Hohner Golden Melody D

Advantages: TRue Blues style harmonica, can bend notes
Disadvantages: none

...This is a great little harp that can be carried around and played anywhere, I have owned it for over twenty years, it is battered and bent but still plays brilliantly. The only work I have done is to strip the covers off to clean the reeds. If you tongue it corectly you can slur the notes for nearly a whole tone, My rendition of 'Captain PUgwash is a marvel to hear, despite what my wife says. This little instrument has given me a lot of pleasure over the years, I wonder about buying a new one but I can't justify it, this one is still as good as the day I bought it in a music shop on Norwich over twenty years ago. It is well worth paying the extra to get a hohner, rather than any of the cheap brands, this one has outlasted about ten of the cheap one and sounds far better. I would like one in D as this is a better key for blues... Read review

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Advantages: plastic comb, easy to play, good for beginners and intermediates
Disadvantages: range of sound

...The Hohner Special 20 - in key C because that's the key most playing is done in, on diatonic harmonicas - is a great harmonica for both beginners and intermediates. It's easy to play because of the plastic comb (the bit in between the harmonica's two metal plates), and the holes are well-spaced and large, so it's hard to go too wrong if you're not used to playing - this is unlike other harmonicas such as the Pro Harp which have more closely spaced holes from which it is harder to achieve single notes. On to the more technical details....well, Hohner is arguably the number 1 in harmonicas and provides the best quality models around. The Special 20 in C comes with good-looking metal plates, and since the reeds are within the comb and within the harmonica, there is no reed-plate edge to annoy the lips when playing. This harmonica... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap and Brilliant Investment
Disadvantages: Just a 1-piece

...recorder, a novice player should be able to play from middle C to D or E in the next octave. Advanced players can get up to two and a half octaves (although heaven knows why they’d want to). To give you an idea of how easy it is, to play a tune like the start of “Three Blind Mice”, you need only index, middle and ring fingers of your left hand. My model is “Baroque”, which means that the bottom two holes are actually split into two smaller holes; this enables you to play semi-tones (like the black notes on a piano) more in tune than the alternative system, which is known as “German”. Hohner sells all its recorders in both systems. As far as I’m aware, all UK schools and nearly all recorder tutors use the Baroque fingerings, so I’d stick to that one if I were you, unless you are German of course. Some of the most common problems that learners... Read review

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