Bending Notes

     Bending notes on a diatonic harmonica allows a player to play some sharps and flats on the harp that aren't present in a regular diatonic harmonica.  Bending notes also gives the harmonica that wailing bluesy sound when playing.  So, how do you bend a note...its easier done then explaining how to do it.  There is a certain natural quality to bending a note and to describe how to bend a note is sort of on the difficult side.  Holes 1-6 are best for doing draw bends.  This is where you should start when making your first attempt at bending a note.

     Here goes my attempt at explaining how to bend.  Start on one of the lower holes...blow in normally, then draw normally, the airflow is going straight when you perform the normal blow/draw.  When you bend, you want the airflow to shift a little and your mouth will change position in order to change the airflow.  The tongue goes down a bit and you just feel a "lower" quality in your mouth (hard to explain, but you'll get the hang of it), and when I started to bend notes I used to think "Weeeeeeeee" type sound.  If you're really having trouble bending the note, try tilting the harmonica a little more toward your nose...the tilt will help change the airflow a bit and will give you that bending sound.

     I'll write a more complete lesson on bending when I think of a better way to explain it...the best thing for you to do is listen to recordings that have notes bending and just think of how you could produce that sound as well.  As a side note, bending will in time flatten the reads of your harmonica and you'll have to replace the reeds or get a new harmonica if you bend notes a lot...but since harmonicas are fairly cheap, this shouldn't be that much of a problem.  If you want all the chromatic notes without bending notes, then buy yourself a chromatic harmonica...a little pricey, but definitely a more complete type instrument.