Chiff and Fipple Forums

HI all,

I recently picked up a few cheap harmonicas in C so I could start teaching my kids some music (they are young and their fingers are not yet capable of dealing with the whistle). Anyway, while I originally was only going for the most basic stuff (Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle, Twinkle, etc.) I have found that I really enjoy playing the instrument and my wife appreciates the fact that it has significantly less volume than the concertina and button accordion (and is less piercing than a whistle in the upper octaves). So, I want to start learning to play some Irish tunes.

As I was looking around, it seemed like Solo Tuned Chromatics and Paddy-Richter Tuned diatonics were the most common (outside of Tremolo instruments at least). So, before I made the leap, I was wondering what the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach were? Not since Sydel actually sells a solo tuned tremolo, I am interested in only the relative advantages/disadvantages of the tuning system, not the chromatic vs. diatonic. Thanks,

--
Bill

I've wondered the same, and don't have a clear answer for you. You can play Irish trad on either just fine.

I'm not too into the tremolo sound, so my only solo-tuned harmonica is a chromatic. It's fine for playing Irish music. But I've really come to love the Seydel harps in Paddy Richter tuning better. They're small, comfortable, very air-tight, and just sound warmer than the chrom. I have three (G, A, D), with the stainless steel reeds. Great harps.

The other advantage is that they're easier to come by than the solo-tuned diatonic harmonicas, which don't seem to be very commonly sold or used.

Hi

I really like Paddy Richter, my favourite is a G Marine band that i retuned myself, it's actually very easy! I also have two suzuki promaster that i bought from Brendan Power, but i like the warmth from the Marine band. When i started to play harmonica i played a C chromatic, and then got a G chromatic, but then i got confused with having a transposing chromatic instrument.

/Anders