One place where I shaded the truth slightly is in the matter of the difference between bending down the 3 draw and bending down 1, 2, 4, and 6 draw. I said that in the case of the 1, 2, and 4, you get a blue note when you bend down the note as far as possible. That's true for the most part, and especially with the 1 and 4, but it elides the fact that if one is shooting for the piano-pitch, one doesn't in fact hit each of those bends as hard as possible.
Also, the 6 draw bent all the way down is actually a flat flat 9th, which is the same as the 3 draw bent all the way down.
I'll probably add an annotation to clarify these points.
What you describe as "hit those bends as hard as possible" I've been describing since the late 1980's (reference my old "The Iceman Speaketh" columns from American Harmonica Newsletter) as "bending to the floor".
This results in a pitch that is almost 1/4 tone (24 cents or so) flat of the true pitch.
Learning the difference between "bending to the floor" and what I've called "bending down to a foot above the floor" gives a harmonica player much more leeway in deciding where to place the pitch of notes created through bending techniques and allows for more musical choices.
Ignoring this aspect does contribute to bad harmonica playing.
One pro that is totally aware of bending to pitch is Rick Estrin and I really enjoy his choices.
Yes! And since you're a precise and careful student of the instrument, I'm sure you took a look at the long note that I appended to the video before I uploaded it. Here it is. (Apparently we've both been talking about this stuff for a long time--and I knew that. You're quite right: not every pro is as fully on the ball as they think, and ignorance is never a good idea.) You can find it simply by visiting the video above on its YT page and opening up the description beneath the video by clicking "show more." Did you see this before you posted your comment above? I suspect not. Tsk tsk:
NOTE FOR HARMONICA NERDS: I shaded the truth slightly is in the matter of the difference between bending down the 3 draw and bending down 1, 2, 4, and 6 draw. I said that in the case of the 1, 2, and 4, you get a blue note when you bend down the note as far as possible. That's true for the most part, and especially with the 1 and 4, but it elides the fact that if one is shooting for the piano-pitch, one doesn't in fact hit each of those bends as hard as possible. One hits each of them very hard, and certainly much harder than one should hit the 3 draw, but not as hard as possible.
Also, the 6 draw bent all the way down is actually a flat 9th (or a few cents under that pitch), which is the same as the 3 draw bent all the way down. So the 6 draw bend is less relevant to the present conversation.
The main point of this video remains valid: the 3 draw bend, if you're shooting for a blues pitch, functions very differently than the 1, 2, and 4 draw bends. A hard bend on 3 draw isn't a blues-scale pitch; a hard bend on the 1, 2, and 4 IS a blues-scale pitch, although it helps if you make some fine adjustments, hitting each of those bent notes a shade less than full-on.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Nov 13, 2016 7:33 PM
That's great advise on the 3 hole. I am work constantly trying to hit that tricky draw 3' without slurring/sliding into it, it's like a sure tell of a beginner. Very important to be able to do the blues scale, to me that's the line between having it and not having it.
I think this is a great post for beginner forum and even better for this one.
