Ok, I’ve played harmonica badly since I was a kid. I mean badly. Worse than I play guitar, mandolin or whistle.
For ITM, there is no way. I’ve heard Steve’s clips and I’ll stick to whistle or mando for trad dance tunes. No way could I ever play like that.
I sometimes knock out a few folk songs, and that’s my level. Simple melodic songs in major keys - Mostly C and G. I can play melodies cleanly. I can pucker and I can tongue block, so clean single notes aren’t a prob.
I’d really like to play some blues as well as the folk songs. One of our occasional vocalists is a fine blues harp blower, but I see him so rarely that it’s hard to get tips from him. Also he’s a clown, and is rarely serious for two minutes at a time.
So, if any of you harmonica chaps could give a few tips on bending notes I’d be grateful. I’ve checked out some books and online lessons, but I just can’t do it properly.
I’ve got a couple of Lee Oscars in GMaj and CMaj, and a Hohner Special 20 in C. I also have a Hohner Cross Harp, but I reckon the reed plates on that one might be a bit heavy for bending…
My understanding of it (which is minimal) is that a lot of it is in the shape of the very back of your throat. This jaw-dropping deal is a way of trying to reshape your throat.
One day you’ll just do it and you’ll wonder why there was ever a time when you couldn’t. To play Irish tunes on diatonic harps you hardly ever need to bend for missing notes as long as you select the right key harp for the job and avoid certain tunes (D tunes with C naturals are a bit of a b*gger as you can’t get that note by bending on an unvalved D harp, Jenny’s Wedding for example). You can avoid trouble in many G tunes by using a harp in the Paddy Richter tuning (same tuning as standard harp but with 3-blow raised a whole tone). It’s hard to hit a bent note cleanly, in tune, with good tone and without slurring up or down to it, as well as hitting the note before it and after it cleanly, and it’s even worse if it’s a fast tune. I can play hundreds of tunes without ever having to do that and it’s a limitation I can cheerfully live with. Bending for expressive effect is far more valuable, and it’s even better if you can bend the high blow notes. You can slur up and down in these cases, just like Kevin Burke, and the precise pitch of your bend isn’t quite so critical. The physics of bending on a standard, unvalved harp state that you can only bend the higher of the two notes in each hole. In holes 1 to 6 the draw note is higher and is the note which can be bent, but in holes 7 to 10 the blow note is the higher and is the “bendable” one.
The easiest way to get every note you’ll ever want is to get a chromatic harmonica. Alternatively, you could get a couple of Hohner XB40s, valved 10-hole harps with each note having its own auxiliary reed allowing every note to be bent. Sounds like a good idea, but you still have to have your bending technique down to a fine art to make good use of 'em. I have a couple and I hate 'em to be honest, finding 'em loud and squally and unresponsive to anything other than hard playing. They’re not cheap either. There are also such things as half-valved 10-hole harps, which allow bending of the notes you can’t bend on standard harps. Brendan Power is a great exponent of these. Suzuki are the makers to look for if you find this an interesting idea. I’ve never tried them myself. You can think that all this is a great big issue until you remember that most Irish tunes are modal, which, to a harmonica player, means that all the notes are there on a normal diatonic harp in the appropriate key. If you have a D harp (preferably low D), a G harp and an A harp there isn’t much you can’t do really, and even if you do have to skip the odd tune here and there, well who wants to hear a bloody harmonica all night anyway!
Exactly right. I actually move my jaw very little anymore (it’s actually dropping the tongue down and broadening the “embouchure” a bit) but doing so is the door to figuring out whats happening back there in your throat. Give it a try.
If you don’t mind spending a little bit of money there are alot of tutorials availble nowdays for harmonica.
My Honer special 20 in C came with a cassette tutorial (back in the day) and helped me alot on some blues and country tunes.
There is alot more out there since they discovered over blowing (and other harmonica modifications) which is bending the note on the blow note…don’t miss out on that technique!
I think valved harps are a new invention. Haven’t tried one myself but it sounds interesting.
I have a valved Suzuki Promaster (and an unvalved one, too) and they are both neat harps. The valved Promaster is easier to bend but I am not good at it at all. If I want all the notes, as Steve said above, I use my chromatic, a Hohner 270 Richard Farrell tweaked before he left the business.
I have one harp where the bent 3rd draw is easy to bend a whole step. On the others, for old-time fiddle tunes I have tuned the 3rd blow up a step. I’ve also experimented with tuning the 5th draw up a 1/2 step but the jury’s still out on that.
I prefer to play fiddle tunes in 1st position when possible though Red Haired boy I always play in 2nd and dorian tunes I play in 3rd. I haven’t done a lot of experimenting with Aeolean mode because I play the mountain dulcimer now almost exclusively.
By the way Buddhu, the David Harp book is called “Bending the Blues” That’s the resource I used years ago to learn. Send me your address and I’ll mail you my copy. One only has to figure it out once after all.
Sorry about your friend “the clown” not taking you seriously…maybe it’s the nose.
There is a guy on Youtube that has several lessons that go into playing blues harp. He does a good job of explaining the tips and tricks. Here is the link:
(D tunes with C naturals are a bit of a b*gger as you can’t get that note by bending on an unvalved D harp, Jenny’s Wedding for example). You can avoid trouble in many G tunes by using a harp in the Paddy Richter tuning (same tuning as standard harp but with 3-blow raised a whole tone). It’s hard to hit a bent note cleanly, in tune, with good tone and without slurring up or down to it, as well as hitting the note before it and after it cleanly, and it’s even worse if it’s a fast tune. I can play hundreds of tunes without ever having to do that and it’s a limitation I can cheerfully live with. Bending for expressive effect is far more valuable, and it’s even better if you can bend the high blow notes. You can slur up and down in these cases, just like Kevin Burke, and the precise pitch of your bend isn’t quite so critical. The physics of bending on a standard, unvalved harp state that you can only bend the higher of the two notes in each hole. In holes 1 to 6 the draw note is higher and is the note which can be bent, but in holes 7 to 10 the blow note is the higher and is the “bendable” one.
