Hey there
I learnt basic skills a couple years ago, but put the harmonica away for a long time. Now I want go play a bit to my guitar in my band, no fancy stuff, just basic melodies. Now I bought a brand new Marine Band Deluxe in D and I struggle a lot to get the 7th hole blow (high D) clean. If I block the holes with the fingers, the sounds seems clean, but I owerblow it faster than other notes, also the draw is difficult. I can can do all other notes, especially down holes 2-5 very easily, bit the D in hole seven almost never works. When using the neck rack it is barely impossible. It drives me a little crazy - so I am wondering is it inly my skills or are the hogher notes more difficult? Probably also being in the key of D? Or could it be a factory problem? I am thankful for opinions of the pros! Thank you!
@raketenmann 99.9% this is a technique issue, and not the fault of your Marine Band Deluxe.
Everybody struggles with high notes, ESPECIALLY at the beginning.
-7, -8 are the most frequent ones that REALLY trip people up, but anything above 6 can prove problematic!
Remember to be patient with yourself. This may take some timeā¦
These are the tips for a getting good clean high notes.
1.) Let gravity lower your jaw so that itās totally relaxed and in a nice āawā 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 itās not in the āKkā zone (how your tongue is when you say a āKkā consonant.)
3.) Nice steady, GENTLE, airflow. Most beginners (and many intermediate and advanced players) use WAY to much pressure.
Hope that helps! 
Even Mick Jagger struggles with high notes, youāre in good company. 
Aloha,
Luke
Hey Luke
Thanks so much. Well, this helps a lot! I wasnāt aware of that, in some tutorials it was mentioned that that for example the 2 hole draw seems to be a tough one to master - noone talking about the high notes 
However, one last thing still unclear: when reading about ghe deep relaxed mouth technique, I reed thag the harmonica should be angled downwards. Is this only to find a better lip opening or does it need to be thst way always? Because then I would need to get a better rack. I only habe the classic K&M old schoool rack - i tried to curve it in the vise, now it stands pretty righangled in my mouth, but I donāt think i can get it more angledā¦
If youāre getting single notes by angle in the harmonica, thatās great. But you wonāt need to do that forever. Itās just a crutch until your mouth really figures out exactly what to do, and then youāll be able to dispense with it. When it clean on the rack I think itās always great to work with just the harmonica first and then once you get it solid on the harmonica, then start working with it on the rack
I was discussing this issue with a harp tech and I have tremendous respect for his work and knowledge. He suggested I extend my tongue toward my teeth but not to them when playing the high draws. It does help. Tilt the harp up as well. Its the little things I pick up that seem to make the biggest impact. Tilting the harp up helps keep moisture out of the harp and does make these notes easier. The best way to explain how hard to draw or blow these notes was a comment Luke made. He said blow these notes like you were blowing a candle but not hard enough to put the flame out. I picked a couple of tunes that have several of these notes in them and practicing these tunes has improved the right side of the harp. I feel they will always be a bit tougher but practice build confidence and confidence breeds success. The more I practice the luckier I get.
The high draws are tougher to play with confidence
Quick quesiton on what a clean tone is as for me from 7 up I get at times some screeching rather than the tone. Regardless of how softly I blow or draw, espeically on 9/10, could this be a reed/gap issue or do I need to blow/draw even more gently?
The reed(s) could be rubbing on the side(s) of the reed slot(s). In other words: the reed may no longer be aligned correctly in the slot. This can occur, for example, after dropping the harp onto a hard floor or sidewalk.
@webmetalreese - Everybody struggles with high notes, ESPECIALLY at the beginning. -7, -8 are the most frequent ones that REALLY trip people up, but anything above 6 can prove problematic!
Remember to be patient with yourself. This may take some timeā¦
These are the tips for a getting good clean high notes.
1.) Let gravity lower your jaw so that itās totally relaxed and in a nice āawā 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 itās not in the āKkā zone (how your tongue is when you say a āKkā consonant.)
3.) Nice steady, GENTLE, airflow. Most beginners (and many intermediate and advanced players) use WAY to much pressure.
Hope that helps!
Aloha,
Luke
Hey there
Aroun 9 month have passed since my last post. Well, I am not practicing a lot. But because I am frustrated. I just canāt get around my harmonicas. I have four of them (Marine Band Deluxe in D and A, Hohner Pro Harp in G and a Seydel 1847 in D) and I am having issues with all of them - but not in the same spots. For example the D I have from Seydel and from Hohner: on the Seydel only the 1 draw sounds as if it is not possible to draw enough air through, on the Marine Band the 1 draw works just perfect, but the 3 draw and the 7 blow sounds weird, I am pretty sure my technique is getting better, but some notes just donāt sound. On some reeds I have been able to
make significant better adjustment and I fixed some notes with adjusting the air gap in the reed, but on some draw notes I am just not able to do so and I am completely stuck because I have no idea to if the blow or the draw reed is the problem since the blow read does influence the draw reeds.
So I kept reading the internet and I found so many articles about how hard it is for beginners to perform some notes. But I also found a significant amount of voices that stated that the reed setup from factory isnāt always good. In this case it is so hard to tell for me if I am dealing with reed setup problems or my technique is still completely wrong (although it seems to work on the majority of holes), This is a big issue and I think the only way I could figure that out is to take some lessons with an experienced harp playerā¦. Its a real bummer!
99% itās a technique issue. Iām guessing on the -3 and 7 youāre accidentally bending the notes a little bit. You donāt have a C harmonica???
Hereās the tips to re-consider:
1.) Let gravity lower your jaw so that itās totally relaxed and in a nice āahā 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 itās not in the āKkā zone (how your tongue is when you say a āKkā consonant.)
3.) Nice steady, GENTLE, airflow. Most beginners (and many intermediate and advanced players) use WAY to much pressure.
Hope that helps! 
Aloha,
Luke
Luke Your analogy of playing the high draws as if I was blowing on a candle but not hard enough to put it and make the flame flicker out helped me. Cannot remember if this was a reply on B T B or another response but was helpful.