Bending

[Big Mamma Thornton]

#23401

So I have been trying to practice the Great Lakes Blues for our musical get together. I had not noticed before but all my draw notes sound very airy.They sound all full of air and my notes are very weak. Maybe this is why I cannot get the proper tones when I do my draw Bends that I have posted about before. Also my blow holes 2 3 and 4 seem to be sticky and don’t want to play smoothly anymore. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated to beat this problem.

[Big Mamma Thornton]

#23404

I added an audio of my draw bends for your consideration and scrutiny. Please feel free to give any kind of advice because this is really beginning to piss me off not being able to bend

[Rooftop Cat]

#23406

Hey! I’ll see what I can do here.

“draw notes sound very airy”
You certainly got bends going and that can be a big hurdle, so good job! Bending is just like sucking something through a straw – depending on how large the object (reed) is and the straw circumference (embouchure), you’ll need more/less force/pressure. Difference is with harmonica, instead of having the tongue assist with the sucking action, we first align the tongue and then inhale. Thin tone will get better as your tongue and embouchure strengthens. Focus on breathing from your diaphragm and less from the front of your mouth – the larger the resonator, the fatter the tone (the less volume you provide from within your mouth cavity / esophagus, the less sound quality is produced). Might be more noticeable if you play a chord – try inhaling -1-2-3-4 together, once with your tongue closer to the roof of your mouth and then again with your tongue depressed down to the bottom of your mouth. Try a similar embouchure for the single notes.

Counterintuitively, relax your face. The muscle at work for bends is the tongue.

Personally, I feel what got me to better understand better tone was trying the tremolo on 2-draw. The slightest variations and tone is lost. Pulsating the 2-draw and following it up with a +1+2+3+4 blow got me to hear the tonal thinning when I tried to adjust back to pulsating the 2-draw. This is Gussow’s method to learn vibrato.

When bending, try to incrementally hit each cent inbetween your bending interval. Yes, you will want the muscle memory for attacks, but you ultimately want a fluidity in your note transitions, whether small or large tongue movements.

You shot straight from -3 to -3″. Try practicing a lick like “Mary Had a Little Lamb” {-3 -3′ -2 -3′ -3}. -3′ is a very slight change from -3, so chaining nearby tones will help you better discern. Transitioning in and out of bends different ways is necessary to build your muscle memory to chain licks together. Once you start becoming more familiar with where your tongue should be positioned, it becomes second nature, to an extent. At this point, it’s mostly about more practice imo.

Sounded like you may have released -4′ early by accident. Try holding the bends, at the end of their range (when activating the blow reed solely), and incremental cents in-between (when activating both reeds).

Keep harpin’ and you’ll get ‘er! All you need is just to continue to practice around with it. With persistence, practice will become pleasure. Some days I pick up the harmonica and play the thing I was practicing some weeks before, but this time, instead of playing it as an exercise, I’ll incorporate it as a lick.

“blow holes 2 3 and 4 seem to be sticky”
Off a hunch, I suspect it’s moisture. Hold the right side of the harmonica and tap out the moisture (on your palm/leg). Possible there’s debris on the reed, in which case it needs to be cleaned. Careful not to exhale too much pressure or you’ll blow out a reed. The pressure going out should be the same going in. Sometimes you’ll hear a harpist blow +3 at the start of a song in 2nd position, so they can get their bearings on the -2 inhale, where the exact same pressure is needed, except in the reverse direction.

[Rooftop Cat]

#23408

Whoops my mistake – just realized the second note of Mary Had a Little Lamb goes past the 3′ and into the full 3″ lol. My point was: a lick something like -4 -3 -3′ -2 -1 (D B Bb G B) should be a useful exercise – s.t. everything is a clean draw except -3′.

Here’s another: ||: +4 +3 -3 -2 :|| ||: +4 +3 -3′ -2 :||

[CC]

#23409

Hi Rooftop Cat,

I am keeping this in mind even I am not doing bending yet at this time., However, when I do lesson 5, I would like to try exercises you suggested.

You wrote, ”

My point was: a lick something like -4 -3 -3′ -2 -1 (D B Bb G B) should be a useful exercise – s.t. everything is a clean draw except -3′.

Here’s another: ||: +4 +3 -3 -2 :|| ||: +4 +3 -3′ -2 :||

”

Question, with -4 -3 -3′ -2 -1 (D B Bb G B ), shouldn’t -1 be D instead of B?

It will be great, if you would add a sound track for your exercises. Using my ear to do these exercises will be beneficial. Thanks very much!

CC

[Rooftop Cat]

#23413

Hey, CC! Yes you are correct, -1 is D, not B. Good catch. Furthermore, thank you for asking me for audio – I did a few takes on these to correct mistakes of my own: https://soundcloud.com/swingin-on-the-spiral/sets/draw-bending-discussion

Definitely go through Mitch’s exercises first, because I’m by no means a teacher, but I noticed you both are ambitious and eager, so I figured my 2 cents may be worth something, and talking these things out helps solidify my own understanding too.

On a C Diatonic: here’s a common movable lick from holes 4 to 1. First go around, the 3 draw is clean. Second time around, hit the flat 3rd for a more minor tonal center (that’s the -3′ in 2nd position):
||: -4 -4′ -3 -2 :|| ||: -4 -4′ -3′ -2 :||

This one is good to practice to insure you’re exhaling with similar pressure as your inhales.
||: +4 +3 -3 -2 :|| ||: +4 +3 -3′ -2 :||

The 3-draw for “Mary had a Little Lamb” moves down a further half step than the prev exercises into the -3″
||: -3 -3″ -2 -3″ || -3 -3 -3 _ || -3″ -3″ -3″ __ || -3 -4 -4 _ ||
|| -3 -3″ -2 -3″ || -3 -3 -3 -3 || -3″ -3″ -3 -3″ || -2 __ __ _ :||

Getting your bearings around the 3-draw is important, because it has the widest bending range on Richter-tuned diatonics. You’re ultimately trying to chain together different tongue positions / embouchure in a pleasant, smooth fashion. Try each note or phrase separately and then chain them together. The better your understanding of where you can move one lick to another is like scaffolding for improv.

Best,
Ryan

[Rooftop Cat]

#23415

This is one of the first “chains” from holes 2 to 3 that I heard and attempted and “made sense” to me personally:
-2″ -2′ -3″ -2

I opened my cup at -2′ for emphasis.

Lick from James Cotton – Slow Blues

If you get all the cents inbetween from -2″ to -2′, and sleekly slide from -2′ to -3″, yeah, that’s the good stuff right there. And returns to a clean home tremolo/vibrato. Only very slight variations in the tongue to produce that lick. If you get the microbends and when go go from hole to hole just right w/o it sounding choppy, it makes alllll the difference.

Really it all comes down to doing the steps/exercises, practice, listening to other players, mimicking, recording, listening to yourself, … In time we’ll get there.

[Big Mamma Thornton]

#23416

Rooftop

Thank you for writing that stuff down, and for putting those licks on SoundCloud. I learn best by Visual and listening followed by practice. I saw what you were talking about and now I know what it’s supposed to sound like so now I can try to mimic what you did.

I appreciate the time that you put into answering some of my questions. The best part is you don’t sound like a textbook LOL!

[Big Mamma Thornton]

#23475

Hey! Just a quick update.

Rooftop…you wont believe how much your ” Mary had a little lamb ” idea helped me. Seriously, I got a break-through. practicing that helped me gain a lot of control in the pitch of my bends.

Thank You Buddy!

[Big Mamma Thornton]

#23476

I am now working on my “Blues” scale!!

[Rooftop Cat]

#23478

That’s awesome! The micro intonations really do make the difference. Dialing them in takes time. I do remember hearing how strong your attack was on the 3″ your prev recording, so I had no doubts! I’m happy you made the break through you needed! You’ll be runnin up and down scales in no time. Keep on harpin bud!

[Big Mamma Thornton]

#23526

Moving to the top

[CC]

#23545

Thanks Ted for this move. I have found it.

Ryan,
While waiting for my new post for step 5 to come out, I began to practise Lick from James Cotton – Slow Blues from you. I am not sure I should wait till after Step 6 is done, but I gave it a try anyway. It sounded choppy for sure but I think I can do -2″ -2′, the worst one is to slip to -3″. It is a good exercise.

[Rooftop Cat]

#23561

Hey CC,
I find it useful as an exercise for myself too. Transitioning from the -2′ to the -3″ and back should make it easier to dial in exactly when to stop at -2′ from the -2″. Double stop bends are a lot of fun on holes 2-3 and 3-4 and are so rich. I like it esp on the lower key harps too… 2-4 fat reeds buzzing at slower frequency… feels like a little motor inside my mouth lol.

Mitch talks about these bends in Step #7. Cheers :)

[Rooftop Cat]

#23902

So…for clarity… the “motor inside my mouth” sound I’m referring to is actually called the “difference tone,” and is just that, the difference of the frequencies between the two notes from the double stop. The harmonica holds all sorts of hidden notes, doesn’t it?! :)

I’d also like to follow up on the feel of this thread. A few months ago I was browsing youtube and heard Aki Kumar do this really cool William Clarke-like swing sounding lick:

||:
-3 -4 -3
-3′ -4 -3′
-3″ -4 -3″
-3′ -4 -3′
-3 -4 -3 -4 -5 +4 -3
:||

This one took me a while to get to sound half-decent, but with it under my belt now, I feel a more fluid connection when going from any 3-draw bend to a clean 4-draw. Gotta be one of the coolest and most fun-to-play harmonica licks I’ve heard yet.

Same concept can be applied when going from some 3-draw to a clean left hole. A lick that comes to mind – 30 secs into Evan’s Shuffle by Little Walter:
||: -3′ -2 -3″ :||

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