bend

In Hob's latest lesson he plays the entire tongue block study song Temperature (focus on slaps) for me and I critique. I teach hob the bending technique of the dip and how to breathe through his nose as a pressure relief valve while playing the harmonica (as well as learning how to close the nose on inhale notes so that he doesn't fill up with air). He learns what the note layout is on the major diatonic harmonica and why the notes were ordered in the way they are. Finally we talk about the difference between 1st and 2nd Positions and we play common accompaniment lines in the 12 Bar Blues. continue reading...

There's a tendency for new benders to push their tongue hard on the face of the harmonica, using it as a type of anchor for the humping of their tongue. Tension in the front of the tongue, or the pushing of the tongue forwards onto the face of the harmonica, commonly causes thin and airy tone while bending. continue reading...

Alfred Förtsch just contacted me in regards to his new website dedicated to the physics of how the harmonica works, specifically bending. His website is http://www.bluesharpscience.de and if you haven't already done so, take a look at my paper on the subject https://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/mri_bendin... and the paper with Stanford University http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/poma/19/1/10.1121/1.4799443 Best wishes on your new site Alfred.

The goal of this lesson is to continue advancing your overbend skills while simultaneously filling in the harmonic/theory knowledge that’s required of a traditional blues player to be able to apply/execute overbends well in our common three positions (1st, 2nd and 3rd). This will be achieved by studying chords (arpeggios) and chord scales (a combination of chord tones and scale tones), all to give you more material to play while improvising. continue reading...

The 3 draw is commonly played at a quarter tone bend or dipped.

It's rare to hear an experienced blues harmonica player play the 3 draw without a slight bend. The bend is not as deep as a half step (3' Bb), it's between the 3 B and 3 Bb, and it's variable, so it's best not to say it's an exact degree in that range (the lighter the song, the less the bend... the darker the song, the deeper the bend).

If you're going for a lighter sound, then a dip is good. A dip is a slight bend (can go as deep as a half step, 3' Bb) that releases quickly to the natural 3 draw. continue reading...

If you would like to see actual images of the tongue in the bending process (draw and blow bending, with both tongue block and pucker embouchures), read my paper on the bending process with visualizations from the MRI Bending Study I did at Stanford University with Peter R. Egbert, Lewis K. Shin, Thomas D. Rossing and Andrew Holbrook. Bending Process on the 10-Hole Diatonic Harmonica with the Visual Aid of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by David Barrett https://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/mri_bendin...

In regards to the 10+ bend... If your tongue moves forward in your mouth, the 10+ bend will start in the fully-bent position (10"+... 10 blow whole step bend)... in this case the Bb. This is due to the fact that your mouth is starting from a low tuning, and as your tongue moves forward the tuning of your chamber raises in pitch until you reach the pitch of the 10"+, and the bend sounds. In order to hear a slide from 10+ (C) to 10'+ (B) and ultimately 10"+ (Bb), you need to start with your tongue forward, tuning your mouth HIGHER in pitch that the bend. continue reading...

As I spoke of yesterday, your focus is to use the front of your tongue, far forward in your mouth... this creates the small chamber needed to tune your mouth to the blow bend you wish to produce. It's common to hear someone describing their bending process that their tongue moves forward to produce the blow bend. This is consistent with us wanting to create the small chamber, and this will work for holes 8 and 9 blow bends, but not for the 10. Chew on this for a bit... continue reading...

I helped a lot of students with their blow bends at the Harmonica Masters Workshops and in ever case the student needed to have a much smaller, more frontal chamber in their mouth to produce the bend and control it. Remember back to Bending Study 1 on the site... we're tuning our mouth cavity to the pitch that we're trying to create on the harmonica for a particular bend. Blow bends are very high notes, so when raising your tongue for the bending process it's the very front of the tongue, forward in the mouth, to create the tiny chamber needed to match that very high pitch.

The same Chewing Vibrato you experimented with yesterday can be used on blow bends. To prime your embouchure, play a 8+ and then 8'+ a couple of times to feel where the sweet spot is for the pitch of the 8+. Now play the 8+ and move your jaw up and down and the vibrato will be there. The same applies for the 9+ and 10+. The first time I heard of this as a technique was in an audio cassette instruction by Gary Primich. Have a great weekend everyone!