By: Jonathan Tumalban
Most blues harp players would agree that bending notes is the essence of blues music. Some would even say that bending the notes on a ten-hole diatonic harmonica is what blues is really all about. These clean, heartfelt sounds, drawn or blown by the blues harpist, give you that deep soulful feeling whenever you listen to blues music.
What is a bend and how is it produced on the harmonica? Ironically, bending is actually creating a distortion in the tune being played. It involves detuning the sound, making the note flat, then coming back to the original note. It may be a distortion or detuning, but it surely sounds good in blues music. Technically, bending causes the brass reeds inside the harmonica to flex and detune to the point of being flat. You can bend them a half step flat; you can even bend the 3 draw hole one and a half steps flat.
Bending can be achieved through a draw or a blow. However, most bends are drawn since the 10-hole diatonic harmonica has the hole numbers 1-6 for drawn bends and hole numbers 7-10 for blown bends. Because we bend from the higher note in each hole, in holes 1-6, the draw note is higher than the blow note, so we use draw bends. From 7 up, it’s the other way round, so we use blow bends.
When you’re draw bending, you have to vigorously and energetically draw the air in a way that actually distorts the reed, bends it out of shape and makes it go out of tune. You can enhance that effect by trying to tilt the harp up a little bit. Doing this changes the air flow direction, and helps bend the reed. You also can do it by arching your tongue, which is the way some musicians prefer as a means of making the bent notes sound better. By pressing the back of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth and creating a narrow passage way you can create an accelerated flow of air. This is often called a “jet stream” and you can affect the angle of this by moving the back of your tongue forward and backward along the roof of the mouth. Moving the tongue back and raising your soft palate (the soft tissue on the roof of the back of your mouth that is lifted when you yawn) you can bend the reeds lower in pitch.
It is possible to actually play two different reeds at the same time, or even three, and bend them all at the same time which gives you a big, distorted sound; then they all resolve back. So it takes a lot of air power in reverse; you’re actually drawing the air back in and then you’re bending the reeds.
To blow-bend a note on a harp, be aware that blow bends take place at the top end of the harp, which is a principally holes 8 to 10. You will also find a slight possibility in hole 7; however, as there is no semitone interval between the blow and draw note, this is officially not a bending hole. Top end reeds are shorter than the others so they need a lot more pressure in order to play an accurate bend.
Simulating a traditional whistle through your lips is a good technique in positioning your tongue and jaw when blow bending. Whistling a high note and lowering the pitch is similar to bending a blow reed by projecting your air shot through a hole in your harp. With your lips closely pursed, increase the air jet by breathing out from your diaphragm.
Experimenting on the above techniques on a low key harmonica will be the next best thing to do, to attain and sustain a blow bend note. Listen to real examples such as Jerry Portnoy’s “Home Hitter” and Magic Dick’s “Whammer Jammer.”
Be it a draw bend or a blow bend that you are trying to master, the above mentioned techniques are just the initial procedures used by other musicians. These may or may not work perfectly for you. The real secret is within you as a blues harpist. You may begin applying these procedures to your practice sessions then try to develop your own techniques in bending notes.
