articulating different bends
David, when I'm trying to play several different bends on the 3 draw (which I've been trying to do on the 3rd chorus of 'Off the Wall'), I struggle to make them sound like distinct notes. Rather than hitting them as different notes, I tend to slur between them, so you can hear the bend in between. When I try to articulate them separately, I often lose the bend or accidentally bend the reed down too much. Any tips that would help fix this?
I want to recover this post because I am having problems articulating third hole bends.
I can get easily 3' and 3''' bends, but i cannot stop in the 3''.
Is this a common problem?
Is it a technique fault or can be solved gapping in a certain way?
Thanks Dave.
Gapping has nothing to do with it. Can you explain to me what you mean by, "but i cannot stop in the 3''." Are you bending a 3 draw down slowly and you can stop and hold a 3" or when you play the 3" and try to go on to another note your 3" curls up (raises in pitch unintentionally).
I cannot maintain the second bend in the 3rd hole. I can keep the first bend and the 3rd but it is very difficult to me to play the second more than a second.
Thanks for the clarification. That means that the articulation you're using is getting you into the pitch, but you're moving your tongue immediately afterwords, not allowing the bend/pitch to hold. They key for you is to slide into the pitch, not articulate into the pitch, and hold the position. Easy said, but difficult to do... it may take many months... reps, reps, reps.
Practice exercises such as presented in Bending Study 5 where you play...
2 3 2 3' 2 3" 2 3''' 2 3" 2 3' 2 3
or
2+ 3 2+ 3' 2+ 3" 2+ 3''' etc.
This dynamic form of bending is very beneficial to developing the muscle memory needed to hit bends at pitch without slurring.