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Building Harmonica Technique Volume 1 & 2
by; David Barrett

Bending & Tone

This month I want to focus on bending and tone. It's clearly evident that the more control a player has over bending the better they can execute a song they're studying and the faster they can play.

Not only is bending to the proper pitch important, the tone of your bends must be good as well. If your bends sound airy or thin in tone, you'll want to experiment with your tongue location to achieve the best tone as possible.

The following song will really give you a bending workout. Some of the bends will be very challenging, though the slow tempo of this song will make it accessible. The tone is full and round-try to imitate it. Take your time and give yourself at least three months to work on this song. Work on one chorus at a time (12 bars).

Note the use of a lighter (unbent) 3 draw for the head. This gives room to build as the song goes on with a more bluesy presentation of the 3 draw. Pay attention that your 3 draw half step bend (3') is at proper pitch for the IV chord. Also note that where pulls are notated, they are best played where the tongue just lifts off the face of the harmonica for a rounder, softer sound (we don't want the articulation of the pull for this songs).

This is a slight variation of the head.

Drop your jaw and tongue as well as opening your throat to play the 1 draw with as big of a tone as possible. Play the chords starting in measure three very softly.

Drop your jaw and open your throat to help the 2 draw whole step bend (2") sound with good tone. Raising your tongue from the root will give you a deeper bend than moving the middle of the tongue back. The bends used for the V-IV-I lick (measures nine and ten) will be very challenging-though worth the work. This type of lick is used by great players and arpeggiates the notes of the chord you're playing over (plays the notes of the chord one after another). This type of bending usage is key to becoming an advanced player.

Note the use of the open and closed cup on the IV chord (measures five and six). For the closed cup simply play with your hands closed-cupping as much sound as possible in your hands for a muted sound. For the open cup simply play with your hands open-giving you a brighter sound. This works well for acoustic (playing in front of a vocal microphone) or amplified (cupping a bullet microphone through a tube amplifier-like what is used for this recording).

The second beat of the first measure brings a new technique called a Cut. A cut is the opposite of a dip. Start the note unbent and then bend it quickly for a sharply articulated lowering of pitch. This is notated with an upside down "V."

Keep your volume down to accompany John Garcia on guitar here. When playing amplified, cup up more to achieve a more bassy tone. If playing acoustic, close your cup more and play closer to the mic.

This is a nice relaxed chorus to help bring the head back.

The head returns to end the song.