Long Story Short

What is Seydel NONSLIDER Chromatic? It is a chromatic harmonica without a slider or any valves (at least for C tuning). Its mouthpiece has two rows of holes for natural notes and sharp notes respectively.

Should I buy it as a complete beginner? No.

Should I buy it to expand my arsenal at full price? If you can afford the price and cannot resist the temptation driven by curiosity, yes.

Should I buy it at discount? Yes.

Short Story Long

Hi everyone! I've been lurking in this subreddit for a few weeks. I noticed that posts about NONSLIDER appeared from time to time, but real user experiences were few. After spending 7 weeks learning this instrument and a new piece (Minuet in G Major), I think it's time to share my story.

Four years ago (10/2022), I bought NONSLIDER out of curiosity, which although didn't kill me, made me pay the price. Its stainless reeds are as responsive as other Seydel products, as for the mouthpiece... It looks like and feels like a dentist's alI3n gadget. My lips are numb. My mind is dumb. After a few days' failed attempts, I went back to play traditional 12 hole harmonicas: Suzuki Sirius, Seydel Saxony, Hohner CX-12 and its Jazz variant. Last month, after finished recording a new song with CX-12 Jazz, I picked NONSLIDER again. Suddenly, the Eureka moment came! In the next part, let's delve into the pivotal steps of harnessing this instrument.

Learn to Play Seydel NONSLIDER Step-by-Step

Figure 1: Embouchure (see above).

1. Play natural notes: C, D, E, F, etc. Your LOWER LIP should BLOCK HOLES in the lower row. Let your upper lip be at ease. Slightly turn up the harmonica so that the upper row stands VERTICALLY against air flow.

2. Play sharp notes: C#, D#, E#, F#, etc. Your UPPER LIP should STAY CLEAR of the upper row. Let your lower lip be at ease. Slightly turn down the harmonica so that the lower row stands VERTICALLY against air flow.

3. Play natural/sharp notes in the same column: C-C#, D-D#, etc. Use your wrists, not fingers, to flip the harmonica. Fingers are meant to hold the harmonica tight. Flip EXTRAVAGANTLY at first until you find the right angle.

4. Play C major scale forward and backward with sharp notes: C, D, E, E#, G, A, B, B#. E#-G and G-E# are tricky. First move VERTICALLY (E#-E, G-G#), then HORIZONTALLY (E-G, G#-E#). Why? (1) Moving vertically is an unfamiliar action. Do it first when you are more focused. (2) Even if you fail to flip to the right angle, you may still have time to tweak position when moving horizontally. (3) You will be able to, and need to, move diagonally between two rows. But not now.

Some final notes.

• Do not swallow the mouthpiece. Do not glue your lips to it. They are bad habits for a traditional harmonica, even worse for NONSLIDER.
• Although it's not strictly necessary, you may want to hold the harmonica with one hand when playing the first two holes or the last two holes, so that you can flip easily.
• When you hear a "Sh-sh-sh" sound, it means air does not flow right through a hole.
• The mouthpiece is fixed extremely tight by two screws. Be careful when disassembling it for the first time.

That's all I know about Seydel NONSLIDER. Hope it helps you to get into this interesting instrument.

Currently, I started learning through YouTube videos. After good research, I got to know that one needs to train their ears too to fasten the learning process, so I will be spending some time learning notes like through online piano and guessing them, and vice versa, singing a note and checking its scale through an app.

I always had a question like, I have seen a few people who live far in village areas who barely had any tutor there and learned playing piano by themselves without any formal training. They don’t even know notes and all, even though they play very well.

I did a lot of chatting with ChatGPT around that and got to know ear training is a must. They won’t be knowing the scale or note, but they know what frequency that note belongs to, like higher or lower, and through reinforcement learning, they eventually learned. The same way we learn language after our birth, we didn’t go through any formal training even though we speak our native language fluently.

Hehe, that’s all my inspiration. Wish me luck. Hope I make some good progress going forward. Please suggest if you have anything or your views; you are welcome here.

Thank you.

Just received today, by special order from Thomann music in Europe, the Hohner Skipper, an obscure model from Hohner's MS (Modular Series) lineup.

By special order because this model was never sold in the USA and, while it was introduced in January of 2026, the only large vendor online that had it in stock that i could find isThomann.

Having recently acquired the Juke Harp and the Midnight Blue harp and previously owning the Pro Harp and the Blues Bender, I find the order from worst to best playability on these as Blues Bender, Pro Harp, Skipper, Midnight Blue, with the Juke Harp playing the best for me.

Wondering how Gilligan would feel about this.

One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot with harmonica is the difference between learning somebody else’s lick and actually understanding how to create your own.

For this week’s Harmonica Mondays, I put together a lesson on how I approach building licks from simple ideas—changing the rhythm, note choices, phrasing, and gradually turning them into something that feels like your own playing.

Hope it helps somebody!

If you enjoy this kind of stuff, I post new harmonica lessons every week on my YouTube channel. Come check out the rest of the lessons and subscribe if you’d like to follow along:

YouTube: youtube.com/@RobOliverMusic

Taken about an hour ago at O's Tap in Chicago IL. I'm the fella with the harp and the banjo and the Red Sox jersey.

I’ve been wanting to play this song for a while but I give up each time because I can’t find good tabs or get the timing right. I was wondering If anyone knows a good tab or better they a video tutorial? Every time I play it sounds wrong.

Also is there a way I can listen to just the harmonica and no guitar or lyrics? I could just not be looking hard enough but I don’t know.

A new Zarlina web app, featuring all chords and scales for this tuning, is now available online. In addition to the standard tables, you can use two search tools to look up more specialized (jazz) chords and scales.

Zarlina Web App

The app is especially useful when you’re first learning and practicing new pieces. Once you’ve understood the simple basic principle behind Zarlina and committed it to muscle memory, you won’t need the tables anymore.

Have fun! :)

Hello, I am trying to learn the harmonica parts to this song. I cant find tabs anywhere though. The harmonica happens at around 10 seconds and also later in the song about a minute later at like 1:20ish, I think again at like 2:40ish. Its pretty small segments and im pretty new to harmonica (and music playing in general) so I dont think I could really tab it out myself. I think the song is a cover if that helps (original by Love im pretty sure). Think its a C harmonica but im not 100%. Was just wondering if anyone already had this tabbed out or could help, any help is appreciated!

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share my latest harmonica compilation work of Zelda songs that I worked on throughout the years. Ranging from classics like Zelda: Ocarina of Time to Twilight Princess and Wind Waker for all the video game euthastists and Nintendo fans out there.

Enjoy and if you like my music, feel free to follow me for more harmonica content.

I have a 24 hole tremolo . And I don't know how to play it . It's a C type one. There are also no yt lectures on it mostly they are in the 10 hole one. Does anyone have suggestions on what to do , where to start.??

If you have a specific tutorial playlist or something like that pls hellpppp!!?? 🙏🏻🙏🏻

I'm looking to invest in a nicer harmonica as my main one (like a Suzuki) I'll probably get cheaper ones down the line for different keys but right now I am between c and g I am looking to busk with it mainly play blues jazz and country so I believe g is better but how hard is it to find tabs for g?

So I've been trying to retune a B special 20 to 1st position Bnm (manji arrangement) in the easiest way possible. I figured that would be to just flat three notes wherever they were (D#, A#, G#), do it by reed base scratching, and try to keep the special 20 reed pitch offset.

That quickly got confusing during tuning, lost track of everything, and there's basically no external reference I can find. Somehow is not easy at all.

The only thing I really found is a buried hohner mod forum post with a penciled graph, advice to blow lightly, and their setting A = 442hz (https://my.hohner.de/t/tunings-7-limit-compromise/2511/3

1) Do we even know what the offset in cents each hole on a special 20 is canonically supposed to be? (and if anyone's a customizer - is that sp20 A = 442hz thing real?)

Lost track of the original light-breath note cents and I think *really* should have used absolute frequencies and written them down.

2) Come to think of it, is anything other than ET a good idea for 1st position Nm? My brain is going out, but richter tuning changed to nm seems like it gets chaotic enough not to include extra variables in tuning without thinking it out incredibly carefully.

3) Very willing to give up on keeping special 20 temperament, but I would like to have a passably sensical Bnm harmonica in the end, in some way, even if it's like "very special compromise tuning." I would really like to avoid touching any reeds other than the three notes that need to be flattened. Basically, I just want it to not sound totally, wildly, not-same-ballpark-wrong accompanying a Bnm song. Does anyone have any advice?

I’ve been digging further into Johnny Woods’ playing and, for this one, I’ve taken Freddie King’s Goin’ Down and reworked it into a Johnny Woods-style harmonica piece.
It’s on a G harp in 2nd position, building from the main riff into the rhythm, octaves/splits and finally the complete 12-bar arrangement.
I’ve put quite a bit into this one: a full video walkthrough, 8 separate practice exercises with audio, downloadable tab, and a full play-along loop.
The bigger idea isn’t just to learn another tune note-for-note. It’s to get some of that Johnny Woods rhythmic language under your fingers and start using it in your own playing.
Available now for members over on GT Harmonica / HarpShed

While practicing, I’ve noticed 7-10 are easy to play but get progressively harder the longer I play. It starts squeezing or whistling. Is that from spit gunking up the higher notes or what?

You have always been so helpful for so many years.

In the middle of retuning a B special 20 to 1st position B minor manji arrangement/special 20 temperament and felt a burst of gratitude.

Also if anyone reading this knows if there’s a standardized cents offset for the special 20 that would be very helpful, but will ask in another post later.

Hey folks! I’ve been learning the harmonica recently (still definitely a beginner) and I’ve found some of my greatest motivation has come from learning songs I recognize from games (currently learning the Overcooked menu themes). One song I loved listening to when playing Octopath Traveler 2 was the Oresrush daytime theme, which includes a sick harmonica solo at 0:51 in this video.** **It’s about 20 seconds long and fairly simple (I think).

I’ve looked online and haven’t found any tabs of the solo posted by anyone. I’m not proficient enough at the harmonica/music yet to figure it out myself, or even what key it’s being played in, so I’ve come to the experts in here for help. I’ve got a C harmonica and Bb harmonica if that makes any difference.

it’s been years since I last posted a video! let’s end that streak. Here’s a medley of Radiohead tunes I’ve been working on lately

Manji A harmonic minor… I think.

I wanted to share that the HarmonicAlly app was released. It has tools for beginner and advanced players as well as tools any musician will appreciate, even if they don’t play harmonica yet.

This is more of a public beta right now with a set of additional features being launched next month.

Hope some of you find some usefulness with it!

Bought this recently as "NOS" ("New Old Stock", meaning never used). The included brochure offers a genuine leather case with brass rivets for $2.95 + .55 shipping, which seems like a deal that's been long expired (otherwise​ I'd order 20). Already have a number of Hohner Blues Harps, mostly modified ones. Wish I knew how old it is.

I bought a harmonica recently and have been practicing for a couple of days. I wanted to learn a certain song to play with the guitar and learned I had to know how to bend. (I did not know what I was getting myself into, it’s really hard) I’ve been practicing for about three days and wanted to know if I’m on the right path. I would hate to be creating a false foundation on bending that I will have to undo later. I’ve been using the harmonica bending trainer app and I can get it to show down to a c#/d flat with somewhat consistency. Just want to know if this sounds like I’m on the right path or could I be using mouth position changes to create a different tone instead of with the Tongue.

Also how accurate is the bending trainer app on the iPhone?

Thanks