Oh, and another thing...

You've got me thinking about bending now, and it has suddenly occurred to me that while I learnt to bend breathing in from my stomach, I now, without really thinking about it, do something slightly different.

To play a bendy note clear, I suggest that your tongue is generally towards the front of the mouth, because that stops the note bending.

Now, think of a syringe. How do you fill it? You put the tip into liquid and then pull back the plunger.

This is just how I bend, but the plunger is my tongue. I close my hands to make an airtight seal, purse my lips a fraction round the mouthpiece and then my tongue pulls back in my mouth exactly like the syringe, severely lowering the air pressure in my mouth. I can get enough pressure that way to get all the way through the "A" note to the A flat. In fact the problem is overcooking it and sounding the note flat all the time.

I was playing with a friend of mine and thought I was hitting the "A" note, and he looked up from the piano and said: "You've gone too far." We compared it to the piano notes and he was right. I had to back off and just think bend to hit the note correctly.

I hope this is not too much information

Cheers

Robin

Hi Robin...

no, it's not too much information. Just right now, I've got a cold, so my breathing isn't soo great. Consequently, I haven't been able to play anything well for a couple of days.

But I'm saving this info for when I can breathe again.

~always Maria.

Just real quick, for those who ask which note is easier to bend on, I've heard it's different for everybody. I personally find the lower ones easier to bend on, whereas, somewhere out there, somebody bends easier on the higher notes.

When It comes to bending single notes, this is one of the problems i have with the tongue blocking. The best bending sounds are created by shifting your tongue to create the new angle of airflow. blocking makes this more difficult. i've found that it's alot easier to learn to bend with the "Whistling" technique (puckering your lips in a whistle shape to only cover one hole.)

It would be very hard to bend and toung block at the same time.

I had that AHA! bending moment last night when I finally got it and what worked for me was the description I found on the Coast2Coast music site:[www.coast2coastmusic.com]

The basic advice was to think about going for pressure and using a backward "K" sound. Make a regular "K" sound ("Kuhh, Kuhh" and then try this breathing in. Then draw in on the harp using the backward"K"sound--they recommended trying to make and ooooo-eeeee-ooooo sound while doing the backward "K" sound. It worked in a matter of minutes for me (after not having bent anything for over a month). They recommended starting on 2-draw.

Alas, I still have much to learn, but now I've either found the soul of my harp or the secret to making it sound like a cat in heat ; )

Good luck!

-Marc

Hey,
I don't know if I can bend correctly (is there just 1 correct way?)
but I can do like a wauwauw effect (how do you write that? )
I just play harmonica for a few days but I already can play hallelujah (jeff buckley), Hey Jude (The Beatles) and some other songs like that.

Is this bending? I hope someone can tell.

Gr. Casper.

Ah awesome, I got it down now.
And I just noticed you are from Bloomington MN!
I'm from Rosemount haha

If you are bending correctly, the note will be noticeably lower, as when you hit a slightly lower key on a piano. I think it is also worth noting that, while every hole can be bent, only one reed on each hole can be bent using the traditional method, and it is always the higher of the two reeds. (Draw on holes 1-6, blow on holes 7-10) You will also notice that, the further apart the blow and draw notes are, the more the higher one can be bent. The Bending effect is created by both reeds vibrating, so the higher note can be bent down to one half-step, or 'semitone' above the lower one. The only notes that can be bent to multiple degrees are 2-draw (2 semitones, or one full step max) 3-draw (three semitones) and 10-blow (2 semitones). I might also add that, since the blow and draw reeds on holes 5 and 7 are only one half-step apart already, there is not much of a point to bending them, as it just produces an off-key middle note. There is no right or wrong way to bend notes, as everyone does it differently, and I know that for me, the technique is different for each hole.

All I can recommend is that you practice over and over again, changing the structure of your mouth and throat. Think of the ways you change notes when whistling, and experiment until you can do it with a harmonica.

Also, if you got a cheap 2 dollar harp, some of them just suck at bending, and you may want to try getting something a little nicer (by which I mean like 10-20$, not exactly a major investment) I play Golden Melodies mostly, and they are made for bending and overblowing, and they respond really well and hold their tone very nicely.

All in all, there is no substitute for practice, and while it may be boring to sit and practice bending over and over again, that is the best way to learn how to do it. Hope some of that info helped

There is a book out there called "bending the blues", its easy to understand and has simple to advanced bending techniques in it. it also includes several ways to "cheat" for beginners.
you can pick it up at any "guitar center" store, or even just brows through it there and i promise it will be a huge help.

I PURCHASED A SET OF DVD'S AND CD'S BY JP ALLEN. I HAVE ADVANCED AND WOULD MAKE SOMEONE A GREAT DEAL ON THEM. IF YOU VISIT HIS SIGHT YOU'LL GET AN IDEA OF HIS TEACHINGS. THE FIRST IS "CORE ESSENTIALS WHICH GETS YOU STARTED ON THE RIGHT FOOT STARTING WITH THE CORRECT EMBOUCHURE WHICH IS KEY. FORGET THE TONGUE BLOCK METHOD. THEN THERE IS A COMPILATION OF DVD'/CD'S CALLED GETTING CAMPFIRE READY, THEN FINALLY LEARNING TO BEND AND THE LAST IS BLOWIN THE ROOF OFF THE HOUSE. I PAID $97 FOR THE SET AND WOULD MAKE SOMEONE A DEAL. I' RECOMMEND VISITING HIS SITE. AFTER I FINISHED THE CD ON BENDING I COULD BEND LIKE CRAZY. 2 DRAW BENT ALL THE WAY DOWN ON THE LOW KEYED HARPS ARE MY GREATEST CHALLENGE. MY EMAIL IS staceyanddee@msn.com IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED.

P.S. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT TAKE THE TIME TO PUT THESE TABS ON THIS SITE.

STACEY

I know this might sound stupid but I bought a harmonica and know absolutley NOTHING about it. What's bending?

Bending is lowering the pitch. On a C harp, for example, you can bend the 2 hole draw (G) down to a Gb, and you can bend it down more to an F.
On holes 1 through 6, the bends you can get are all draw bends. (5 hole draw only bends 1/4 step.) The bends you get on holes 7 through 10 are all blow bends.



Post Edited (2008-11-02 17:23:15)

I think I found the midi file for you! [home.online.no]

Enjoy,
LA
Like the city

try rocking the harmonica in your mouth a little. tip the back (the part not in your mouth) up. the more you tip the lower it goes.

Post Edited (2009-11-18 10:06:56)

Can you screw up a harmonica by trying to bend? I received a new one as a gift, and it seems that when I was trying to bend on the cheap one I had before it was stressing the reeds-- they don't play very responsive

I've read that improper bending can stress the reeds.

Hi,

I'm practicing bending since a couple of weeks, and I can bend easily all the draw holes except for the 2,
which i can only bend a half-step (F# on my C harp), but i can bend the 3 draw down to a Ab quite easily now.
Is there a special thing to do for the 2 draw?

Thanks,

PS: I use [www.seventhstring.com] to check if i bend right...

Try dropping your jaw more, and/or pulling your tongue back more.