Bluesy silent night/ Help on my three bend

[Freddie]

#23563

https://app.box.com/s/5lkv8s3n49co2k4emsinpffqvzhmu7yf

Hey all,

I was playing silent night and decided to figure it out on the lower octave on my harp… which has been super fun and bluesy. I have been having trouble though getting the 3 hole bend to sound clear. It comes across muffled or a little stuck sounding or just unclear… you can hear it several times throughout, like on the word “round” in the song. So my question is to anyone out there… other than just playing it over and over again to try and get that note to sound more crisp… is there any thing I need to be doing differently?

Also if you here a really rogue note at 23 sec. that’s my cat meowing… lol!

[Freddie]

#23564

https://app.box.com/s/ywovnq7dunu2c9eybb0s5r4i7wg04eiy

Here is a shorter example of the one phrase repeated so you can hear the bend in question clearer

[Rooftop Cat]

#23565

Hey Shawn! Awesome!
Even after reading your comment about the rogue note, I still thought it was my own cat whining first play through haha. cute.

Maybe try to hold the 3″ longer… or proceed it with a dip from 3′”. Just some ideas.

I noticed my own 3-hole draw bends were more airy when followed after a 3-hole blow. Maybe I was using more pressure than necessary, but I took note of how -2 -3″ -2 sounded much worse than +3 -3″ +3. With some practice, I got it to sound similar. I think just a different approach gave me better perspective of how far off I was. Having +3 as a solid home was helpful to dial it in though, since otherwise, you’d also have to insuring a non-flattened 2-draw via a good, relaxed embouchure.

Happy Holidays!
~ Ryan

[Udo]

#23566

Hey Shawn,

Take it slooow ;-) Give your throat a way to adopt to this bend. If you pass over this bend too quickly your muscular memory can’t kick in but you always will be thinking while playing this bend. So give your self a rest – although you can play everything else really fast – for the sake of this bend slow the tune down.

Keep on harpin’

[CC]

#23569

Hi Shawn,

Would you kindly tell me which key you used? It did sound very bluesy and I love it. It sounded a bit rushed for a Silent Night kind of song. I have not played any Christmas song at all, so I just may take up this one if I can and follow you to learn from you and others.

[Freddie]

#23573

Thanks so much for taking the time to give some feedback Ryan, Udo, and CC… I really appreciate you taking a moment to listen and respond! It’s all really good advice… I’m gonna take it and revisit the bending exercise#9 on step 7 and will check back in with all of you with my progress.

and CC to answer your question it is a “C” harmonica. Silent night is probably my favorite Christmas song and I love playing it slow and sweet on the upper part of the harmonica and it sounds so good! But then I played it on the lower end of harp and apparently I love taking things out of their boxes too because I had a blast adding a bluesy swing to it!
Thanks again for all the feedback!

[Author]

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