From Bob Dylan to Neil Young to Conner Oberst, great songwriters have often used the harmonica as a powerful accompaniment tool. As Neil Young once said, when people hear a harmonica, they listen, so if you’re a songwriter you’ve probably thought about incorporating a harmonica or “harp” into your live show. In order to play the harmonica with a guitar live, though, it’s necessary to have a harmonica holder, and these range quite a bit in quality and cost. Here’s a guide to buying a great harmonica holder that will let you play the harmonica with your guitar without sacrificing the quality of either instrument.
1. What To Look For – Harmonica holders are constructed in quite a few ways. There are three important parts to look at. First, check how harmonicas are held to the holder. Usually it will be two little stoppers that swing out to accomodate larger and smaller harmonicas. These need to be secure, and they can’t move too easily or you’ll push the harmonica right out of the holder while you’re playing. There’s also a few springs that hold the harmonica in vertically. In my experience, big, visible springs are a good thing. You can see if they start to break, they’re easy to push down, and they provide enough pressure to stop the harmonica from moving around.
Finally, there are two wingnuts that hold the entire appartus where it needs to be; that is, in front of your face. These wingnuts need to be secure, and easy to turn, as this will allow you to take off the harmonica holder quickly. If they’re immovable, you won’t get the harmonica holder off, and if they move too easily, the harmonica will swing away from your face with the slightest pressure. Some harmonica holders only have a single wingut holding the harp up. Avoid these holders at all costs.
2. Price – You get what you pay for, so don’t buy the cheapest harmonica holder you can find. The really cheap ones are tough to latch, they don’t hold all harmonicas well, and they’re of dubious quality. $10 harmonica holders fall apart in a matter of weeks, but you can get a quality product for about $30 that will last you quite a few years if you don’t abuse it. If you can try before you buy, that’s the best way to know whether you’re getting your money’s worth, but if not, going for a $20-30 harmonica holder will usually leave you satisfied.
3. Brand – After the first few harmonica holders I bought, I began to notice that if the manufacturer of the holder also made harmonicas, the quality of the holder was likely to be fairly high. Hohner makes some tremendous harmonica holders, especially when compared to specialty manufacturers such as Axman (which has a few good harmonica holders to their credit, but quality ranges quite a bit). Go for a brand you recognize. It’s worth a few extra bucks to get a harmonica holder that will last you a long time.
4. Reading the Reviews – Finally, read the reviews. Harp players know what’s good and what isn’t, so before you buy any harmonica holders online, read up on what you’re buying, and try them out at a music store if you can. You don’t need to do a ton of research, but even a little bit of reading will let you buy a much better product that you’ll be very happy to play with.
Do you have a favorite harmonica holder? Do you know of a really bad one? Post your thoughts in our comments section below.
