5 draw bend
Is there some special difficulty to bend 5 draw? I am studying Take it Easy Now, and find that hard (and also with a A harmonica, to which I am more used).
I can bend 4 and 6 down to the middle pitch between blow and draw. If I could do that for 5, I should reach 1/4 tone, but I don't.
You demonstrate going further down approaching the bottom note, even to the point of being sometimes too low (to my ears) for 4' or 6'. I can't go that far. Is the same skill that is required to really bend the 5? (I mean at least a 1/4 tone down.)
In other words, is the limiting factor the "absolute" pitch distance to the bottom note?
Hello ÉricD.
I'm happy to go into the weeds of explanation on anything, but in this case there's no answer to search for here, it's just reps.
A player should be practicing sliding smoothly down from the draw reed to the deepest part of a bend. Some bends good deeper (3''' for example), and some more shallow (5 quarter tone bend for example). You're right that the distance between the draw reed and blow reed effects how a bend responds, but there's nothing to mentally adjust, it's just reps.
You'll get it, keep at it.
You're not asking too much ÉricD. Sometimes I have a good solution, sometimes it's just reps.
Hello ÉricD.
My gut is that you need to use more of the front of your tongue, further forward in your mouth. Try controlling the bend further forward in your mouth and see if you can get more depth from your 5.
P.S., it's the blow note that is the limiting factor for the depth of a bend.