Ask Harmonica Expert Winslow Yerxa

Hi Winslow,
I am playing 2 years now and for a couple of months I am a resident of this fantastic site. Due to Daves chromatic lessons I have been picking up my chromonica 270, after it has been lying collecting dust for some time, improved the mouthpiece with the rounded openings and cleaned the sticky valves. Although this is a almost awkward size compared with the snugly diatonics, this is big fun as the sound is so full and rich. and the instrument has such potentials. continue reading...

Winslow.
After our recent emails in which you mentioned Christelle Berthon (whom I had never before heard of) and her switching from the Seydel 1847 to Suzuki Fabulous and Manji. I checked her on Utube and was blown away by her rendition of Sonny Boys..Help Me.
I have been using Suzuki Promasters mostly until now..and I very much like the way the cover plates extend out all the way to the end of the comb...tongue switching is much easier on the 1 hole and just drawing/blowing seems to be easier on the bottom 3 holes with the extended surface...the MBs I seem to suck air. continue reading...

Natural and Harmonic minor, Melody Maker tunings continue reading...

Winslow, I tried to send you a private email about this, but couldn't find any contact info on the web, so I'll post it here.

I really want to thank you for convincing me to try the Seydel 1847. What a great harp! I am amazed at the tone and the volume of this thing. I am hooked. I've been placing orders left and right for different keys of these.

A good moral for this story would be: "Close mouth and open mind." I'm glad I didn't let my preconceived notions get in the way of listening to your advice.

It's wonderful to have such a great resource as you on this site.

What is the difference between the 270 Super and 270 Deluxe?

I've noticed that the high end on my Manji is very touchy to proper embouchure technique. Sometimes while going through David's "Rollin' Rhumba" lesson, the sound on the high end is very squeally on the blow side. Adjusting my embouchure (opening up and dropping my tongue) fixes the problem. I've noticed I can get this to happen on my Special 20s as well - although it is a little harder to do.

I can purposely make the sound happen. Sometimes it is preceded by a metallic popping sound.

My questions: continue reading...

Winslow,

I was given a harmonica today that had "been laying around for about 10 years collecting dust". It is a MS - series harp, has never been played, and L.L. Bean is printed on the top of the box (its a black plastic box). The same script L.L. Bean is printed on the upper cover plate. On the lower cover plate it says:

"Exclusively Made for L.L. Bean by
HOHNER
Made in Germany" continue reading...

Winslow, I got a new Crossover today and the 2 blow seems stuck. I've seen that on some other harps. It seems that sometimes I put air through the hole and I get nothing but air sound in return. It's like the reed is stuck. What causes this and what can I do to fix it?

Hi Winslow,

very impressive your performance with the West Coast boys on Youtube. Things like this are the gold standard for someone like me who is just a struggling beginner.
I wonder here are you tongue blocking here or pure puckering or combining the two?
Toots for instance is a devote puckerer.

Best wishes, izaak

Hello Winslow! Now that the blues chromatic lessons are going on the site I expect we'll be getting some questions regarding what those strange buzzing/clicking sounds are now and again. Can you please explain what wind savers are and what we can do to avoid/fix problems with these? Thanks!