Re: bending notes
Posted by:
pharpy
(---.sip.mob.bellsouth.net)
Date: January 30, 2006 03:23PM
Those links BlueWest gave are great links for learning to bend. As far as your question about the difference between a ½ step and a whole step, well, for that you need a small amount of music theory.
Basically, if you line up all the notes in an octave (we'll start at C for convenience), this is what you end up with:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
(or C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B C if you prefer)
The tonal difference between two neighboring notes (I.E.: D & D#) is a ½-step. Of course, a whole step is merely two half steps. (I.E.: From C to D)
How this relates to bending: Some notes on the harmonica can't be bent. (Draw 5 for example) There's no place for it to bend to. If you look at a C harp, draw 5 is F. blow 5 is E, which is exactly ½ step lower than F. Because you already have E on the blow 5, there's no place for you to bend to on the draw 5, since bending flattens (lowers) the tone of the note you are playing by at LEAST a ½ step. Other notes, like draw 6, draw 1, & draw 4, can only be bent a ½ step because the blow reed is a whole step below the note. Draw 2 can be bent up to a whole step because the blow 2 reed is 1½ steps lower than draw 2. Since blow 3 is 2 whole steps below draw 3, if you're really good at bending, you can get a 1½ step bend out of draw 3.
Knowing how far you've bent the reed is something you've just got to hear/learn for yourself. You can use things like electronic tuners or the Bend-O-Meter software to help you know how far you are bending your notes.