Hohner Marine Band Harp Varieties
Dear David, I'm thoroughly enjoying your lessons, thank-you so much. I've gone down to my local Music store to buy a Hohner Marine Band Harp in A, and the back of the box lists 4 varieties of Marine Band. Being a raw beginner, I chose the Crossover, as Hohner lists that model as suitable for all genres of music. However, the salesman, who claimed to have 15 years of Harp experience advised me not to choose that model, as it is has a chromatic scale and would be very difficult to learn on, and it isn't set-up for chords, only single notes.
Therefore he suggested I purchase the 1896 Classic, which Hohner claims is best for only Blues and Folk.
As a total beginner, I felt I should take his advice, as I couldn't confirm by using Google, if what he said is correct, and walked out with his suggestion.
David, could you please confirm my salesman's advice that Hohner's Marine Band Crossover is on available as a Chromatic harp.
Best wishes, Denis Lee. email address in Ballina, N.S.W. Australia is denislee14@bigpond.com
Hello Denis, welcome to the site. The 1896 Classic is a great harmonica... it will serve you well. The Crossover is not a chromatic harmonica (those harmonicas are the ones with the slide on the side), and would have been fine (it's the model I recommend).
It's possible that he was speaking of the "temperament" tuning of the harmonica. The classic's temperament will sound with smoother chords, while the Crossover will sound a little more harsh. The temperament of a harmonica is more an advanced idea, and generally is not noticed by non-advanced players. I assume he was speaking of this. The blues uses a lot of chords, so he was not off-base... if he really was speaking of this.