Thanks for your super detailed reply! I’ve seen your posts around before! You seem really knowledgeable, thanks for taking the time to post! I’ll have to check out Bb harps! I’m pretty keen on A. There’s just a certain sound to an A harp that’s very pleasing to my ear. Keep on rockin’ on. That said, I’m sticking with C for now until I get a bit more experience under me, then I’ll explore other keys in a couple months, I think!
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Wore it out in a year? Geez, you must have been playing a ton! Did you do any reed gapping or attempt any repairs or did you just move on to a new harp entirely?
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I played it several hours a day, forgoing tv and scrolling.
My first harp was a Suzuki Manji. Amazing harp, but it actually corroded from playing, and the Japanese company that makes them gave me many troubles trying to get the warranty honored, with my warranty claim going on for 2 years (!) over a $50 harp.
I now play exclusively Lee Oskar and Seydel, with a random Hohner mixed in (I am not fond of their build quality)
Lee Oskar has been great as a company to work with, and their harps are made very well and last forever. My most played harp, a LO in A, I ran hard for 2 years before replacing the red plates, and even then I just replaced them because it felt like they should last that long.
I do gap, and I play with the lightest breath I can and still bend.
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@Alexalban1996 Thanks for the reply, but I’m not actually that smart compared to others who have been playing for decades. For context, I’ve been a harmonica player for seven years (soon to be eight in December) and there are musicians who have a better understanding of the harmonica than I do, but I like to be in my little bubble and do my own thing. I mean if becoming a “bluesy” harmonica player in the Pre-Generative AI internet era has taught me anything, it’s that a lot of the information there is about the diatonic harmonica in other genres of music is very limited and taught by those who are otherwise strictly blues musicians, especially with country music (which is what I usually like to play other than rock and blues). So I try my best to fill in that void as somebody who grew up listening to country myself.
Terry McMillan was the reason why I started learning how to play the harmonica and I loved how he could make the instrument sound like it’s singing the blues. “Ain’t Goin’ Down (til the Sun Comes Up)” by Garth Brooks is an amazing example of Terry’s playing as you can feel every bit of emotion he put into those solos. Even when I was deep into my trad blues phase, I wanted to learn how to play like him. That lonesome sound Terry had was something I sought after as a harmonica player for years because I wanted my own playing style to represent my musical roots as well as my emotions.
My philosophy is that the harmonica is a very personal musical instrument. How I view it is different from how a hardcore blues player views it. In my case, I want my harmonica playing to be a reflection of myself. I have a lot of intense emotions that can be transferred over to the instrument. The raw intensity of these emotions can encompass themselves in my style like how I tend to play softer and focus more on longer notes, throat vibrato and hand-wah when I want to make the harmonica sound sad or how I tend to play louder and use growls more often when the harmonica’s angry.
I still have traces of Terry’s style in my own playing. Many of the blues licks that I still use to this day came from him and I can play his solos with very little trouble. I recently did a cover of Terry’s version of “Amazing Grace” and so many people were commenting on how much I sounded like him. I never thought for as long as I’ve been playing that I could get the big, bluesy harmonica sound I always wanted coming out of my own harps but I guess I managed to finally do it.
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Most instruments are ‘played’. The harmonica is ‘breathed’ & it’s hard to get more personal that that? 
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I bought a chromatic a year or so back to play ONE song (Ashokan Farewell), because it requires an overblow for ONE note in the entire song! 
(I can get an overblow, but new to it and it might be years - if ever - before I can hit it reliably and smoothly)
Anyway, LOVE the chromatic! Don’t use it a lot, and when I do it’s often just in C, though I dabble in G and, more rarely, D.
If I thought I could get comfortable in all keys on the chromatic, I think I’d give up everything! Banjo, guitar, diatonics, beer, sweets, sleep…
It’s such an awesome thing to be able to have a whole piano in your pocket.
But I look at the task and find it so daunting. Even 6 or 7 keys..
Have you mastered most or all the keys, to a point where you can ad lib basic melodies (I am kind of there on the diatonic)? How long does it take, realistically, to achieve that level?
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Edit: I wanted to add that the hardest part is learning the scales cold. Once you know the scales, the benefits are enormous - you can read sheet music and play it, you can play any key on ANY instrument provided you know where the notes are. Diatonic harmonica even makes more sense.
The actual Chromatic harmonica note placement on the instrument is stupid simple compared to diatonic. Learn one octave, and you know them all.
Definitely worth it
Chromatic is awesome! I love having all keys in my pocket.
Realistically, it takes a few months to learn the keys fluently. My recommendation is to learn the scales going around the circle of fifths in that order. Its hard to explain, but you WILL see the logic of each scale from the next, since they are all are just slightly different.
My goal, and I recommend it for you also is to learn the scales in the context of jazz. Jazz is all scales, all the time, so you will quickly immerse yourself in music theory and be able to play classy stuff to boot!
The only downside to Chromatic is if you take time off from it (like me, about 6 months)…the scale patterns I learned seemed to have taken a vacation. Uh well!
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Hey, thanks for the great reply. It’s encouraging! I understand basically how it works - the harp and the circle of fifths logic. If I decide to make the plunge, I’m planning to do C, G, D, A, E, then pop around to F, and (if I make it there), then assess where I want to go next. I’ve heard arguments for not doing it that way, but part of my rationale is that people I’m likely to play with are generally going to play in those keys.
Interesting point about jazz. I’m a bit new to that. I got into it after I picked up diatonic a few years ago (after a life playing guitar and banjo). Diatonic led me to theory - the harp just seemed to demand it more than the string instruments, probably because I play those chordally.
I love theory! And that led me to listening to a bit more jazz, and appreciating it much more. Still a LONG way to go As for the “scale vacation”, if it’s like the times I’ve stepped away from my instruments (or even speaking French, which I got decent at during a semester of immersion), it’s amazing how quickly that all comes back !!
Thanks again for the encouraging reply. Might be the push I needed, as that stupid harp has been calling to me lately from my music bag …
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Thanks for the reply! Chromatic doesn’t get enough attention around here - DM me if you need help. I am not an expert, but I can try to help if you get stuck.
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Thanks for your kind offer sir. I will keep it in mind! Btw, do you ever post your chromatic playing anywhere?
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I probably should, but I am youtube camera shy. Sometimes I post audio clips on this forum though
I started out on a bluesband g and then went up 5o a crossover A would recommend
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I’ll keep my eyes open for any of those. Thanks 
The Crossover is a much superior instrument than the BluesBand. You will notice a HUGE difference. You may need to tinker with it a little but the end result is well worth the effort.
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Good upgrade! I haven’t played them, but I have heard nothing but good things on Crossover.
A quick question how do you record your playing on here
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I use Dolby On, but you can also use YouTube.
Record yourself with one of these, and then upload the video/recording to this forum.
It’s better audio/video quality than the original build-in camera in iPhone SE 3rd gen?
Where do you upload your recordings, can you provide some examples, please
I’m looking to best quality to recording my harmonica using my iphone exclusively
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Here you go!
Where you record matters most. Pick a quiet, non echo spot and have fun!
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You can not upload videos or even simple audio files to this forum. You need to use an external service (e.g. YouTube, Google Drive, etc) and then post here in the forum a LINK to that file.
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