hello everyone

i have recently tried to bend notes. i do not understand the difference between the half step bend and the whole step bend. if anybody can tell me how to do these or anything i can do to develope my bending skills it will be much appretiated.

[www.harmonicaclub.com]
[www.harpsoft.com]

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.

thanks heaps

i get it now. i thought it was about the amount you bend not which note you bend. thanks heaps and if there is any more advice about anything it will be greatly appretiated.

booky_blues wrote:

> thanks heaps
>
> i get it now. i thought it was about the amount you bend not
> which note you bend. thanks heaps and if there is any more
> advice about anything it will be greatly appretiated.

Well, in essence, it's about both. You have to know which notes you can bend, and to what degree they can be bent. Then, once you know that, you have to controll the bend to get the right amount. For me, I can get a whole step bend out of the draw 3 quite easily, but it takes more effort not to bend the note too far if I only want the ½-step bend. Likewise, it takes a great deal of effort for me to get that last ½-step for the full 1½-steps possible on the draw 3.

Think of it this way, knowing how many steps you've bent a note is knowing about the amount you bend. Knowing which notes can be bent, and to what amount is knowing about which notes you bend.

That's where the Bend-o-meter software comes in handy. It lets you see how far you're bending the note. You can experiment with different techniques until you get the correct amount of bend. Your ears won't tell you when you hit the right note but the software will.

Some people use a Chromatic Tuner, (like a KORG CA-30), to see if their bends are hitting the corect note.

yup, I use the Korg Chromatic tuner to check my notes...

I have borrowed my friends chromatic tuner and after much practise i am bending some of the notes to half bend.