Confused by Manji
Hi David - I started on Hohner Special 20 (in A). Never really try to play blues - mostly used it for playing Bob Dylan stuff - I play guitar too. Then later I wanted to try online class so I got Rocket (in C). Both plastic comb and recessed design.
I got basic bending quickly but could not bend hole 3 on Rocket beyond semitone so I thought that perhaps I should try traditional type of harp so I splurged on Manji in C (after reading all the stellar reviews online). Well... I am really confused by it. People say it is loud and expressive... Rocket feels effortless and much louder by comparison. I struggle to get emboucher right on the "railed" mouthpiece of Manji - I can get it right if I touch bottom rail with my tongue and channel air. Then I get nice clean notes - still not even close to Rocket in loudness. But I can't bend - I need to move my tongue for that so I switch to "pucker" (bury harp in my lower lip) and it is super airy and leaky - even though I get good notes on Hohners that way (and even on my Kongsheg's Mars with rounded holes). So I am confused - I saw some videos saying that "Manji requires more precise technique and will make you better player". I have to admit - the harp feels precise in tuning. It responds well to bending attempts and changes in embouchure when blowing. But it sounds weaker and feels "stiff" when compared to Hohners.
Any advice? Am I jumping ahead of myself and trying harp that is better suited to non-beginner?
Hi David - thanks for reply. I doubt the harp us a dud - I could expect something like that from $10 no-name brand but not Suzuki. It does feel "stiffer" - for lack of better terminology. I have couple Hohners, couple Kongsheng Mars and some non-name Caberet from Danny G. And they all seem to react to air pressure roughly the same. There is no delay - reed engages immediately. On Manji only low octave engages like that - in second octave you constantly get cases where (if not playing louder) you hear air "whooshing" through the reed and then reed starting to vibrate. It could be due to stiffer phosphor bronze reeds. Or it could be due to lack of precision on my part - holes on Manji are about 3/4 in width of holes on Hohners with plastic comb. I was thinking that perhaps my embouchure was leaky - and asked Annie Raines about it - she suggested making sure that lips are relaxed and make good seal. I followed it but I still keep getting some weak whooshy notes - I guess it comes from blowing too close to post in the comb. On tongues blocking - that is whole different area. I never needed it so I never try to develop it. I Use tongue for channeling of sort - helps getting cleaner note on some harps (e.g. chromatics) but I do not really block. Just touch mouthpiece slightly under the hole that I want to use.
Any harp from the factory (non-custom), from any company, at any price, can have harps go out that are better or worse than others... it's just the nature of products... especially musical instruments. As you get better, you can more easily deal with the inconsistent nature of a harmonica (it can respond differently throughout its range). So... I would stop worrying about it and move on in your studies.
Hello woland. Those are all comparable quality harmonicas, so there shouldn’t be much of a difference in playability... though they will all feel quite different. Sometimes you can get lucky and an out-of-the-box harp can really play great, and of course you can get a dog sometimes... it all depends on who worked on that harp at the factory. I suggest that you just pick your favorite model and stick with it.
P.S., tongue block for your bending... you don’t want to use two embouchure when you don’t have to.