica just like any guitar or bass amp. Just ensure to isolate properly so you don't unleash any hellish feedback

 

are you sure about that? I think when I first started playing guitar someone told me it was rated at 22hz and it did sound pretty cheap, I bought a newer guitar last summer and I think it's like 96hz right out of the box, no computer needed and sounds way better than my old guitar. unless I am missing something :confused:

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If you're going to change harps to go with the key changes in the song, make sure that the harps were made from the same batch. Although most people won't notice it, you run the risk of introducing phase cancellation effects, if the harps were manufactured out of phase. I think the only way to be sure is to test them side by side on an o-scope. You will either see the sine wave in or out of phase and it will be quite obvious. Just my two cents.

 

 

thanks for the heads up! If I end up getting 2 harmonicas i'll have to find someone good with electronics with an o-scope to test them. That might start getting expensive though, so i'll probably stick with one for now.

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are you sure about that? I think when I first started playing guitar someone told me it was rated at 22hz and it did sound pretty cheap, I bought a newer guitar last summer and I think it's like 96hz right out of the box, no computer needed and sounds way better than my old guitar. unless I am missing something
:confused:

 

Acoustic instruments aren't sampled. Your Hz rating is unimportant on any acoustic instrument as they don't have a sample rate. If you want "pro quality," spend the money on a good set of harmonicas, a good microphone, and a good interface for use with your computer. And practice a ton.

 

It sounds to me like you missed something when you bought your first guitar.

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Frequency response is completely different from sampling rates. A good pickup will respond from the low register of your guitar, about 100 Hz, up to at least 15 KHz and for a really good one 18-20 KHz is the minimum I'd accept. Going higher than 20 KHz is superfluous because very few people can hear in that register and in 10 years, most of them won't be able to.

 

An acoustic instrument will respond differently in upper and lower registers but this is due to acoustic properties, not electrical properties, response ranges or sampling rates.

 

And it still stands: If you want pro quality, get a good set of harmonicas (enough to cover at least a few common keys) and a good mic and practice until you reach professional level.

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1. Sampling rates are only for digital recording. (Do they make guitars now with digital outputs? They might, it's become so common to record to the computer. I can even imagine an electric guitar with a USB output).

 

2. For the harmonica, it's an acoustic instrument; just worry about having a good mike to record it. If you wanted to record directly to the computer using a USB mike, then you would see bits and sampling frequencies in the specs for the microphone. At whatever step you are converting from analog to digital is where you will see those numbers. If you record to a digital multitrack recorder (like a Fostex or Tascam) you will see bits and sample rates there in the specs for the multitrack. That's the only place those numbers matter.

 

4. Most typically, you might use an analog mike and plug into a mixer or multitrack recorder, rather than go direct to computer. If you really want a good dedicated harmonica mike for this, the industry standard for what you want to do would probably be the Shure "green bullet" I think the model is 520DX, which runs about $120. Any good dynamic mike should do though. For a good metal sound, the best way would be to plug this right into your guitar amp, and then mike the amp (say with a Shure 57 - use whatever you would use to record other instruments).

 

5. If you want to play in a minor key over a drop A or drop D tuning, the best choice might be a model in E natural minor; the draw notes there at the low end would be BEGBDF#. The draw notes especially matter as you can get a more wailing sound on the draw (the notes bend down a bit). The blow notes would be ACE; actually an A minor chord. Your drop A tuning is AEADF#B, whereas drop D would be DADGBE.

 

6. You could also play over either of those tunings in G major. It might not hurt to try a G major harmonica (draw notes of ADF#ACE, blow notes GBD). But, consider what key and chords you want to play on the rest of your instruments. A lower priced model you might try for your purposes would be the Hohner Blues Bender in G; its pretty loud, brassy, and bends pretty well, but I wouldn't recommend anything cheaper than that and that model won't be available in minor keys. Models to consider in E natural minor would be Lee Oskar, Hohner Special 20, and Hohner Marine Band.

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Probably easier for a beginner to learn on a good one than a cheap one. Regarding cost, do you drink? smoke ? How long would it take you to drink/smoke $32 ?

 

I'd image the presence of the dark lord would be achieved by the amp as much as the instrument.

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