How long till you had even a small success at bending?
I'm working on LOA 2 studies, and I thought I'd give it a go to start to learn to bend yesterday. Like many of you I'm sure, I had no success at all at first, leading me to think "will I ever get it?" I feel with patience and perseverance it'll eventually happen, probably all of a sudden. I'm just curious the amount of time until you had even the smallest success at getting a bent note. Also, what hole on the "A" or "C" harp did you have initial success with? I know David says "you'll eventually get it, you just don't know when", and I'm trying to keep that I'm mind, and not get frustrated. I guess I'm seeking some encouragement from my fellow players.
Thanks.
Thanks RB for the quick and informative response. I'll keep your suggestions in mind while i practice my bending. I'm glad you got such quick results.Seems like it's going to be a little more of a struggle for me, but with Dave's instruction, your advice , and a lot of experimentation, I'm sure I'll get it eventually.
Anybody else want to weigh in, especially those of you that didn't experience immediate results?
I don't remember how long it took but my first good bend was hole 4 and I learned that bend while I was still using the "pucker" method and it involved pulling the back of my tongue up toward the roof of my mouth and the front of my tongue away from the harmonica. Probably took me several weeks of listening/watching the DVD that I had and lots of frustration. But like RB said little movements can cause big changes so make your tongue changes slowly and experiment and listen as you go and all of a sudden - there it is. Probably not great, but there was a bend! Then came tongue blocking and it took me several weeks again to learn to bend while the tip of the tongues stayed on the harp. I didn't think I could do it and became very frustrated but with practice and watching Davids teaching and even going to youtube and looking up harmonica tongue block bends and listening/watching other players try to explain it, I eventually was able to do it and now after many months of practice I can bend notes tongue block or pucker. My 3 hole is the worst, having difficulty hitting 3 whole step bend accurately and quickly. I don't have it yet (and I've been playing for about 2 years!) and don't know when I will. I do know I need to work on it daily, but haven't done so yet. My bad. You keep at it and maybe not spend hours per day trying to bend, but at least 10 - 20 minutes every day working on bending. It will happen. Don't give up!
....for responding, all the suggestions, and the encouragement. I actually plan to spend about 15-20 minutes a day practicing bending. I only spent a couple hours at it the other night partly out of sheer frustration as I've been able to play every technique so far with little effort until I started to try bending. I guess I'm one of those people that will have to spend months to get it and that's okay. I realize it'll probably take years to master. I have to remind myself that there's no rush, and to enjoy the journey.
Everybody's experience is unique, and it takes the time it takes. Frustrating, I know, but it doesn't help to worry about time.
Some good advice so far, and I'm going to add two more ideas.
- When you bend, you tune your mouth to the bent note. When your mouth is tuned, you can hear the note in the flow of air if you take the harmoncia away. T Your tongue shapes your oral cavity into tune, and then activates the bend with the placement of the K-spot - the place where your tongue "pinches the pipe" to change the dynamic of the airflow.
- Sometimes, despite all the stuff about tongue placement and conscious control of body parts, it can help to let your intentions drive the car. Listen to a good, clear example of the note being bent (for instance, Draw 4 on a specific key of harp such as C or A). Get that in your mind's ear, and make that your intent - to make that sound. Then pick up the harp and let your intent work below the conscious level to make that sound happen when you start to play.
Thanks Winslow. More excellent sounding advice. I'm not really fixated on time, it's just that I know some people get bends to sound fairly quickly, and it's just that all the various techniques I've learned in the past 7 months have come pretty easily. I just didn't realize that it can take others' a very long time. I will definitely keep your advice in mind as I practice. I really appreciate your suggestions. I know it will take whatever time it takes. Bending being such an important tecnique in blues harp playing, I'm just a bit disappointed I haven't gotten it yet. All the advice I've received will surely help, and when I get bending, I'll probably wonder what the big deal was ;)
This is definitely rather bad style and technique but it might work to get to experience on how it sounds and feels like when bending a note: Try to pucker (not tongueblock) a clean 4 draw on an A or C harp. Relax your lips keep the tone sounding and slowly tilt the back of the harp upwards. This leads to the aperture to narrow and cover some portion of hole #4 with your lower lip. This also changes the way of air flowing and will initiate a bend. Most often just before all the air is blocked. For me this was the way I got my first bend, back in the old days when I didn't know nothing about good style, let alone tongueblocking.
Perhaps this helps you just to get a feeling. Then try to imitate the sound by bringing your tongue up instead of tilting the harp upwards and afterwards try the same while tongueblocking. That's pretty much the thing Winslow suggested.
When I switched from puckering to tongueblocking I was unable to bend any more although it was real easy with puckering. Took me some weeks to get the hang of it, so don't get nevous.
Thanks for your input Grumpelhuber. I'll give that a whirl.
I can't say for sure how long it took me to bend. But, before taking lessons at BluesHarmonica.com, when i was playing the harp casually, on and off for many years, I could notice that I could change the pitch without realizing what was happening or that tones I heard could be played for actual notes.
David Barrett's explaination and demonstration of tounge position for each note-hole was a huge boot. It was a matter of weeks that I got the hang of it.
I'm still working on it.
...for sharing your particular experience. Perhaps that's how John Lee Williamson and the other early blues harp pioneers discovered bending. Thankfully we have David's instruction and MRI work to guide us. I think I'm making a tiny bit of progress on this, my third day at studying how to bend. It seems like I can get maybe an 8th step bend on all 6 holes. 5 hole was the first, 1 hole is the deepest. I'm trying to get a sense of where my tongue is in my mouth, but it's difficult as expected. But as they say, "perseverance furthers"
I do remember my extreme joy when I bent my first note and realized i did it. Like scoring a goal in hockey I jumped for joy as that rarely happens. Try Whistling and paying attention to the movements of your tongue on the roof of your mouth while going up and down tones. As Winslow explained, the tones you are shaping in your mouth are created by the oral cavity and your tongue position. You will probaly notice your jaw moves back and forth too.
Eventually you will discover there is a spot on the roof of your mouth your tongue needs to be at to create the bend. Some call it the K Spot. Once you find it you'll know it. Once you get the first one, practice it a lot and the others will fall into place as your technique improves over time.
I like to think of bending as playing the bent note as accurately as I can as, after all, it is a note and then it is not so much of a mysterious thing.
Perhaps you have now gained the ability to whistle while inhaling? if not yet... you will.
John
i can whistle low to high and high to low while inhaling. I can feel my tongue move somewhat. It's a very subtle feeling. I can feel it mainly at the extremes. I know when I finally achieve a good bent note, I'll have a reaction similar to yours. I hope I don't spike my harp like if I had just scored a touchdown ;)
well it took me about 3-4 months to get my first ones....and I looked at a number of different ways pepole taught it. I got my first bends with the pucker....and at first my mind was telling me it was about how hard I inhaled...so I was sucking the hell out of the harp...lol...but I did get a bend....then I linstneed to folks who talked about tongue position...and it took a bit but then I was able to get even a soft bend....I am by no means now an expert...but what haepled me was to do whatever I had to do to get that first bend...and then tweak it....I went on youtube and listened to a number of folks telling me different ways of getting there...
and...I finally...I coudnl't bend tongue blocked until after doing it puckered for a while....
...for your reply. Winslow was right in saying "it takes the time it takes". I've made some progress over the last couple of weeks. I just purchased the Harp Ninja program, and was immediately able to go a little deeper on the holes that I have had some success with. I found a few YouTube videos as well that look like they might be helpful, but haven't spent time with them yet. I now know, having finally a little bit of success, that I'll get it eventually. I'm not as frustrated as when I originally started this thread. I am appreciative to everyone who has responded.
I got my first 4' bend in 10 minutes. 2',3', 3''' and 6' in 1 hour.1' and 2'' took me a week.Still working on controlled 3", it's inconsistent.
I do not think it's about time. It is about variety of experimentation. You can put a lot of experiments in one day. Just be careful as very little movements cause big changes in sound, you can miss the bend.I found my path trhough articulation: "aaaa" vs "eeee" vs "uuuu" vs "kk-uu" vs "ggg-uu", etc.
So my advice is to try all tongue positions, in small increments.
Ah, and don't suck forcefully - it will ruin the bend. Stay relaxed and consistent while experimenting.