The Suzuki Pipe Humming Harmonica: Making Vibrato Easy for Beginners

Ever since I was eight years old, I've been playing and collecting harmonicas. I love to play the harmonica and I love the variety of harmonicas made, both in the past and present. As of this writing, I own over 50 harmonicas. I have everything from the cute little minis to the standard diatonics to chromatics to a chord harmonica. The Suzuki Pipe Humming harmonica is among my favorites for its unique build and fantastic vibrato, as well as its beauty.

Making Vibrato Easy for Beginners

Vibrato on the harmonica is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, it can be a difficult skill to learn for beginners. The Suzuki Pipe Humming harmonica makes vibrato very easy for the novice. Vibrato is created by opening and closing an airtight seal at varying rates. With this harmonica, it is incredibly easy to create that airtight seal. Unfortunately, this can be a bit confusing for long time harmonica enthusiasts like myself. It took me quite a few days to get the hang of having my hands on the sides of the harmonica instead of in normal, proper position. Once I got the hang of it however, I really liked playing pieces with a lot of vibrato on this harmonica. I would say this is a good diatonic harmonica for anyone to own.

A Unique Beauty

I just love how stunningly beautiful this harmonica is. Not only does it have a beautiful and full rich sound, but it also has a beautiful design. When you watch someone play it, the harmonica looks almost flute-like. I own many beautiful harmonicas, but this one really stands out.

Availability

Unfortunately, this harmonica is a bit difficult to find in stores. However, if you shop online you'll find several sources. You can order the harmonica directly from Suzuki in the keys of C, G, A, D, E, F, Bb, or B. You might even find this harmonica for sale on Ebay, but I've only seen it available in the key of C or G usually. Other online stores might also only have a few keys available. If you're just starting out, I would recommend starting with the key of C.

Price

For the beginner, this might seem like a pricey harmonica to start out with. Directly from Suzuki, the Pipe Humming harmonica (PH-20) will cost you $79.50. When you think about it though, you generally spend much more than that on an instrument. However, if you're the type of person who sees something, wants it, and then later tosses it aside, I would go with a cheaper diatonic to start out. Make sure you don't go too cheap however, or you'll never want to play something that sounds horrible. You'll probably spend $10 to $20 for a nice diatonic harmonica to start with. If you want to see immediate results with vibrato however, and you have the money to spend, I'd recommend spending the nearly $80 for the Suzuki Pipe Humming harmonica.

Whether you're a harmonica enthusiast, or just want to learn to play, the Suzuki Pipe Humming harmonica is the harmonica for you. You cannot duplicate this uniqueness with any other harp out there. This harmonica is absolutely a must have for your collection.