suyash_4376
1 post
Dec 18, 2014
7:10 PM
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I have a C diatonic. I would like to ask which hole should I try to bend first?
How to get my first bend?? And how do I practice them??
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Harpaholic
566 posts
Dec 18, 2014
8:33 PM
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Eee ooo 2 draw, ooo is the bend. that's what worked for me
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Dec 18, 2014 8:34 PM
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nacoran
8165 posts
Dec 18, 2014
9:07 PM
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Eee ooo. 2 hole is fine. 3 would probably work too. When I was just starting out, well, I didn't come to harmonica the normal route.
I wasn't even really that much of a fan of harmonica when I started. I was playing to help with my asthma and to get back into music. I'd tried other instruments but tendon problems in my wrists rules out just about everything else.
That brought me to playing harp without a strong sense of what the instrument could do, or really, what a bend sounded like. I was kicking around YouTube and I found this video:
It's odd playing, and not blues, but it gave me an idea of what the instrument could do.
Then, once I heard Jason playing I realized I was a fan of harmonica. (And that was later reinforced when I heard James Cotton's Slow Blues).
That eee ooo vocalization should get you some gentle bending and if you know what to listen for you can adjust your mouth more in the same direction to deepen the bend.
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Nate
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Baker
379 posts
Dec 19, 2014
5:27 AM
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The milkshake analogy worked for me.
Put your finger in you mouth and imagine it's a straw. Now imagine you have nothing in your cup, just air and you're breathing in though the straw. This the the mouth position for playing an un-bent note.
Now imagine you have a really thick milkshake in your cup. Adjust you mouth position to suck the milkshake up through the straw. Note that this is not about breathing in or sucking harder, it's about changing the pressure inside the mouth – You should notice a few things happening. Your jaw drops, your tongue goes to the bottom of your mouth and you'll feel pressure on your finger and cheeks, pulling in. This is the mouth position you want for bending.
Now put a harmonica in your mouth and try to recreate the same mouth positions.
Try on the 2hole draw and the 4hole draw. Some people find sit easier on the lower note, some on the higher.
It can take a while. Some people get it straight away and some people it takes longer. It took me a couple of weeks from what I can remember.
Once you've got it, practice going from the un-bent to the bent note slowly with control. Then try starting on the bend note and releasing up to the unbent note, again slowly with control.
After that try leaning some songs that require you play just the bent note isolated – not bending into it.
Good luck.
Last Edited by Baker on Dec 19, 2014 5:31 AM
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Littoral
1175 posts
Dec 19, 2014
5:42 AM
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You already bend, I bet. Beginners tend to bend the 1 hole and find it harder not to. Try the opposite route by trying to play the 1 hole unbent and really noticing what your mouth is doing between the bend and non-bend. You will have to really relax the inside of your mouth to get the 1 unbent. Just "easy" breathe it. The 1 is also easier to work with because you don't have to deal with holes on both sides.
Also, in general, a-e-i-o-u are vowels because they force our mouths into making very distinct noises that our ears recognize. Make the mouth positions of the vowels as you play, in and out, and notice the slight variations in sound. credit to PT Beauregard on this, 1977
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Harp Study
54 posts
Dec 19, 2014
2:29 PM
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For me the eee ooo thing didn't work; although now it seems to make perfect sense and it truly is the shape of my tongue during the bend.
However at the time of learning how to bend it seemed useless. For me, what finally cracked it was the whistling analogy.
If you can whistle..then all you need to do is learn to whistle on the inhale. After you've gotten that (which basically requires holding your mouth in the same position as a blow whistle, but inhaling) then work on lowering the note. This can also be done while blowing a whistled note and requires the same movement, but once you switch to the harmonica you'll be inhaling which makes it seem very different even though it isn't.
Practice moving your tongue forward and back in a hump. If you can lower the note in a whistle by moving the hump back you're making the same movement as bending a note. Every note on the harmonica and every key has a different sweet spot, but it is generally the same movement.
This worked for me. It may not for you, but one thing I can for sure tell you is that if you keep at it you will get it. Don't give up.
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TBird
88 posts
Dec 19, 2014
4:01 PM
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When I was first learning how to bend, I spent a lot of time at the piano in a music department practice room at the college I went to. I know it's not much as far as actual bending technique advice, but I found it very helpful to be able to use the piano to hear the note(s) I was going after in a particular hole. After I started to get the hang of the bending thing I still visited the piano quite often in order to work on bending accurately and precisely... something I imagine I'll always be working on. Now that I think back on it... I bet there were lots of music majors who walked by that practice room late at night and wondered what that whack-job was doing in there and why the goose he was choking won't just hurry up and die...
Keep at it suyash! A whole new world is about to open up to you. Have fun!
@nacoran - That video totally floors me. Wow that is cool. I'd never heard that one. Thanks.
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Be noble for you are made of stars.
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Rarko
136 posts
Dec 19, 2014
4:44 PM
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I watched Jason Ricci video about bending, He showed eeee oooo thing and thats How I learned it. Ofcourse, thats not only video that helped me, check out Dan Gage video too, Adam Gussow YouTube lesson... And thats not only thing those guys showed, you will be pleasently surprised ;-)
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nacoran
8168 posts
Dec 19, 2014
6:17 PM
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Sometimes it helps to be able to visualize it too. There is a nice little app called HarpNinja that shows you what note you are hitting on an on screen harmonica. There is a free version that doesn't have as many features and a pay version.
Here is the description:
http://harpninja.com/wp/app/harpninja/#desktoppc
And here is the pay version:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonicviz.harpninja&hl=en
I used a similar program when I was starting out, and have played with this one a bit too (The creator had some of us here beta test it. He's a member).
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Nate
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Pistolcat
746 posts
Dec 20, 2014
12:23 PM
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Second for the inward whistle. Try whistling the same note as the two hole unbent (G) and lower the pitch of the whistling (to an F). It'll be the exact same shape your mouth need to be for bending just THAT hole on THAT harp.
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Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
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Harpaholic
568 posts
Dec 20, 2014
3:10 PM
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John Gindick was teaching eeee oooo long before YouTube. In fact it was his cassette's that got me started.
Don't over think it. Whistling didn't work for me because I don't use exactly the same muscles and toungue position for bending as I do whistling.
It will happen, it just takes time. A chromatic tuner phone App is a great tool to see what note your hitting while playing the note. You train your ears, how to control bends and learn the notes of the harp.
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suyash_4376
2 posts
Dec 20, 2014
8:20 PM
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Thanks for all your suggestions. I will try them and tell how they worked for me.
@nacoran Thanks for the app man. Really appreciate it.
I am thinking of trying 1 draw first...
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groyster1
2724 posts
Dec 21, 2014
8:30 AM
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I just pulled my tongue down to the floor of my mouth and also tilted the harp up.....now I bend with my throat
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The Iceman
2265 posts
Dec 21, 2014
8:38 AM
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oh no, not the throat bending stuff again.
Could be effective if there is a clear, concise and easy to understand way to teach this approach to beginners with the extent that other techniques offer.
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The Iceman
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Littoral
1177 posts
Dec 21, 2014
8:57 AM
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"I am thinking of trying 1 draw first...". Please follow up. I do thinks this is helpful.
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The Iceman
2266 posts
Dec 21, 2014
11:38 AM
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I feel "1 hole inhale bend" to be harder than others...however, there is so much "wiggle room" here that it does react to almost any attempts at a technique.
4 hole inhale bend is the one I teach first as it helps the student understand "lump in the tongue placement" as a technique and is not hard to find a sweet spot.
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The Iceman
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groyster1
2726 posts
Dec 22, 2014
10:23 AM
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I really can iceman.....harpdude has been doing it a lot longer than me
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The Iceman
2268 posts
Dec 22, 2014
11:38 AM
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Hey groyster...
Studying the art of teaching and developing teaching techniques for 20 years, I still feel that if it is a valid approach it can be easily taught to beginners in an easily understood manner.
So far I've seen no proof of this...but if you feel it works for you, cool.
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The Iceman
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harpdude61
2225 posts
Dec 22, 2014
4:08 PM
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Thanks groyster1! I'm getting improvement on the throat bending techniques. I don't have many students and not been teaching that long, but they love it.
I can't teach it very well in written word, but if you are beside me harp in hand I can help.
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dougharps
796 posts
Dec 22, 2014
4:15 PM
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At a workshop at a Folk and Roots fest 3 years ago(or 4?) I saw Jason teach a man to bend. He had never had a harmonica, was given a Blues Band or same level harp and took it out of the box, and using the eeee oooo on the one draw, the man bent the note immediately after his first instruction from Jason.
I was amazed! Since then, that is how I tell beginners to start bending.
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Doug S.
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kudzurunner
5198 posts
Dec 22, 2014
5:24 PM
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Baker, I like your description so much that I've put it in boldface at the bottom of the "bending" page on this website. Thanks for your eloquence.
http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/bending.html
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Baker
380 posts
Dec 23, 2014
1:40 AM
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Hey Adam. Thanks! I feel honoured :) – I hope it helps some of our beginners on their way.
EDIT: Just to say that this was not my idea, it's just what worked for me. I can't remember where I heard it, it might have been through Chris M.
Last Edited by Baker on Dec 23, 2014 4:48 AM
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The Gloth
708 posts
Dec 23, 2014
2:04 AM
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I think it should be said that, in order to begin with bending, first you have to be able to play single holes/notes.
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dougharps
797 posts
Dec 23, 2014
8:49 AM
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Personally, I don't think the 1 draw is the easiest bend to play, but I saw it work.
I think that the single note issue is why learning on the 1 draw is useful. It is easier for a beginner to get a single note at the end of the harp.
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Dec 23, 2014 8:49 AM
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The Iceman
2271 posts
Dec 23, 2014
9:29 AM
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For those in the "ooo eeee" camp, you may be interested in how Paul deLay used to teach bending. He said it's more like "ooo errrr", which raises that lump in the tongue and reinforces that the tongue controls the bend.
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The Iceman
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