If you want to learn a mouth organ the very first thing you will need is a good quality instrument. There are many types of mouth organs available in the market. They are of a different number of holes. They have different scales. There are types like diatonic, chromatic, etc. For beginners, it is very important to choose the perfect instrument for learning. This instrument should be budget-friendly and at the same time, you should be able to learn easily on this instrument. In this article, you will find a few important tips related to buying the best mouth organ for beginners in India.
Type of Mouth Organs
There are mainly three types of instruments widely available in the market.
- diatonic mouth organ
- tremolo mouth organ
- chromatic mouth organ
Diatonic Mouth Organ
If you want to play western music this is one of the best options. You can play pop, folk, blues music on this instrument. But for playing Indian songs on the mouth organ this instrument has limitations. You won’t be able to play all the songs on this instrument effectively.
Tremolo Mouth Organ
This type of mouth organ is almost similar to diatonic harmonica. The only difference is it has two holes for the same note whereas the diatonic instrument has 1 hole. These 2 holes help to get a good vibrato effect. But in the end, you won’t be able to play all the Hindi songs on this instrument.
Chromatic Mouth Organ
This type of mouth organ is the best for playing Indian songs. They have all 12 holes present which makes it easier for playing all songs on the harmonica. It doesn’t have limitations like diatonic harmonicas. Chromatic harmonicas have a slider button on one side. This button helps to play all the sharp notes very easily. I would definitely recommend buying chromatic mouth organ for beginner Indian students.
Number Holes In A Mouth Organ
As we know chromatic harmonicas are the best for learning Indian songs. Let us now understand how many holes your mouth organ should have. There are 10, 12, 14, 16, and 24 hole harmonicas available in the market. More the number of holes doesn’t mean it is a good harmonica. On the other hand, 24 hole harmonica has some limitations! Let us discuss each one of them in detail.
24 Hole Harmonica
This instrument offers a full three-octave. Here octave means Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa and all sharp notes. You can play almost all the Indian songs on this instrument. One of the best mouth Organs available in the market is Tower C Scale Chromatic Harmonica. As it is very budget-friendly. You can check its price here https://www.amazon.in/TOWER-Mouth-HarmonicaKey-C-change-option/dp/B00QGDYE20. But this instrument cannot be used to play Octave Playing Technique. With the help of this technique, you can easily take your playing to higher standards.
12 Hole Harmonica
Like 24 hole mouth organ, this offers a total of 3 full octaves. The advantage of 12 hole harmonica over 24 hole harmonica is its structure. In one hole there are 4 notes in this instrument. Whereas 24 hole harmonica has only 2 notes in one hole. Because of this structure, 12 hole harmonicas are the best-suited harmonicas and most widely played by Indian mouth organ players. You can play Octave playing, Tounge Blocking technique on this instrument easily. These techniques help you to play your instrument very effectively. These instruments are easy to carry anywhere compared to 24 hole harmonicas. You can easily keep this instrument in your pocket and travel. If you are a 24 hole user of harmonica then you can easily upgrade to a 12 hole harmonica very easily as the blow draw pattern is the same. It requires just a few days to get used to 12 hole harmonica from 24 holes harmonica. I would recommend buying a 12 hole mouth organ for Indian beginner learners.
10 Hole Harmonica
This instrument offers 2 and a half octaves. This instrument has a different blow draw pattern in the last (3rd) octave. Because of this, it has some limitations on playing octave playing. For playing higher octave you have to change your blow and draw pattern. Hence this instrument is not recommended by me. But your budget is low and you cannot extend your budget to buy 12 hole harmonica then go for this product.
16 Hole Harmonica
These instruments offer 4 octaves. This instrument has one lower octave extra. It provides more flexibility while playing lower octave notes in the tongue blocking technique. But it is not necessarily required. It is not highly recommended to buy this harmonica. But if you still need more holes in your harmonica then you can go for this one. But I would still recommend going for 12 hole harmonica.
Scale Of Mouth Organ
Simply go for C Scale Mouth Organ. For beginners, it becomes very easy to learn C Scale harmonica. It is highly recommended to go for C Scale harmonica. As the C scale helps beginners to learn basic music theory easily playing C Scale harmonica becomes very easy.