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‘Why do my harmonica bends sound so bad?’
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2020
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Today I'm discussing bending and some of the difficulties with perfecting this technique. I often get asked "Why do the bends sound so bad?" and there's usually a quick answer that can help you start on the path to improvement right away.
Here's a link to my lesson on how to bend notes - • How to bend notes on t...
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Great advice - practice bending as quietly as possible - relaxation is important on any instrument even with stressing techniques like high range on trumpet (speaking from experience...). I just need to make one very important remark to anyone who fails to bend notes quietly - sometimes it IS the harmonica - not being air tight will break your contact with the reeds and force you to use more air and more power for bending and reed control which are EASY on an airtight harmonica. The 2nd factor is reed gapping - some holes might be easier to bend than others, even same holes on different harps of the same model, and that could very much be too far of a gapping on one of the reeds (bending draw reed is a myth, as you need both the draw and blow reeds to vibrate together as it is a "dual reed bend", as opposed to single reed bend which is not available without valves or on actual single reed harmonicas, like the tremolo) - so having for example the draw reed gapped closely enough to the plate but the blow reed far away (for example for hard players who wants a strong attach on blow and get those reeds a bit farther inside the harp) - you will not get a good bend and will be forced to use more air pressure as merely embouchure will not "catch" those bends, especially on the low end. Hope this helps - great lesson cheers!
Thanks for the advice Liam. I just got my 3 draw bend few days back. I realised that tongue touching the teeth was the difference between -3' and -3''. But it still sounds like a car horn. I'll whisper more. Thanks for all your content. Cheers!
You're welcome Wisam Ahmed, congratulations on the 3 draw bend and good luck to you. Cheers! Liam
Having a lot of trouble with 4 chords on Big Walter's Boogie. Doing it puckering at the original pace is a quite challenge, never mind tongue blocking, which i don't do often. The problem is quickly switching from bending to just drawing to bending again, it's hard to hit it in tune fast. Well, I'm going to do it eventually if i keep practicing, I don't think there's any secret technique to this.
It took me around a year to get my first bend. So patience is a good hint.
Greetings from Germany
Yes I think it's tempting (in an age of instant gratification) to expect good results immediately. Well done Mario! Cheers. Liam
The 'Yeee -Yooo' bending advice was worked for me. First I only practiced -3', -4' half step bending. It was OK, for the blues scale at 2nd position. I realized I had to practice harmonica, bending, rhythm, ... every day.
I have been learning the harp for 15 months and practising bending for 12 (almost daily). I use a tuner app to check pitch frequency. I can reach most of the semitone draw bends and the full note bend on 3d but can only get down about 3/4 the way for the others which is very frustrating, particularly for 2d full step (F on C harp). A lot of 'straight' songs need bends for the missing notes in the bottom register so I play these songs to practice them. The bend tone quality (lack of!) stands out notwithstanding the gentle draw approach. (The elephant is not in the room , its on the end of the straw!). I have several different brands of harps over the common keys and find them similar for bending with a slight edge to Lee Oskar. I must have viewed all the bending videos on You Tube several times over but haven't found the magic bullet! "Hope springs eternal".... .
Almost every UA-cam teacher gives variations (not conflicting) advice on how to bend. I'm a 4-month newbee, so just doing for experience at the moment: only on 4 bend. I found the lesson from Christelle Berthon very useful; even if she admits her English can sometimes be hard to follow!! She says "Imagine you are very thirsty (2 days in the desert without water) and you are trying to drink a large bottle of water through a very narrow straw". I used that image to shape my tongue, and after 15 or 20 seconds of 'adjustment' I manage to get there. Like Peter Brown I use a tuner app to make sure I'm getting it; even though my app says C# and not Db
Haha, I've not seen Christelle's video so I hadn't heard that explanation - fantastic! Cheers. Liam
Thanks not bending yet but glad to get the info.
No worries Olivia! Cheers. Liam
Great vid Liam, I'm guilty of impatient bending myself haha I'm going to be paying more attention to it
Nice one Josh, good luck :) Cheers. Liam
Fantastic explanation!! this really made alot of sense thanks 🙏 looking forward to applying it. (especially with those 2 and 3 hole bends) 🤘
Glad it was helpful Bryan!
Hi Liam. Another good lesson - like a lot of other beginners I probably 'heave'. I am fine on all the bends apart from the dreaded 3 hole. I can mostly bend it all the way but the full note step eludes me at the moment. One exercise I keep repeating is do, re, me, scale from 1 blow. It requires that bend (and one on the 2). We all know when that scale sounds right so it is an easy reference that you can clearly hear when the 3 bend is right or wrong. Back to the woodshed....
Yes the major scale (do-re-me...) is a great exercise - good idea Andy! Cheers. Liam
Thanks Liam, sound advice as always. I still struggle with bends especially when jumping straight into a bent note and making it sound reasonable without stray squeaks! The three draw is a common bend which I think is the note of A on a C harp. As you say, keep practicing and relax 👍
Yes Carl, the full step bend on 3 draw (A on a C harp) is a tricky one. Patience, patience, patience! Cheers. Liam
Having exactly the problem you explained. Sometimes ok but often inconsistent with my bending. Trying to lighten the draw volume. See how that goes. Thanks a lot have subscribed.
You're welcome, Rob, thanks for watching and good luck! Cheers. Liam
Newbie here. I can cheat bend with my bottom lip. I have moved my tongue and mouth every which way but loose without and bend to be found. I will keep trying. Thanks as always for the good info. 👍
Very good video! Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
After 6 months I can halfstep draw bend on 2,4 and 6. Really struggling on the 3 and the whole step bends. I also hit an 8 blowbend on accident without knowing what I was doing., which I now can do pretty easily
Yes, I had success in 2nd hole, both F# and F. But I'm forcing the air and I'm still trying to bend notes in other holes too.
Great information
Glad it was helpful Tony! Cheers. Liam
What’s on the last line of the T-shirt:
Harmonica
Blow
Draw
??
Blow
Draw
Blow
There could be more lines though.
4th line is also draw
Hi Henk, you can see the full T-shirt here: teespring.com/blow-draw-blow-draw-harp
I'm able to draw bend on 1, 2, and 4, but when I try to get a full step on 3 (to get the 6th) It sounds like a dying duck. I will try the whisper breathing.
Was sort of waiting for it, I should say.
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Hi, I’ve just bought a seydel session key E and my bending on hight notes are so bad, the sound continues switching from two notes and sometimes seems like roseau is stuck. This doesn’t happen with harmonic in g key. Do you think that is hardest on the highest keys or my new armonica is defected?
I started learning harmonica while locked up at home for Christmas because of COVID 😭 found a 5$ harmonica in a drawer, and quickly wanted to learn bends with your videos. I *think* I've got it, but when I bend, the note dims, like if the hole is plugged, and the harmonica starts to whistle horribly, very high pitch, I have no idea what's going on 😂. I don't know if it's because I suck at bending, or because the harmonica is too crappy, maybe a bit of both 😁... I ordered a marine band, should arrive on the 28th, we'll see if it makes a difference ! Anyway, thanks so much for the videos!!
Hey Bruno, welcome to the world of harmonica. I think a Marine Band will make bending a lot easier for you. Best of luck! 😎
Very good!
Hi, thank you for this video. This is exactly my case, but...:) I don't understand what do you mean by being patient. Because my bending sounds weird, but when I use tuner I can produce all bending notes. But all of them sound weird and I am sure that is not correct. I am relaxed but still I am not able to play quietly, because I feel that air escapes somewhere (I can hear that air, but no tunes). So what do you mean by being patient in my state? Because keep playing all notes correctly by tuner is seems wrong to me. And I am still trying to play silently and shape my mounth correctly, but there is any sign of progress. So I don't know if there are place to be patient and keep doing only wrong things:)
Thank you for your help (and all your videos). I walk trough more online courses, but maybe it is time to take some private lesson to get better.
Great vid. I like your advice. Just play. I'm happy with my bends but can always work on ombiture. Pardon my spelling. I go by the old rule. Harp to mouth. Thanks.
Thank you so much for your lessons!!!!!!
You're welcome :)
wow this topic i m waiting for🙏🏻❤️
Please traducción en español!🙏
my Bends on 1,2,4 and 6 are Ok, but i just cant get it on the 3. Its way more airy and harder.
Don't understand, I put a comment and don't see it. I gave friends harmonicas players the info that the great Sébastien Charlier had released a very good method that makes it easy to do all the bends and overnotes easily. You can find it on the Internet.
I'm doing OK, and this is a good hint. I am mainly now having trouble controlling the beds on the higher Harps, say an E or an F. Even a Db i seem to have a bit of an issue, though less so. It seems to be very hard to get it to bend at all (the straight draw note is playing well though) and then when i do, it's going down to the full bend immediately. Any thoughts?
Hi rumplefish63, I find it helps to think of bending low notes as weightlifting because it involves big mouth shape changes and can feel like a huge effort. The higher harps (and especially the high bends on them) are more like handling fine china. If you pull too hard, it won't respond. It's about finding that delicate sweet spot to get the notes to move. Hope this helps! Cheers. Liam
@@Learntheharmonica Thanks. I'll try that mindset. Any one else having similar trouble a good practice tune is the melody for And I Love Her by The Beatles, 1st position on a E harp.
Coincidentally this is exactly how I’ve been working on bends recently having seen a Joe Filisko video on the topic. He says that you should be able to bend throughout your full dynamic range. My 3” still sounds fairly awful though - really breathy.
Same...Both foghorn and breathy. I can't fix it >
I can sort of get the 3 draw 1 1/2 step bend, hitting each note accurately going up, or down is tricky. But, I never know if it's my technique, or the harmonica.
My Easttop A is a bit easier than my Suzuki C, and I thought C was suppose to be 'easier' than A? I'm a guitar guy, not a harp guy, but i lOVE blues harp and just want to play some 'bluesy' type bends etc. I'm tempted to get a couple of different brands in the same key of C just to find out.
They really are not much money, compared to the thousands of $$$ I've spent on guitars...but then again, why spend needlessly?
There's no exact science to these things, so if the A is easier for you then go for it 😎 Hohner Special 20 is a quality affordable instrument but Seydel, Suzuki, Lee Oskar and others make great harps too.
@@Learntheharmonica Thank you for the reply!
Hi there! Just have a question. I really and still suck at bending it, is it because mine is cheaper?
It might be technique, but the cheapest harmonicas are very difficult to bend. It's definitely worth getting a quality harp, such as a Hohner Special 20 or equivalent. You get what you pay for!
Thanks I'll comeback when I get more pricey one.
I love listening to your accent. Also it’s like you made this for me. My bends sound like poop
I'm a northern mind-reader!
LearnTheHarmonica.com that you must be! I’m putting it out there. One day I’m gonna get the hang of this thing and get a band together and open for the Liam Ward band or the Jake leg jug band.
Hi Liam, thanks as always for the advice! is there any chance you would do a lesson on the song Its got old by the band king gizzard an the lizard wizard? the use of harmonica by them is what sparked my harp journey. and i would love to hear what you think of Ambrose Kenny Smith the bands harp player.
Hi Owen, I'll check it out. The band name rings a bell, perhaps you or others have asked about them before :) Cheers. Liam
The dieing-cow-sound 🐃
Nice, one of the top 3 harmonica channels commentimg on a video from another top 3 harmonica channels
@@astone612 Who's the other one of the 3 channels?
@@eraldylli Tomlin Leckie
I can’t get a single note unless I tongue block, and I can’t get my head round tongue blocking and bending?
Same with me. I cannot bend while tongue blocking.
Hiya Mario, hope you’re well? Can you play a single note without tongue blocking?
If ur playing everyday it shouldn’t take a year right
Led Zeppelin - Nobody's Fault But Mine
Hi liam the 1 thumbs down must be round the bend great lesson again
The biggest reason is that people play sharper or flatter. It's like getting the note on violin
i only use this thing to create nasty sounds