Bending Woes

Obstructing the hole is not a good method for bending because it delivers poor tone and is hard to control.

Accordion players bends notes by a similar method - partially depressing a key to partially obstruct the hole. It doesn't deliver very good results for them, either, but it's all they have.

Harmonica players have much better resources for bending, located farther inside our mouths.

You bend notes by tuning your entire mouth to a note (you do something similar when you whistle).

You tune your mouth by defining the back of the tuned chamber.

You define the back of the chamber by narrowing the airflow.

You narrow the airflow (Gee, maybe I could turn this into a children's song . . .hmm . . .)

Sorry. You narrow the airflow by raising your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, more or less in the place you would make the sound of "K."

If you inhale without a harmonica and raise your tongue like this, you'll hear air rushing through the narrowed space. You'll also feel suction trying to pull your tongue closed against the roof of your mouth.

This narrowed, suction-filled opening is what I call the "K-spot." It's the activator for bends.

But you need to place the activator in order to size your mouth chamber.

You size the chamber to tune the note:

-- Moving the K-spot forward makes the chamber smaller for higher notes.

-- Moving the K-spot back makes the chamber bigger for lower notes.

To get your first bends, place your K-spot close to where you'd normally say "K" and try bending Draw 4, 5, or 6 on a harp in, maybe, A or C. Remember to feel the suction pulling your tongue upward and to slide the suction point (K-spot) forward and backward slowly until it seems to grab the note and change it.

This basic method works for all types of bends, including overblows and overdraws. It takes some patiience at first to get it to work, but once you get it running it's one of the most powerful tools you'll have.