What Harp key to buy

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There are 12 basic keys, and if you really want to play blues you end up having one of each keys.(And these are only the minor keys)

Blues harp or cross harp is played a fith above the harmonica.

It is recommended to start with the key of F. This is typically the highest pitch so it is the easiest to bend. F-harps play blues in C, which makes them easy to play together with a piano

For playing dance melodies together with violins, you should start up with 3 harps in G, D and A major. Cheaper harps are only available in C-major (Blues in G)

I often recomend people to start on a D-harp. Most guitarrists like to play blues in A, and the D-harp is easy to play

Most guitarrists best like to play blues in E, which is done on an A-harp. The A-harp has a pretty low pitch, which many people like, it is a litle bit more difficult to start bend in this pitch

If you want to play in a jazz band, you should probably go for Eb harp, playing blues in Bb which is the base note for trumpets.

Circle of fifths

Knowing the Circle of fifth you can derive the blues harp or cross harp key by going one step clockwise. Thus the Cross harp of a C-harp is D The Crossharp (or Blues harp of a G-harp is a D)

Harp key	Cross Harp or Blues key	Comment
F	C	Best for playing blues together with a Piano, The very high pitch makes the F-harp ideal for beginners, since it is easiest to start to learn how to bend.
C	G	Cheap harps are only available in C, a pretty good place to start.
G	D	For playing songs G-harp is ideal.Most dance melodies are actually in G. It is the deapest pitch of all harps. That is a nice sound, but a litle bit more difficult to bend. Not many mucistions play blues in D.
D	A	This is a good start harp, if you like to play together with guitars still having a pretty high pitch allowing you to learn to bend the notes for blues. Ideal for dance melodies
A	E	Most guitarists start playing blues in E. The low pitch of the A-harp makes it a litle bit more difficult to bend the notes. If you are playing dance music together with violins you need at least a G-harp a D-harp and an A-harp
E	B	OK when you start going for getting all 12 harps, you need an E-harp as well, though it is quite unusual you find musicisans playing blues in B (in scandinavian countries and in Germany, the note B is called H)
B	F#	This harp you buy when you want them all 12
F#	Db or C#	This harp has the highest pitch of all, and is thus easiest to bend, but don't count on ever finding anybody wanting to play together wtih you in this key! But if you just want to play with your self, it is a nice and light pitch
Bb	F	Jazz musicians lvoe to play blues in F, so you need a Bb harp if you want to play a harp solo with a jazz band! The pitch of Bb is quite low, and you should be quite experienced in bending before you start bending on this harp.
Eb	Bb	Eb is a good starting harp for jazz muscisians, the pitch is close to D, and thus easy to start bending
Ab	Eb	Jazz musicians often play blues in Eb, so you will need this harp for this prupose
Db	Ab	This is the last harp of the 12 harps.

Please note that these are the major harps, then you can get minor harps (there are different minor scales harmonic and melodic), and melody makers. This course will only concentrate on major harps