Advanced Bending Techniques
The harder bends fall into three very different categories. The high exhaled bends, available as indicated above on the 8e, 9e, and 10e notes, require a very subtle change of tongue position to obtain, from the completely open throated configuration that allows the unbent note to occur, to a slightly obscured throat position that bends the note downward. To achieve this position, allow the middle portion of the tongue to approach the roof of the mouth, not too far back from where the upper front teeth join the gumline.
The brief lick following these examples on the recording demonstrates high exhale bending first position playing. It is quite difficult, and will be covered in a more advanced book.
The second category of harder bends involves learning to differentiate between the different levels of bending available on certain notes, such as the two bends of 2i, the three bends of 3i, and the two bends of 10e. These levels are often easier to obtain by bending the note to its most extreme degree, then slowly allowing the tongue to return to a relaxed position, as demonstrated on the recording.
Although it is useful to practice obtaining all of these partial bends, only the ones presented in Exercise 73 are commonly used in second position blues playing.
Often, when playing advanced blues harmonica, a note must be obtained already bent, that is, without going to the unbent note and then bending it down. This involves developing a very clear knowledge of where the tongue must be to produce the bent note, so that the proper position can be formed before inhaling or exhaling on the note. The most common notes which must sometimes be obtained without playing the unbent note first are as follows.
In a soft bend, the transition between the bent note and the unbent note is smooth and flowing, without any tonguing effect on either note. In a hard bend, a "da" or "ta" tonguing effect is used at the beginning of both the bent and the unbent note.
An excellent exercise for practicing hard and soft bends while jumping to a bend, is to make long or short rhythmic patterns by playing long sequences of bend and unbent notes from the same hole, as demonstrated on the recording in both hard then soft versions for each note from A to E, and by Bending Blues Riffs 7 and 8.
When this has been mastered, you may wish to learn combinations of bent and unbent notes that utilize different holes, as demonstrated by Bending Blues Riffs 11, 12, and 13.
Progressive Blues Harmonica Licks: Volume Two, Part Five
- You will find a more complete examination of bending, and additional bending licks of varying complexity in Part Five of Progressive Blues Harmonica Licks Volume Two.
