Nickie, Good for you!! Its awesome that you are 70 and still gettin’ after it! Age is just a number and you are as young as you feel! I have only been playing the harmonica for a short time, however Luke and this course really helped me. Good Luck and enjoy your journey!
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Can’t go wrong with @Luke Luke’s recommendation, I open Harmonica.com web page and go to the forum at the top of the page, see how that works Jay1
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Just had a quick look at your youtube, you seem to be a group having a lot of fun and I have no doubt a harmonica will also fit in with the music you’re playing, enjoy the journey Jay1
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Do tell me how you’re finding it. I’m so excited. I’ve never gone further than a certain point with uke playing bc I have stubborn fingers which don’t bend like most people’s. Always bn told I’m a bit “mouthy” so hoping harmonica will be my thing! How are you getting on?
Nickie
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Ah. Ok. Thanks Jay. Will try that.
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Im doing wonderful! I too have been having so much fun playing the Harmonica, Luke has taught me some great songs also, Check out some of the Rolling Stones songs or some of the songs Luke teaches with chords, like Lean on Me and Piano Man! Have Fun!
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@nmw2454 welcome to the forum Nickie! So glad you’ve joined us. Excited for you! You don’t have to go to your emails to find the forum, just log into https://forum.harmonica.com. You can use the little magnifying glass to type in searches for any topic you wanna know about, and join the conversations! Or start a new one if there’s none present. Rock on! 
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Fraid I’m hopeless with technology. Can’t find my way around the forum at all. Boo hoo.
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I am in the same boat. I couldn’t figure out how to create a new post so I decided to just reply to yours!
I have been noodling lightly on Harp for years but mostly just to play simple parts on cover songs in various bands I’ve been in, primarily on guitar or bass. Ive wanted to take it more seriously for a while and finally decided to do something about it.
I have a slight advantage in that I’m already a multi instrumentalist so I get the theoretical aspects of music. I have found that Harp is a horse of a different color and it seems to me that good technique covers the lions share of it and I have some bad habits to over come. Like over blowing, especially in a louder environment. I seem to be purpetually plagued by dead notes which is probably also related to bad technique.
Speaking of technique, I was just watching a yt video of a guy named Buddy Green wailing away on the William Tell Overture and other classical pieces. Unbelievable!!!
Anyway, I bought a bunch of Lee Oskar harps, a green bullet mic, and now I’m shopping for a cleaning and maintenence kit (have no real idea how to properly care for these things) and an amp. Sized right for practice and recording. I wouldn’t mind some verb or delay but primarily I’d like to be able to get that fat Chicago blues tone.
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Hi @Ash
Welcome to the forum! Take some time to use the forum’s Search function and you will find excellent advice on basically all of the issues that you mention (cleaning, dead notes, technique, amp selection, microphones and more). There is a treasure of information already and waiting for you to discover it in this forum’s collection of posts.
Regards,
– Slim
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Lee Oskars are a bit bright for the dirty Chicago sound. I’d take a look a Hohner or Seydel if I were you or if your on a budget East Tops are really good for the price
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Thanks Slim, thanks Andy, I didnt know that about Lee Oskar. I bought them because I read online they were good, and what did I know?! And unfortunate I bought a bunch of them but I’ll try a Sydel, or Hohner, or East Tops, so I can decide if I want to buy a collection of those.
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You can play blues on them, but if you want that darker gritty sound Hohner or Seydel are your best bet, I do use Lee Oskars for Ska/ reggae, Soul, Jazz, their also great for folk, country and bluegrass ( I really like them for bluegrass in particular) so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Over 30 years of playing I’ve dipped my toes into all of these styles but I always come back to the blues. I started playing East Tops as back ups to my Special 20’s I find I do like them especially when I gap them to how I like them. I particularly like Lucky 13’s as they are power benders, they bend on every note and you have bass notes on them ideal for playing Sonny Boy Williamson II type blues, I had to do some work on them though. Removing horrible buzzing windsavers and making a couple of little gaskets to stop the centre stanchion rattling against the cover plates, then again gapping to how I like. But I do love those harps because they Bend on every draw note it makes them very versatile and if you can overblow they are almost Chromatic, I can do overblows but I don’t use them often as I’m more of a straight ahead blues player. Oh by the way if you are looking for a mic, I can wholeheartedly recommend a Silverfish it’s a fantastic little mic and you have clean or dirty options it looks beautiful as it’s made from wood and metal it fits in the hand perfectly and it sounds amazing.
Thanks, I’ll look at the Silverfish.
I was looking at some harp kits and ran across Fender Blues harps. They “look” cool. Any thoughts on them?
Edit* I see Fender has the Deluxe and Deville harps. The Devilles are more expensive. I will probably try some of the East Tops as they are reasonably priced and I’ve already spent a little too much on this hobby for the time being.
Thanks for the great advice!
Edit* saw the reviews by Luke. I may get one or two of the Fender Blues Deluxes as they carry them at GC. Just to check them out.
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I’ve never tried Fender harps tbh,
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Fender harmonicas are all made by East Top.
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That doesn’t surprise me, I’ve got a suspicion that Sonny Boy Harmonicas are too
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Hello From Topeka KS! Ive been wanting to learn the Harmonica for a long time. Ive dabbled with other instruments but never really kept up with them as I was young and typical kid just dabbling. I was gifted a harmonica when I was about 10 (Im 43 now) but back then the access to the internet, and private lessons just wasnt there. I lost that harmonica and pray some day it turns up, but recently figured it was time! I hit youtube and watched some videos and read some reddits. I ended up ordering a special 20 and a used Golden melody old model just because I wasnt sure which to go with. Finally, I found some of Lukes Videos on youtube and liked his demeaner and kindness. I watched a bunch of his videos and learned about the Beginner to Boss program. After a day or two of thinking about it, I decided to take the plunge and here I am today. My Special 20 is supposed to be here tomorrow and im praying it is, I cant wait to begin! Not sure if buying the used Golden melody was a good thing or not, I have to look into how to’s on cleaning and sterilizing it, but I think that is going to be more of something I work up to as I believe its better for more single hole play which is probably waaaay beyond me right now. Anyways, just wanted to say hello! Cant wait to begin!
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Nickie – Welcome to the forum! If you can handle an uke, harmonica will be a piece of cake. And since I’m 75, I know you have years ahead to play and practice. I recorded my first CD at 72, so no telling where your harmonica will take you. A few lessons so you’re comfortable, the band playing in G or C and you’ll be fine with a C harmonica. Learn a little and knock ‘em dead. I envy your ability to play the uke well enough to be in a band.
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Hello from Central Texas! I grew up in rural Louisiana, but moved to New Orleans in my 20s and lived there for 42 years. I moved to Texas about 15 years ago (a Katrina refugee). You don’t have to be good with math to see that I’m older than most everyone else on the forum. I started playing harmonica as a child. I had an uncle who was the best on the harmonica in our rural area and learned from him to love the instrument. Unlike my uncle, my interest has never been in the blues style. I’ve always liked folk music, hymns, ballads, and such. I devoted years to the chromatic, but eventually came back to the 10 hole “diatonic” when I learned it could be played chromatically. I’ve been especially interested for years in the melody maker tuning developed by Lee Oskar. I hope to meet others on the forum interested in that tuning. I think it’s the best one for those of us interested in using the simple 10 hole, 20 reed harmonica as a chromatic instrument.
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