When I play A harmonica (Suzuki manji) -2 hole or G harmonica (MB deluxe) -3 hole the note is starting to bend even I am not trying to bend. All other holes seems to be OK. Also I have no problem on C and D harmonica.
I am playing almost 2 months and playing TB. I am able to bend all draw bends (not fully in tone but I can get there when practising). I can not find the proper position to play those holes correctly. Is there problem with my technique or can it be the issue with reed gaps?
It is your technique. The note produced when moving air causes a reed to vibrate never begins to bend (i.e. change pitch) until there is a change in your embouchure (mainly your tongue shape and position, jaw position, and the shape of your oral and pharyngeal cavity – all of which are actually interrelated).
While the reed gap does not bend a note, its size is important in several ways. If the gap is too small you will either not get the reed to move (= no sound at all) or, it will move and a sound will be produced at very light air pressure, but then with normal playing intensity the reed will “choke” and stop moving. If the reed gap is too large then you either need to use abnormally strong air pressure to produce a sound, or you again cannot produce any sound.
Reed gap sizes between these two extremes are what you want – but there is no “perfect” size, as this depends on how strongly you typically play your blow and draw notes.
Additional factors that are important for your specific problem:
You are using tongue blocking, which is considered by most players to make note bending more difficult to learn.
You have been playing for only a very short time, so your technique is still being learned and perfected.
Lower pitched tones are produced by reeds that have different dimensions and physical properties than the reeds for higher pitched tones. Some people learn bending (or even the playing of good constant notes) more quickly and easily on, for example, higher tuned harps (C, D or higher) and more difficult on the lower ones (e.g. A and lower). Of course there are people who are exactly the opposite as well !!
Having said all of the above, it might be the case that you mean something different than what you wrote:
I understand that to mean that “the pitch of the note changes” even though you are not trying to induce this change. However, you could also be saying that the pitch of the note is simply too low. If the latter is what you are saying, then the reed(s) doing this are simply out of tune. But again: the reed gap is not the culprit, but rather it is the reed tuning that needs to be adjusted (in this case raised slightly).
Hi Adam, this might be a long shot but if I understand your post correctly I would suggest the following: try relaxing your jaw and mouth while you tongue block. This is hard to do at first and I only learned much later on, but doing that and finding the right way to position your harmonica should resolve the issue. Keep up the hard work.
Thanks a lot for explanation. Good to hear that problem is on my side and not in harmonica. @Slim that’s correct I meant that the pitch of the note is too low. I am using bend it better tool to practice and it’s at the bottom of tone.
Should I focus on those notes when practising or should I just play and it will come with time?
Well if the draw 2 (-2) reed is not tuned correctly and its pitch is in fact too low then no amount of practice or modification of technique will make its pitch higher. You will need to remove the cover plates and manually retune that reed, increasing its pitch using either a reed file or an electric dremel. The same applies to the harp with the draw 3 (-3) reed that seems to be also out of tune.
You’ve been playing such a short time there’s just no substitute for playing, and then playing…and then playing some more. Things will come together with time.
Tuning apps can be used to do this – but if your technique is not correct, then they will not know that. But you can still use a tuning app and experiment with your technique (air pressure, embouchure, etc) and see if you can get the correct pitch (note). Tuning apps can also be used to tell you how far you are bending notes to check for accuracy when bending (in case your ear is not able to detect this).
