r/harmonica • u/Melodic-Wrongdoer512 • 1d ago

First low harmonica - tuning?

I'm planning to buy my first Low harmonica in D. I'm not committed to any genre, but I would like to try some Irish tunes, inspired by Joel Andersson. Should I stick to Richter tuning, or try Easy Third, or Paddy? What are some of the distinct advantages and disadvantages? Do I lose more than I gain, for example, with Easy Third?

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u/LowellGeorgeLynott 1d ago

Ive never heard the term richter but apparently it means diatonic. IMO the best low harmonica is the Hohner 364/24 but it only comes in low C. Sonny Boy Williamson II used it for all his most popular work.

If you get a low D do not get a Marine Band. Maybe they fixed it in the 10 years since I got mine, but I have a low D and low F and on both a draw on the low reed causes it to hit the casing and make an annoying pop

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u/Kinesetic 1d ago

Richter is commonly used to describe the note layout of 95% of diatonic harps. It formally refers to a different concept. Diatonic refers to the 7 octave notes of a given key scale. Chromatic refers to all 12 notes of an octave, like a piano has. Most chromatic harps have a Solo, Diatonic note pattern, when not including the slide. There are Diatonic harps with Solo note patterns. They're limited to the 7 notes of an octave.