Hey guys,

Im fairly new to playing the harp still. I got myself a Lee oskar nto too long ago andi m looking to experiment with different keys and what not. I was looking at A case of Johnson Blues king harps and a case of Hohner Piedmont blues harps. I was woundering if anyone had played with therse before anwd what they though of them. Thanks alot.

Mad Hatter

I have a Honer Special 20 in C harp and was told this was one of the best for starting out!!
Hope this helps!!

I haven't played either, but I've heard other players talking about the Piemont set saying the only good thing about the harps is the case they come in! See Keith Graham's assessment here:

http://www.jt30.com/jt30page/reviews/piedmont.html

The Johnsons get a more positive review, but I still would have reservations after reading this:

http://www.rongood.net/harphouse/johnsonbluesking.htm

I think the points that both reviews make about quality are very important and even if you get lucky and find no problems with your set, I think you'll soon outgrow them.

IMHO better to go for quality not quantity. Buy good quality harps (Hohner Special 20s, Lee Oskars, Bushman, Seydel, Suzuki Promasters) and build up a collection of keys slowly

hmm those reviews wernt exactly great huh? The thing that really did attract me to them was the case. and they are cheap. I guess ill just buy some more lee oskars or a 20 special or 2...

what keys should i get?

I have a Lee Oskar key of C as of right now.

I'd go for an A harp next - D and G are useful too. If you've got a Lee Oskar, then maybe try a Special 20 next and see which you like best.

C is a good harp to learn on because higher pitched reeds are easier to bend. Switching to an A or a G means lower reeds. Some people will find they have to work harder to get those low draw bends - it's a good way to hone your technique. I just got a Low G harp from Seydel - that's an octave below the regular G harp. (Unbelievably Seydel make a Low Low F! 2 octaves below a regular F) Wow ! bending anything under draw 3 on that baby is next to impossible.

In my experience the Lee Oskars last much longer (harp reeds do eventually go flat due to metal fatigue). This is especially important when you're learning as most beginners on harp tend to play too hard. Play softer and let the mic/amp do the work. Your harps will last longer and your tone will improve. Listen to Little Walter - he's actually playing really softly.

Oh yeah, Lee Oskar do a nice little zip pouch for 7 harps too

is there anywhere i can get a case like the ones that come with those horrible harps?

Hohner do cases:

http://www.elderly.com/also/accessories/items/C12.htm

or if you're feeling rich, Fender do a nice looking tweed case:

http://coast2coastmusic.com/cgi-bin/cart/FEMSC.html

and man... this is the daddy!

http://coast2coastmusic.com/cgi-bin/cart/HMCSC.html I want one now!!!

my harps are in the Lee Oskar pouches which get thrown into a toolbox!

great! The other two of those look kinda pricey for a beginner like me.

I was also woundering if i could you a guitar amp i have and just buy a mic and plug it into it...would that work and sound decent?

i was also looking for a more serious harp players forum. i mean you guys are great but this isnt exactly a website focused on harp playin ya know? :)

Plugging a mic into a guitar amp will work. You'll get a much better tone if your mic is high impedance (hi-z). Just about all modern vocal mics are lo-z, which is why harp players like vintage mics so much.

If you have a lo-z mic, you can still make it work well with an impedance transformer, which you should be able to get from a good electrical store or music store for less than $20. Shure do a really good quality one, but it costs a fair bit more.

If you haven't seen it, I posted a comment about harp mics a couple of days ago in the thread *** HARMONICA MICROPHONE ***

Finally, all-tube amps work best for harp. The kind of compressed/overdriven chicago tone is rich in harmonics. You can only get that tone from valves. (though digital emulation is pretty good, the Pod, the V-amp and the Digitech pedals all give reasonable results). Transistor amps tend to sound very bright and metallic when overdriven for harp, but it's not so bad you can't live with it while you save for a tube amp. If you get serious about harp, and your amp isn't a valve amp, low wattage class A tube amps are great - old Fender Champs, Kalamazoos, Fender Pro and Blues Jrs are the business. Low wattage, means it's easier to drive the power tubes hard and get the Chicago sound. You'll need to mic the amp into the PA if you're playing with a loud band though, 10-15W just won't cut it against the guitarists Marshall stack!!!

As for other forums, I tend to use the harmonica newsgroup. alt.music.harmonica If you don't have a newsreader, you can get it through google or Yahoo.

I also recommend subscribing to Harp-L. That's an email based discussion group. I get it in digest form, which means I get 2 or 3 emails a day containing all the posts. You will learn stacks by just reading other people's comments and questions - and you'll hear direct from pro players; the Blues Band's Rob Paparozzi is a regular poster.

I believe there's a forum called Harptalk, but I've never used it.

I've been playing for over 20 years now, but I remember what it was like starting out. Back then, here in the UK there were maybe 1 or 2 books on blues harp and that was pre-internet so getting good advice and help was tough. I'd prefer not to post my email in a public forum, but feel free to pm me if you need any more help or advice. :D

Good luck

All hail fatjim the einstein of harps! lol