David's Tip of the Day: Bend Weightlifting

There's a difference between being able to bend in isolated practice and bending in a dynamic situation, like your first bending study song "Feelin' for the Blues." Reliably executing technique in time is of course the goal of our musical technique study.

If you're finding the lower bends (holes 3 down to 1) challenging to play in time on the A Harmonica, then practice your bending on the G Harmonica (from holes 4 to 1). The longer reeds of the G Harmonica require a larger embouchure and more exaggerated bending movement. This is like working out with heavier weights... after a while, the lighter weights (A Harmonica) you'll find easy to use.

The same idea goes for the mid-range bends (holes 4 up to 6). Using a C Harmonica (holes 3 to 6) requires you to control your bends further forward in the mouth, using more of the front of the tongue.

You could of course just stay on the A Harmonica and continue your bending practice, but I've found this technique to be successful in helping students to increase their bending range.

Reminder... use a tuner (and sometimes a recorder... reference John Nemeth's interview on the subject of bending) to track your bending progress in real-time.