Bending Speed (Part 5)

Either by practicing what I stated over the past days... or giving this skill time to manifest itself (your body learns this efficiency over time with focused bending work)... your tongue/mouth is formed to the pitch of each reed on the harmonica... allowing a bend to happen with the smallest movement of the tongue. Let's now mix in non-bends.

Play 4 draw... note your tongue position. Then bend the 4 draw... note your tongue position. Then, by moving the tongue by the smallest amount possible, play the 3 draw unbent... note your tongue position. If your tone is bad or the reed is bending slightly, adjust your tongue so that it doesn't. Do this as many times as it takes.

After you've achieved the skill to move from a bend to a non-bend with the smallest movement possible, continue moving down the harmonica. The exercise looks like this...

6 6' 5 5' 4 4' 3 3" 2 2" 1

Give this a try... remember, the key is the SMALLEST amount of movement to achieve a bend and the SMALLEST amount of movement to achieve the next note in the run without adversely affecting it (poor tone or bend).

Happy Memorial Day everyone in the United States!