My Harmonica Christmas Challenge

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I guess I’m getting convinced to try the Forerunner. At $72 CAD, it would be worth the try. I was originally going to get it to learn on and then get something else if I need it. Then I found I could somewhat play my old Hohner Chromonica Deluxe II, but it is a struggle. Maybe I should go back to my original plan.

I’m not sure which Seydels are valveless. When I search, I get the no slide one which seem difficult to play.

I’ll check out the other links tomorrow. For now I need to get back to working on the tunes so I can get a new instrument.

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Exactly, I’m learning on a forerunner doesn’t mean I won’t try something else when I get better at playing. I’ve been in contact with a guy in this country who fixes Chromatics and he’s very reasonable I may send my old one off to him and see what he can do with it.

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Last night I listened to someone reviewing the Saxony. It sounded so wonderful, so I looked up a video review of the Forerunner. The difference was remarkable. The latter sounded buzzy and raspy, more appropriate for bluesy stuff.

I think a couple of people have ask what I want to play. That would be melodies, harmonies, and accompaniments. I guess similar to what I used to play on my cornet until these tremors forced me to quit.

Thus, I still don’t know if I would be happy with the Forerunner. Certainly I could learn better on it than this old Hohner, and it would be easy to keep clean. I just don’t know if the sound would be satisfying. Then I would still be looking at something else.

More ideas and suggestions pleas.

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Some more thoughts.

Since my current learning process is hampered by having to battle with my old Hohner, if that battle were taken away with the use of a new harp, I wonder if the battle might then become a battle with the tremors I have? What if I simply can’t manage to play decently, or become discouraged. Then I would have shelled out a lot of money for the better harp and not be needing it, or using it. I know this might be a remote possibility. I will be able to, at worse, have fun doing something.

Perhaps I should consider going with the Forerunner and then concocting another challenge to earn the better harp. It could be to play 12 songs along with a backing track (iReal Pro, JJazzLab), or making up an accompaniment to a recording (YouTube). This would be a great challenge to improve my playing. I can think of several other challenge ideas. I actually have lots of songs ready in ideal Pro, so I could get on with that challenge as soon as I complete learning the 12 songs of this challenge and get my new harp.

Maybe this makes more sense.

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@Bob.G Bob, we’re all harmonica players of various styles,types and skills. Those on this forum can and will help you as much as possible to play harmonica but what we can’t do is help you with your own internal struggles or challenges. Only you can decide. @Andy2 raised the point about My experience of the forerunner so far is that the more you improve playing and getting technique down, the better it begins to sound. I’ve done some customising to mine and use Forerunner 1 and 2 as a studio session player and studio clients don’t take prisoners if the sound is not to their liking. Have you looked at Trochillus as suggested by @Andy2? The only person who can help with your uncertainty over what to do is you. It has to be your decision. Jay1

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I looked at the Trochillus. I seems to be a 10 hole blues diatonic with a slide.

I thought of other reasons to get a 64. Not only do you get the extra notes, but you get the extra harmonic overtones for a richer sound. This is what makes string instruments sound different. If you play a C3, the standing wave pattern has hills and valleys, An octave above is C4 which produces exactly double the hills and valleys. The result is when you play the C3, some sympathetic vibrations occur with the C4 reed, along with all other C reeds, to vibrate. Other notes, such as E and G would also have some resonance. This would be the case with all instruments.

When I played my trumpet/cornet, I could play a low C4 with no valves pressed down. By changing my embouchure, I could play the G above, then the C5. As I played higher, I could then play E and G at the top of the treble staff. All without pressing a valve. The length of tubing allowed for certain note waves to fit. Playing higher would allow more notes to be played without any valves being pressed.

Other reasons would be, of course, the materials. I was just looking at the Seydel Volcany. It is all brass—everything is, I think. That one would, not only be very heavy, but have a very different tone from ABS, aluminum, etc., and from other types of reeds (brass, stainless, etc… I think the Forerunner comb is machined brass. That would be different too.

When I get to the point of deciding on my step up from the Forerunner (if I stick to that plan) I’ll have to consider the tradeoffs between getting a 64 hole (maybe the SCX) or an instrument with better overall quality, such as the Sirius which seems to cost so much less on Amazon than at the music store.

Maybe you folks know all this stuff. I find it very interesting. So I’m also finding that the harmonica world can be very complex—a lot to learn about. Another advantage with spending less on something like the Forerunner while I learn to play is I get more time to research what I would like for my upgrade to something nicer. The Journey continues!

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Forerunner comb is a form of ABS not brass
Jay1

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Definitely a form of very solid chroming on the mouthpiece

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A big update.

I have learned 12 songs. They are a bit rough because of this 54 year old Hohner Chromatic Deluxe II. I have taken it apart to work on five times. This is difficult for me due to Essential Tremor. The instrument leaks terribly and many reeds don’t fire properly, or not at all, so notes are not playable. The fight is too great, yet, I have the songs.

So, I just ordered the East Top Forerunner 2 and should have it by Friday. That will give me time to polish the songs as much as possible.

I still have some in my overall list that I can work on (see below) and tons of sheet music to read so I can play other songs. I guess my next challenge(s) will be to:

  • Learn the rest of the songs in my list.
  • Sight read other songs.
  • Do exercises.
  • Play melody to backing tracks for 12 songs (iReal Pro because I already have the songs.).
  • Play accompaniment to performances (YouTube videos).

I’ll think about what the actual challenge might be. The idea would be to determine whether I will be able to get good enough to warrant getting a much better instrument. Perhaps these tremors will just be in the way of progressing very far. On the other hand, having an instrument better than my Hohner, the Forerunner, may allow me to work out how to play such that the tremors don’t interfere as much.

The journey continues!

I don’t know if the pasting of my list here will look very good. I know the tabs won’t work. I list the key and the starting note ( ) as well is the page numbers for the Christmas Real Book and Christmas Songbook by Reader’s Digest. Some songs I am attempting to learn in more than one key.

List: Key Page Note
- A Cradle In Bethlehem Bb Sheet
- Angels From the Realms of Glory C (G) RB 10, RD 168 Can play by memory/ear.
- Angels We Have Heard On High F (A), G (B), C, Bb RB 11, RD 30 Can play by memory/ear.
- Away In A Manger (simple version) F (C) RB 16, Can play by memory/ear.
- Away In A Manger (Alt. version) G (D) RB 15, RD 29 Work on.
- Children, Go Where I Send Thee F RD 210
- The Coventry Carol C RB 41, RD 190
- Do You Hear What I Hear C (C) RB 47 Can play by memory/ear.
- The First Noel D (F#) or C RB 51, RD 22
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentelmen G (E) RB 62, RD 8 Work on.
- Good Christian Men, Rejoice F RB 63, RD 178
- Go Tell It On the Mountain G (B) RB 57, RD 207 Can play by memory/ear.
- Hark, the Herald Angels Sing G (D) RB 84, RD 10 Can play by memory/ear.
- It Came Upon A Midnight Clear C RB 98, RD 18 Work on.
- I Wonder As I Wander C RB 94, RD 208
- Joy To The World D RB 116, RD 20
- Little Drummer Boy F RD 156
- Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming G (D) RD 169 Work on.
- Mary Did You Know C (Am) Sheet
- Mary’s Little Boy Child C (G) RD 216 Can play by memory/ear.
- O Come All Ye Faithful G (G) RB 157, RD 24 Can play by memory/ear.
- O Come, O Come Emmanuel G (E) RB 158, RD 180
- O Holy Night C (E) RB 160, RD 166 Can play by memory/ear.
- O Little Town of Bethlehem F (A) RB 159, RD 12 Can play by memory/ear.
- Once In Royal David’s City G (D) RD 179 Work on.
- Pat-A-Pan C RD 205
- Silent Night Bb (F), C (G) RB 176, RD 7 Can play by memory/ear. Play in C due to missing notes.
- What Child Is This? G RB 207, RD 176
- When A Child Is Born C (G), G (D) Sheet Can play by memory/ear.
- While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night C RB 209, RD 182 Work on

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Well done you won’t regret it admittedly it will take a bit of time to get used to but once you have got the reeds nice and pliable it will be great. I bought the Forerunner 2.0 in A to start with as I thought as a Diatonic player A is one of the Keys I was more familiar with, I quickly discovered my mistake and bought the cheaper Forerunner 1.0 I was able to find a few lessons online for the blues a few backing tracks later and it’s going great. A plus is that the A harmonica in B third position sounds a lot darker I found a few slow blues backing tracks and Wow! Instant drama! It sounds very, very cool.

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@Bob.G @Andy2 Bob, at this stage of your progress you’ll probably get greater benefit from Andy2 than from me because Andy is going through a similar process to your own. I assume the Forerunner you’ve ordered is in C if you look at Chromatic - #8 by Jay1 I detailed all of the Blues; Minor & Pentatonic scales for a C chromatic that might be helpful. Your new Forerunner should be good to go out of the box so enjoy. I’m going to be away on the day job again, don’t know for how long, some cases settle quickly some seem to go on forever. Just keep on playing and enjoy :grin: Jay1

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Here I go! I received my Forerunner 2.0 today and have been practicing for over half an hour. It is certainly a diatonic on steroids—a giant diatonic. It has taken a little getting used to. I guess I have been fighting to play my old Hohner, so having an instrument that works has resulted in a bit of a fight the other direction.

After I had tried it for a few minutes, my wife came home and asked me to play something. So I did. It was the first time I have played harmonica for anyone, so I got a little nervous, I guess, and so the tremors kicked in and made my performance difficult. I am getting the hang of it now and just finished playing a tune from music in Bb.

As I said, this is a giant diatonic and so sounds like it—a bit bluesy. Not the sound I am looking for and will certainly, if I can figure out how to play with Essential Tremor, make a step upward at some point down the road.

I find that it plays a little sharp, but can play in tune sometimes. My Hohner seems to be similar. It must be the nature of reed instruments. Brass horns tend to play flat. It’s all about the combination of tonal colours in an orchestra. Also, some of the upper register notes are a bit weak. Perhaps it just needs to break in. I have heard the spring ringing when playing certain notes with the slide in. The slide clicks a bit sometimes too.

Anyway, I prefer to play in the lower register of a harmonica because the upper is just to high sounding to me, so I think I shall have to definitely look at a 16/64 to get the extra two holes at the bottom end. I have played several tunes that needed a low Bb.

Overall, it is fine for learning and practicing, but not the sound I am looking for. Interestingly, there is a tiny instruction sheet and it has a miniature graph showing the relative quality of all the East Top models. The Forerunner is at the very bottom. Maybe they have a higher quality model that would be suitable. I have been considering either the Suzuki SCX-64 or the S-64C Sirius. I’m still listening to videos trying to figure out what the player is using. At the moment, I really like Stanton Street Duo. I’ve heard some pretty nice sounding harps, however, they are expensive, so I’ll have to consider some tradeoffs.

I’ll practice more later tonight, so shall continue to update in a few days. I’ve got to make sure I clean my mouth before playing.

Does anybody have any tweaks for a Forerunner?

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Bob, if you search this forum for Forerunner you’ll get a lot of info, in one of my posts I wrote ‘I strip mine and smooth the slide with wet&dry, usually starting with P600 then 1000 and finish with 2000. Also gently file each slide hole with triangle file to ensure no burs. The slide part of the comb gets the same treatment, then where the reed plates fit, lastly the mouthpiece where it fits to the comb gets a rub down with ultra fine grinding paste to minimise airloss finishing off with toothpaste and a good wash before I start on the reeds and reedplates.’ You could also search other harmonica sites, there’s a mass of information out there if you look for it. Jay1

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