Minimizing breathing noises

Hi, Mark

It's actually not so common a question, but a good one just the same. First and foremost, if you're practicing in a quiet room with a mic and amplifier, you're going to hear your breathing. If you duplicated that sound level in a performance, with other musicians, and a live audience, you wouldn't. So don't worry about it too much. However, I know as a new player I used way too much air, and I leaked through my nose, a lot, and I had a lot of air to get rid of with powerful exhales. As you get better, you will use less and less air, and have more control over it. You can learn to exhale in a direction that's away from as opposed to straight into the mic. You can drop your lower lip and exhale partly through the harmonica and get rid of a lot of excess air below. Beyond that, it is just a matter of practice, and learning to do more with less breath!

I hope you find that helpful. P.S. It goes without saying that your mic should at least have some windscreen foam between you and the element.