Breathing on the Harmonica

Unlike other wind instruments (which are blow only), we create music on both the exhale and inhale—we literally breathe music. You would think that we would play inhales and exhales somewhat equivilantly, but it turns out that the choice notes for 2nd Position (our most common position for blues harmonica), especially as we add more bending in our playing as we advance, has us playing ~90% of the time inhaling. Due to this imbalance of breathing, techniques are needed to deal with dynamically getting rid of air.

In this lesson I'll show you how: diaphragmatic breathing works; to get rid of more air before you begin to play; to exhale silently around the harmonica, or through the harmonica to use the breath as a pickup; to use breathing through the harmonica as a rhythmic device (think Little Walter); and finally to exhale through your nose silently while you play blow notes.

This lesson is for players who have finished Tongue Block Study 2 and Bending Study 1. You will need an A Harmonica for this study.

To dig into this lesson go to https://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/breathing_harmonica