A versus C
Good day to everyone. I have just signed up and know this question has probably been asked and answered already. As I was looking to sign up I noticed almost all the online courses use a C harmonica. What is the advantage to using the A harmonica in this course? I thought it might be that an A is better for learning the blues. Thanks again.
David frequently gets asked about the harp key issue.
Did you sign up for a free month with one of the coupon codes that Hohner includes with many of its harmonicas? Those coupons are included with all keys, as Hohner has no way of figuring out what sorts of players may be buying what keys, and for what purposes. But it can confuse folks who buy a Hohner C harp, and then find out that after David's introductory lesson using a C harp (which, as he points out, will keep a new player busy for a long time), most of the next group of lessons use an A harp.
There is no "best" key for harmonica. Sometimes music store salesfolk recommend the C, thinking that because it mimics the piano's keyboard where the C major scale is simply all of the white keys. Therefore, C must be the easiest, right? Nope. Not necessarily. Just ask a saxophone or trumpet player (whose instruments are actually tuned to B flat). But as a result, C is the most commonly manufactured harmonica key. In fact, some (especially less-expensive) harmonica models are only made in C. Which may be why a lot of on-line lesson systems use a C harp.
The A is a great compromise for a lot of playing, as it is generally easier to play a lot of blues techniques on it, as opposed to some of the higher and lower keys of harps. And due to guitar tunings, a lot of historic blues tunes are in E, for which an A harp works great in what's called Second Position, i.e., playing in key of E on an A harp.
It can all be a tad confusing when one starts, but David does a good idea and explaining. And while a lot of performers carry harps in all 12 musical keys, in various parts of this Forum David has good advice re best harps to have if limit your kit to three, four or five harps. I.e., what are the most common song keys, and what harps work best for them?
The good news is that while one may end up needing five or six differently-keyed harps as one progresses, really good quality harps can be found for as little as $50. Wereas a performance-quality tenor sax can set you back at least $2,000.
Have a ton of fun learning, and welcome to the wonderful world of harmonica!
I already found David's response to a similar question from five years ago. All good. So off this old man goes trying to learn the blues for the first time.