Hohner Marine Band in 14 Hole C

Advantages: Great to play
Disadvantages: None...except price perhaps.

...The Marine Band by Hohner is a classic harmonica, it was my first years ago, and was good to learn on. It also lookes very good, with polished metal with etchings offset by the wooden comb (the bit in between the metail parts, where the holes are). The only qualm I have on this harmonica is the fact that in the UK, in any music shop and also on the net, it'll cost you around £20, sometimes more. In fact, harmonicas in general seem to have inflated prices in the UK for some reason. Having done a bit of investigation on the net, you can get the same model for around $20 at some American online stores. Why such a difference in price?... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Quality instruments
Disadvantages: Need to buy one for each key

...I’m guessing this product title refers in general to the range of Hohner diatonic harmonicas and I’ll review in that way. Harmonica was the first instrument I learnt, not being able to afford a guitar at the time. The first decent harmonica I ever bought was a Hohner Marine Band (key of G), and since then, these are the only brand I’ve considered using. Hohner is probably the most famous of the harmonica brands, used on albums such as The Jayhawks’ Hollywood Town Hall (a classic!). There are a range of diatonic harmonicas available, and each in different keys (the notes are arranged in the scale of the key. Keys available include Major, Minor and Natural, plus some other specialist tunings). Some models even come in different sizes (e.g. 10 hole, 12 hole)! Different models are made of different materials: generally, the top... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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

...! With this descant 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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful