David's Tip of the Day: Quick Pitch Reference for Dialing in your Bends in Real Time

Though a tuner is a great tool for dialing in your bends, using a tuner to catch a pitch quickly enough to register while you're actually playing a passage (not just a slow exercise) won't happen. A pitch generator plays a reference pitch (instead of receiving one in the case of a tuner). Many tuners have a pitch generator setting on them.

Pictured on our Facebook page is the app I use on my iPhone called Cleartune. Set your pitch generator to the note of the bend you're trying to play in tune (reference the "Harmonica Chart [All Keys].pdf" in the "Understanding Position Playing" lesson to see what the actual pitches are on the harmonica you're playing).

You can either have the reference pitch sound the whole time, zeroing in on that pitch when you get to the bend in that passage, or... and I like this way... have your finger on the "on/off" button and hit that just before and after the place in the passage that note is present.

A piano, or piano app, actually works faster and easier, but this is just one way to utilize a tool many of you already have.

P.S., I love the user interface of the Cleartune app, but I must say that sometimes this tuner is finicky and doesn't work well.