Ask Harmonica Expert Winslow Yerxa

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!

I'd like to get into playing train / chugging / fox chase (not totally clear on the differences) stuff on the harmonica - still blown away by Filisko's playing in the final part of the interview - amazing, big round tone. He calls it country blues and I'm guessing that's not quite the same as train/chugging stuff.

I'm getting my head around the 12 bar blues structure, but don't understand the structure of train tunes. Do they stay on one chord or progress in some other way? Also, I don't understand how to work a melody into them, if indeed you're supposed to work melodies into them.

My next door neighbour plays original songs - I think the genre would be sort of folk and new world(??) - sort of west coast style - Canadiana, if you remember your roots ;-) I've played at their house (they have a 4 piece band that does gigs) at house parties but because of my 'newness' on the harp, I work at making 2nd position sort of work with my blues harps. I'm now starting to use 1st position a little (and I mean little) more. continue reading...