Hi, I have a problem that I haven’t heard anyone else talk about. I’m a beginner, and I have a C harp and a G harp. On both of these, some of the draw notes are very hard to play in tune. The first three draws keep trying to drop down a half step. I don’t think they are out of tune, because if i try really hard they can play correctly. Also, when this problem occurs, a very high pitched but quiet screech sound comes from the reed.
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?
First, before we diagnose the problem. Let’s see what kind of harmonica you have. Because usually harps under $20USD are prone to do that.
If it’s a professional grade or decent quality, try to keep a relaxed embouchre and breathe from your diaphragm. My teacher actually gives a good tutorial on Bending in case you want to hear his take on it. Redirecting...
Both or my harmonicas are Lee Oskar, which I bought new for around 40 USD.
I will try being more relaxed to see if I can get more in tune.
Thanks for the advice, I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing
Most beginners also play much too strongly on both draw and blow notes. This is pretty much a perfect way to get poor sounding notes even on expensive harps. 
– Slim 
I used to have notes that I played out of tune most of the time (3 and 2 draw whole step bend especially), either bending too hard or not enough. The best way to fix this quickly in my opinion is to practice a scale including the note that’s causing you trouble using the “bend it better tool” to make sure that you’re hitting it right. You’ll have to be very mindful about it at first but as you practice the scale it will get easier.
In general, you have to learn to be mindful when you play (you need to be able to hear when you’re bending too hard) and slowly these problems will dissapear by themselves (at least that’s how it happened for me).
Good luck ! Hope my advice will be useful !
Try changing the size of the interior space of your mouth. You might have the back or middle of your tongue raised into the position that it should be for a bend. Try lowering or relaxing the back or middle of your tongue, even if tongue blocking. You might also be raising the back of the top of your throat, tensing the opening to your nose. Pretty much everything about the interior of the mouth will affect tone or cause notes to bend or unbend. A good practice is to breathe naturally in and out on a hole, focused on relaxed breathing and relaxing the lips, tongue, neck, cheeks, upper mouth, one by one. Play each direction as long as you can and just focus on the tone and how different things you do with your mouth affects the tone.
Radio
Draw softly and when you start make sure your tongue is flat and the tip near the back of your teeth. Slowly draw your tongue back while playing a 4 draw. As you move your tongue back it will rise and begin to reduce the size of the space the air is moving through your mouth. When you feel the air seemingly speed up say ka and the bend will activate once you get the process down. Its a sweet spot you will have to learn by practice… Just don’t draw too hard and experiment until you feel the air moving through when your tongue is close to the roof of your mouth and you feel the air speeding up. You will get there. That being said being able to activate a bend is step one and being able to control it to the point it sounds good when you play is another. I’ll let you know when get to this point but its gonna take significant practice and time. Hope this helps. Before starting this process say ka and you will feel the inside of your mouth moving toward the bend position. Make sure the tip of your tongue remains down and only the back portion raises up when moving the tongue back.
Scott
@radio Welcome to the four my friend. Lots of great responses here. Very normal problem at the beginning. How’s it coming along?