classic chicago blues harmonica harp player diatonic chromatic bending bend

Simply put... bending! Once you've presented the big sound of the chromatic with the use of octaves, fake octaves, slaps, pulls, flutters, two-note textures, shakes, etc., when switching to the diatonic focus on the use of bluesy single-note bending. Though the diatonic can present the same heavy textures as the chromatic, what the chromatic doesn't have (beyond basic dips and cuts) is bending, so making a point to focus on bending is a wise choice for contrast in your song. Listen to the two recordings again that I mentioned yesterday and you'll hear this approach.

Our most famous version of this is in the instrumental by George "Harmonica" Smith titled "Blues for Reverend King." In this he starts on the chromatic and then switches to the diatonic (C Chromatic in 3rd to the G Diatonic in 2nd Position). Listen to this track, along with my instrumental influenced by George titled "Dark Night" that I just posted on the BluesHarmonica.com Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica). We're not just switching to the diatonic and playing... what are we focusing on?

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Though bending is not as commonplace on the chromatic harmonica, it is used. We use bending for expression (dips and slight changes in pitch to give a crying or whining sound). The tip for bending on the chromatic is to control the bend further forward in the mouth (similar to a 6 draw bend or blow bend at first). If you bend with the back of your tongue you'll commonly stall the reed. Experiment with being really far forward (too far forward at first) and as time goes on progressively control the bend further back on the tongue.