Guides · Nov 1, 2026
A diatonic harmonica has 10 holes in one key and is made for blues, rock and folk, where players bend notes. A chromatic has a slide button that adds the missing notes, for jazz and classical. Most players start diatonic.
Guides · Nov 1, 2026
An acoustic upright gives you a real resonating instrument; a digital piano gives you headphones, no tuning and a much lower price. The median upright at Thomann costs about eight times the median digital piano.
Guides · Nov 1, 2026
A DJ controller costs from $80 to $3,262 at Thomann, with a median of $742. Under $300 you get a laptop controller to learn on; from about $750, motorized platters or standalone units that play without a computer.
Prices · Nov 1, 2026
Two weeks ago Fender raised its American Ultra II prices. Between October 28 and 31 it went the other way: 25 Fender prices fell to their lowest since August, and 48 Fender listings disappeared from Thomann at the same time.
News · Nov 1, 2026
Between October 28 and 31, 218 listings dropped out of Thomann's catalog, almost half of them on October 31 alone. Two out of three were guitars and basses, and one brand accounted for more than a fifth of the total.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
Pick a DJ controller in this order: the software you'll use, how many decks you need (two is plenty to start), whether you want to play without a laptop, then the feel of the jog wheels.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
Start with a 14 x 5.5-inch snare: it works for almost every style. Then pick the shell: wood is warm, steel bright and cheap, brass and bronze rich and loud. A great all-round snare costs under $200.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
Electric guitar is easy to make silent: plug a headphone amp straight into the guitar, from about $44. Acoustic is harder; the real fix is a silent guitar with a frame instead of a body, which you hear through headphones.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
A PA for speeches or an acoustic duo costs $400 to $700. A band in a bar needs two 12-inch speakers and a mixer, about $1,300, or a column system. Add a subwoofer for DJs and loud bands, and you're past $2,000.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
A good microphone costs less than most people think: the Shure SM58 and SM57 and the Audio-Technica AT2020 cost $100 to $130. Studio condensers like the Neumann TLM 103 cost about $1,200, and above that the gains get small.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
A classical guitar has soft nylon strings and a wide neck: gentle on fingertips, made for classical, flamenco and fingerstyle. An acoustic has steel strings and a slimmer neck: louder and brighter, for strumming pop, folk and rock.
Guides · Oct 31, 2026
Most beginners, and nearly all children, start on alto: it's smaller, lighter and cheaper. The tenor is bigger and deeper, the classic jazz and rock sax. Fingerings are the same, so switching later is easy.
