Interesting! I will have to try this. I learned Whammer Jammer, so blow bending is relatively easy (and fun!) now.
My ‘A’ harp is a Lee Oscar, so I am not sure how overblowing it will turn out.
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@Micahel_M welcome to the forum my friend! Yes I’ve come to think about my tongue kind of like a the slide of trombone moving back to go lower and forward to go higher. Such a game changer. Thanks for your comment. Rock on! 
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I have my share of bad days but these are the days I learn the most as mistakes can be converted to learning experiences. I play sports and like the harp everyone has their bad days. Even the very best MLB pitchers can toss a no hitter one day and get shelled and benched before the second inning is finished four days later. No one has to like it but anything that is worth doing experiences this. Does not mean we have to like it just accept it.
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Yep everyone has those bad days where nothing you do seems right. Best thing to do is just to put it down and do something else
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Sports and music. How do you explain what i call “beginner’s advantage.” Thats where, for instance, you throw darts for the very first time, and you nail it like you’ve done it all your life. Then someone says; “Let’s play” and now all of a sudden you can’t even hit the board and the house pets are in danger. Most people have experienced this at one time or in some way. I tried to take it apart so we can understand the elements that make it work so we can utilize that power. Ive come up with a few directions that seem to have some good results, but I’m really interested in your take on this Scott, or some experiences from others. - Corky
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I really compare playing music to Martial arts, something I’ve been doing since I was a child. It takes the same amount of discipline, repetition, visualisation, dedication. Respect for those who’ve gone before. Breathing, posture. There’s literally a ton of commonalities
To be able to hold a balancing position in the physical arts relies on some of the same elements that show up in beginners advantage. You have to know, exactly and precisely where your focus should be. That’s the key to maintain a state of higher awareness and skill. In 50 years of conducting workshops on expression i found the focus. It became clear that the participants were consistently able to harness powerful elements of beginners advantage by turning their attention to making sure there was a constant flow of dynamic variation within a large range. That’s not a difficult skill to master but hard to remember. It also demands so much concentration that the player slips into the zone (where ideally one would like to be when performing music). It’s quite astonishing. The attention moves to intensity variation where expression and musicality live. That in turn creates dynamic variation where expression is observed. And then you are automatically focused on the controlling factors of music performance of touch, motion, pressure, The amazing physical dance that is required to play the harmonica ie the touch, pressure and motion, of tongue, lips, face muscles, throat … completely control the sound coming out -and the result of keeping the intensity constantly flowing from delicate to forceful locks in the mind to one point. The improvement of tone, musicality, technique, fulfillment and fun is nothing less then astounding. That’s been my experience in experimenting with workshop participants for 50 years. As Charlie Musselwhite always says “I ain’t lying.” The simple version is; Focus your attention on playing with a constant flow of dynamic variation (flowing like the waves on the ocean) within an extreme dynamic range from extremely delicate to forceful . From that, all good things arise - almost immediately. I’m going home now. LOL! - your cousin Corky
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Hi all,
I started bending exercises 3 weeks ago, after viewing Luke’s video several times, as well as numerous other videos from other teachers. I can bend 1/2/3 quite easily, although not with a great sound yet (still quite muffled), but absolutely nothing on 4 and 6, except if I suck the air very forcefully, which I understand is not correct. I have tried every possible tongue position (except behind my ears) but nothing does the trick. I really struggle to figure out what else I could do to get some result with these holes. Any magical tips out there?
Best
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Check the reed gaps. It is possible that on holes 4 and 6 the gaps are too large.
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I agree also check for air tightness. Reed plates are flat ( they are not always that way when they leave the factory)
Thanks guys. I checked and double-checked with a friend who is an experienced player … reed gaps are ok. Frustration turns into discouragement after putting many hours into this. Maybe I am just not done for bending 
NO. That’s what I thought. I was wrong.
- Can your friend bend using this harmonica? I know it’s generally considered unhygienic to swap harps, but here this could be informative for “just this once.”
- Initially, I was unable to bend (was using seydel session standard), I don’t want to blame it all on it though, since I wasn’t having much luck at first and thought I needed to tune it/gap it, and I think that may have actually made it worse. Getting a hohner special 20 solved the issue - otherwise, I’d always have thought that “I can’t do it”
- as a lip purser, I found that covering some of the hole opening with my lower lip helped.
- If all else fails, ignore all the advice from various youtube videos, just sit with the bend it better ™ tool and keep experimenting and making various shrill noises- you’ll get there. Eventually, you’ll be able to do the bends without being loud, but the initial stage is rather violent for the harmonica, and that’s ok - that’s the price of learning.
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Great advice
Thank you very much for your input!
I have a Special 20 as well and my friend easily bends it.
The breaking news is that since yesterday I can bend hole 4 almost every time and 1/2/3 keep improving. Very happy about it 
What helped me a lot in combination with Luke’s B2B video is two free youtube videos from Liam Ward (learntheharmonica.com), which I would recommend to anyone struggling with bends.
Next challenge will be to be able to insert bends in songs at a decent speed. Given the control it requires I am very far from there, but there is eventually light at the end of the tunnel!
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congrats man! keep at it!
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@kefferic - we’ve all been there! But the important thing is not giving up, as you’ve seen! Playing them in time will also be a process, but you’ll get there if you keep trying! Rock on!
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Recently I’ve been trying a different exercise for my draw & blow bends.
Naturally I have always practiced bends by practicing them like
- -3 -3’ -3’’ -3’‘’ for draw bends
- or 10 10’ 10’’ for blow bends
Bends are in fact a note lower so the next note after +3 is -3’‘’. So recently I have been switching my practice as follow
- +3 -3’‘’ -3’’ -3’ -3 for draw bends
- or -10 10’’ 10’ 10 for blow bends
It’s much harder but hopefully will help me better control my bends.
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Yep! Up and down are both good! Total versatility is the goal. Keep up the good work!
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