Lee Oskar 797033 Natural Minor Harmonica, C

Ordered this only because at the time the Hohner Special 20 was out of stock, and I'm glad I did. It's a great little harmonica. Clean clear notes that combined with the Gm key give this a really distinctive sound. Very comfortable on the mouth and lovely to play.

I was really pleased with this purchase. Despite having played harmonica for a few years, this was my first serious venture into alternative tunings, and I must say I'm pretty impressed! In making the Lee Oskar range, Tombo Corporation have taken a fairly solid harmonica design with good response and airtightness, and slapped a pretty brilliant endorsement on it. But to their credit, they have used this combination to also put out some exciting alternative tunings, four including the "ordinary" Major Diatonic. If you are a beginner, I would advise sticking with the Major Diatonic until you have a reliable second position technique, but confident second position players will take to the Natural Minor straight away, This is because the minor key labelled (in this case Gm) is actually the second position key. This makes sense, because you play in the minor key as you would ordinarily play blues harp, with all the expression you are used to for blues harp. Fire up a playalong or backing track for minor blues in G and you'll get the idea pretty quickly. The minor blues is a somewhat neglected but excitingly expressive sound, and while chromatic players might miss some notes on that scale (at least unless they have very advanced diatonic technique), it's a really great sound to be able to play on harmonica. Add to this the ability to play along to minor songs, and you have a definite winner. Highly recommended!

Quick fast Service

One tune experimental purchase. It certainly did what was required but fell short on overall tuning inasmuch as at least one reed was a mile out, it happens. Notes were slightly on the tinny side, lacking a little of the warmth that I might have preferred. That said however I am more than happy given I picked it up at a very reduced price.

Lee Oskar were the first company to sell harps in natural minor keys, I purchased two around 20 years ago - a Dm and an Am - and, although I've only used them on two or three songs in our band's sets throughout the years, they have never let me down and still play perfectly after 20 years. I love the way they sound and the contrast to the normal major keys, at times they almost sound like a chromatic harmonica. Recently I've started to add lots more minor key songs to my repertoire (I just love that mournful sound) and am now adding this Em harp to my armoury as well - here's to another 20 years of trouble-free playing.

Very good harmonica, rich sound responsive and easy to play

Lee Oscars get a high rating from harmonica teachers, but personally I am a bit disappointed. The East top harps are better and the Hohners are also better.

I've tried other harps but in my opinion none compare to these. The minor keys are amazing!