Expensive!
Who ever said harmonica was a cheap hobby? Harmonicas are getting a bit pricey, if you noticed. Seems like I blow out a reed about every 2 or 3 months on my favorite harps and have it repaired ($20 a shot) or buy a new one. Any penny pinchers out there who can give me advice?
Could be the reason. Will try to play softer. Famous last words. Thanks.
David hits the nail on the head. I'd like to add something, though. When you bend notes, the bend has a bottom limit, which is just above the pitch of the other reed. If you hit hard while bending and also try to pull the bend beyond its limit, you're hitting the reed with a double whammy. Not only are you trying to push too much air through the reed, you're also asking it to do something it can't accomplish - sound a note beyond its bending limit.
To remedy this situation, try this:
1) Bend a note down with as low a volume as you can manage. Sustain the bend at a very soft volume, swell it to a loud volume, and then taper it back to low volume. Do this with all your bends and you'll find that you can bend without force.
2) Use a tuner or a reference pitch to check how low you're bending the note. Try to avoid bending the note any lower than 1 semitone above the pitch of the blow reed (Holes 1-6) or the draw reed (Holes 7-10). Not only will your bends sound more in tune and less "sour" when you're using the bend to match an actual pitch (as opposed to just an expressive "curve" in pitch), your reeds will also last longer.
marine band - I blew the 5 hole where could I get this repaired??? I see how to pull them apart but what about new reeds?
If you don't have a junker harp that can donate a reed (Always save your old harps for parts!) Hohner sells reeds. Get their phone numer from their website and call them.
The same happened to me when I started learning to play the harp. I changed my harps to Seydel's with steel reeds, they last forever!
@David: your advice for soft playing is surely absolutely right. But on your videos your sound never seems low or silent. Is that because you got a professional recording?
I am sorry to say that, but Seydel's reeds also fail. I play Seydels, Hohners and sometimes Herings. Of all my harps only Hohners' reeds have never failed. And Seydel's steel reeds failed twice. Nevertheless Seydel's are great harps. IMHO:-)
In the videos I'm playing around 40% of my capable volume. Keep in mind that the condenser microphones on the cameras I use, or the software behind them actually, boosts or dips the volume to adjust for a consistent input volume, so it may seem that I'm playing louder. This effect is minimal, but it is there.
Thank you. That is a good exercise. I will try it!
The #1 killer of harps is loud playing, so play softly whenever possible. I've had my current set of harps since 2005 and only one reed has needed to be replaced... just minor tuning on about six out of the 30 I have once a year. So, playing softer is something to keep in mind.