Dive in with any questions or thoughts you have - it’s friendly forum and a lot of the posters are learning so there’s a good chance there’s other folks on the forum having the same thought.
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Hi Luke, I’m Dave from the Chicago area. I bought my first harmonica almost 40 yrs. ago (Golden Melody, still have it) and took private lessons for about 8months. Learned single notes, bends, blues scale and some songs. Then got busy with career, family, kids, etc. I’m now 68, getting ready to retire and have a renewed passion for the harmonica. I can’t get enough of it. I’m excited about your course and can’t wait to go through it!
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Hello Luke,
My name is Jason. My friends call me Saint. It has been my nickname since my mother gave it to me when I was a baby. Anywho. I am 48 and picked up my first harmonica about 18 months ago. I play a key of C Hohner Rocket. I really enjoy playing. I also play the guitar. I am ok at the guitar, but I love my harp. For some reason playing has been seemingly natural for me. I am always looking for advise on how to improve my technique and have found this site to be amazing for that part of my journey. Right now I am looking to improve my breathing while playing. I look forward to improving my skills and any advise I may receive from yourself and others in the forum would be appreciated. To everyone. I am happy to be here and may love of the harmonica and music keep a smile on your face and help you speak when words just aren’t enough. … SAINT
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Hi im john from uk. I was first given a harmonica when i was 14 by my grandad. Then at 25 i started to learn diatonic, then tremelo and a bit of chromatic. Im able to play gospel, sea shanties and play my own jazz and celtic jigs. I dont play rock or pop.
Ive done plenty of busking since 2012 and also play piano accordion.
Lately ive been working on tongue blocking on diatonic.
Im not a traditional player, so im not able to play 600 tunes. I do though have an interesting repertoire and enjoy very much playing harmonica. Any adice would be much appreciated as i dont read music. Many thanks and god bless
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hello, i’m Ryan from the uk. i have always loved the sound of harmonica but never got round to learning. so here i am bought the beginner to boss course and hoping to be able to jam. really enjoying the course but struggling with the single notes.
thanks for producing a great course.
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Hey @feelybob - welcome to the forum! Sorry for the delayed response. Yes you’ve made a post here that’s great. You can also use the magnifying glass search field to see what threads exist on topics of your choice.
@davegallico - SO awesome man. I love this. Please keep me posted with your experience on harmonica, I’m very interested to hear how you like the course. Welcome to the forum my brother. Rock on! 
@saintcl - welcome to the forum. Awesome stuff man. Yeah the harmonica is a very SPECIAL instrument and I’m glad you’ve connected with it. Breathing is everything man. Deep diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation of it all!
@Johnduffy2023 welcome to the forum. Great to have you here. Your perspective will very much be appreciated. Look forward to hearing more from ya!
@raz27 - awesome Ryan. So happy to hear that you’re jamming thru the course. Don’t worry it’s normal to struggle with single notes. Go back and go thru that first lesson several more times! Rock on!
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Hello, I am Alexander from Scotland I have just been told I have Parkinson used to play harmonica as a teenager and I am now 79 years old I hope I will get some benefit from relearning. I have just purchased an Honer 10-hole golden melody biggest problem is remembering the tunes I used to . Play Regards Sandy (Alexander)
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Hello @sandy.deans, Alexander.
Welcome to our forum!
I hope you remember the old melodies. Luckily, you can now find many old melodies on the Internet. Maybe it helps you?
I’m sorry about your Parkinson’s diagnosis. We have some good celebrities here in Germany who have been living with this disease for many years.
Everyone has had good experiences with 
table tennis and the illness has not worsened.
Maybe there is an opportunity for you to play table tennis too? You don’t have to be a professional to do this.
All the best with greetings from Germany from Astrid 
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Hey Luke, So far I’m loving the course!! It’s helping me with everything I need to work on… breathing, tempo, rhythm, phrasing articulation…I am so glad I signed up for this. You’re an AWESOME teacher my friend! God Bless you and keep up the great work… You’re the best!!
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Hi Luke, I’m Allen:
I’m very impressed with your Boss course and how you keep up with the forum. I see some real dedication here.
I picked up a Hohner Roadhouse Blues set in C,G,A,D, & E and am getting a good start with your course. I am hoping that you can help me learn how to choose which Harp to pick up and which position to improvise along with if I want to sit in on a jam. Will that be a later part of this course? I plan eventually to get a few more harps in some minor keys as well.
FYI, I am a cruising sailor on a 40 foot sailboat getting ready to head down to the Caribbean for the winter season. I love all genres of music, especially country and am hoping to learn some sea shanties.
-Allen
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So is it me, or can my new C harp be out of tune?
I’m jamming with you in lessons 2-17 Mannish Boy, and I swear I get a different tone out of draw -12. Mebbe it is my ear, so can I DM a recording to you?
Can these things be tuned?
-Allen
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Welcome Doug!
I played Seydels with the stainless steel reeds for a few years. They are a workhorse, and they do last well. But the stainless steel reeds and Richter tuning get a “different” tone. My guitar player always noticed and was not a fan.
I’d suggest trying Suzuki Manji’s. I started playing them over ten years ago because my friend Andy Just was an endorser (Bends Harmonicas from Brazil had just gone out of business and that’s what I’d been playing).
Andy puts A LOT OF AIR through the reeds when he plays. He plays loud! So here are Andy and Thiago Cerveira (former Bends marketing exec) putting Manji’s to the test!
~. https://youtu.be/4TGW72LPwls?
And here’s just Andy powering through:
~. https://youtu.be/jeO_56LwLGM?
Just an option. Options get expensive these days. Hope you find what you need.
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Allen,
A new harp can be out of tune. All it takes is one reed. Or, the tuning - Richter tuning, country tuning, just intonation, equal temperament, etc., may not sound right to your ear. It may just be a matter of one note. Unfortunately, there’s no testing for personal sound or playability preferences. You have to buy it to try it. But I have bought at least two improperly tuned harps.
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Hey all, I’m new to the forum and a fair blues harmonica player for a number of years. Here’s my extended harmonica story.
I actually tried to learn harmonica in 1965 when I started playing guitar, but for the life of me, couldn’t figure out the instructions to blow with the corner of my mouth, and pursing my lips just didn’t work.
Over the next 17 years I kept trying from time to time, until I was working as a propman on a TV pilot at Paramount starring Al Molinaro (from Happy Days) and Lyle Waggoner (from the Carol Burnett Show). A couple days into rehearsal, the producers announced that they have to do a major rewrite of the script for a couple of hours, so we all hung out.
Al brought out an ukulele, the casting director, an ex-dancer, did a soft shoe, and sitting in the audience bleachers, Lyle took out a harmonica and killed it.
When they stopped, I made a beeline to Lyle and told him my problem trying to learn. He said he’ll show me the same way his harmonica teacher showed him. He took my hand and put the fleshy side in his mouth like he was playing a harmonica. Wow, that was it, I got it in an instant.
I took out my harmonica and he taught me On Top of Old Smokey in just a minute. I worked on it for days after, until the next show I was assigned, another pilot that had a young guy in it. During a break, I was sitting in a corner playing my harmonica when he came over, took out a harmonica and started playing blues. How do you make that sound. I asked. He said it’s about cupping your tongue up and down to bend the notes. I tried it and very quickly made it happen.
When I was young, I started snapping my tongue to make a loud noise by cupping it to the roof of mouth, sucking in to snap it away. I got very good at it, and because of that, my tongue muscle was very strong, which lent itself to playing blues. Ever since then, I’ve improved my blues playing.
In mid 2013 I took up the ukulele, joined a group of about 30 members, and gave up guitar completely. A year later I also took up the bass uke. Another member also took up the bass uke. It’s now my primary instrument, with tenor uke and harmonica following. He and I would trade off bass playing from one session to the next, so when he plays bass, I play uke.
As the leader would bring in new songs, some would be blues oriented, so I started playing blues harmonica instead of uke for those songs. I know I can do a better job, probably overdoing it at times, but I’m happy to be able to include harmonica now.
I play Lee Oskar diatonic, have 7 basic keys, plus I have a Koch chromatic, but I never took the time to learn it. I’m also going to post in the Gear forum the new mic I got to be able to play wireless.
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Welcome to the forum!
Take some time to look around the various topics. Before asking for help be sure to use the Search function to see if your question/issue has already been asked and solved or is perhaps still in discussion. 
You will be amazed at the questions concening harp playing, tuning, customizing or almost anything else, that have already been asked and solved in this forum! 
It is a real treasure chest of information.
Regards,
– Slim
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Hi @argold57
I´m a beginner (started a little over 2 months) as well and the first thing that comes to my mind is that you maybe bend some notes unconsciously.
It happened to me and I started to realize it when I´ve finished the bending lessons.
Using (T)ah/(D)ah to open your mouth, throat (!) and tongue (flat/low) helps to hear if the reeds are really out of tune.
I hope that helps
many greets
PAScal
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@sandy.deans - welcome to the forum. Good stuff. Glad to have you here.
God bless YOU @davegallico. Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it! Rock on!
@argold57 Check this out: Harmonica Keys for Beginners – The Easy Way to Understand Keys
Is there a specific sea shanty you’d really like to learn?
Regarding your -12 - most likely, this is a technique issue. Don’t you worry, this is normal problem that most beginners experience! 
These are the tips for a getting good -2:
1.) Let gravity lower your jaw so that it’s totally relaxed and in a nice “aw” or “uh” vowel shape, your teeth should be far apart from each other
2.) Keep the back of your tongue down, like it is when you yawn. Make sure it’s not in the “Kk” zone (how your tongue is when you say a “Kk” consonant.)
3.) Nice steady, GENTLE, airflow. Most beginners (and many intermediate and advanced players) use WAY to much pressure.
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Hi Luke,
Monte Smithson here trying to learn the harmonica. I’m 77 years old and retired. My baby brother picked up the harmonica at 10 years old and starting playing songs almost instantly. He can do the same thing with almost any instrument. I have played the violin, guitar, and the mandolin but not well. My hands hurt most of the time, so now at this late stage I am hoping I can learn to play an instrument well.
So far the harmonica is looking like I may be able to play it. The breathing is a challenge but I believe it can be achieved.
Anyway I’m having fun.
Monte
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Hi Monte @montels2
Welcome to the forum! Take some time and look at the various posts in order to see just how varied this forum is.
If you have a question or issue, first use the “Search” button to see if that question/issue might already have been answered. This place is full of information for harp players.
Regards,
– Slim
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Hello fellow harpers!
My name is Robin from Hamburg Germany.
I own a Hohner MB 1896 for over a decade and tried to learn from a book for a few weeks, but never gain anything.
We moved now to another now and I find the harmonica again and tried to give it a try. What can I say, I catches fire and now I want to learn it.
Today I got my first few lessons with Luke and for me it’s perfect so far.
Thanks for that Luke and harmonica.com for all the further and free informations I find here.
Greetings and stay tuned.
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