“if you don’t have any enemies you must not be doing much.”
Me simply breathing is a lot LMAO!
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I wish I could hear you play sometime.
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I’m finding 3 draw the easiest to bend, I can bend 1 draw readily but struggle with choking off the note more than shifting the pitch, 2 draw and 3 draw I can get to move pretty easily and 3 draw I can almost reliably hit the half step as an actual note. 4 draw stays put no matter what I do as does 6 draw. I’m sure I’ll get there with them.
I’m still a long way from incorporating bent notes into my playing, bit it’s all part of the learning process. Still spending about 90% of my efforts on playing cleanly and accurately.
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Hi @Piglet
Make sure that you are not drawing too strongly and then try the following: Notice, as well as you can, the position and shape of your tongue when you do a 2-draw bend or 3-draw bend. Hold that bent note as long as possible while noting the tongue position in your mouth. Now, without changing your tongue position, stop drawing and remove the harp from your mouth. Replace the harp in your mouth and (still without changing your tongue position from what it was while doing the draw bend) draw again: You should again hear the bent note (use a tuning app to check how well you again hit the bend). 
For the 6-draw bend I notice that my tongue has moved its upward curl more toward my front teeth compared to its position for the 2-draw bend or the 3-draw bend. See if such a new tongue position for 6-draw bend helps you to hit the bend properly (again, use a tuning app on a smartphone to assist you).
Regards,
– Slim 
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Luke
I am not sure if I am bending correctly. I hear the pitch drop but when laying it into a C A 2 the note does not always change. If you bend down a 1/2 note will it register on the tuner or is it a fairly large cent drop?
I find the 7 and 8 notes play softer to my hear relative to the lower ones. Is this standard. I do not play loud of very fast. Playing like this seems to really magnify mistakes or bad notes when you miss you target, especially a 6 to 9.
Scott
To be exact, there is no such thing as a half-note when it comes to tuning. In rhythm the term half-note is an accepted and standard term.
Your reference to a half-note (or as it is usually referred to as a half-step or semi-tone) means a change in pitch and it will definitely register on any half-way decent tuner. In twelve-tone equal temperament tuning all semitones are equal in size (100 cents).
In other tuning systems – such as just intonation or pure intonation – a “semitone” refers to a family of intervals that may vary both in size and name. Tuning systems are a science that is quite complicated (to see what I mean read the articles in Wikipedia for “12 equal temperament” and “Just intonation” – be sure that you have lots of free time, because they are very detailed).
Regards,
– Slim
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Slim
Thanks. I hear the drop and the lower pitch. Frankly bent notes seldom do much for me at this point but I do want to know how to do it well. To me a half note is a way to draw 3 and bend it down between a 3d and 2D.
Scott
OK, Scott @scott4,
I just wanted to help you to avoid possible misunderstandings when conversing with other musicians or reading about music.
Just in case you don’t know: From -3 down to -2 we find three different notes that can be played between -3 and -2.
On a C harp the -3 is a B. Then the next lower note is -3’ which is Bb (B flat). This is usually referred to as a 3 draw single bend or also as a 3 draw half step bend.
Then bending further the -3’’ (3 draw double bend or also called the 3 draw full step bend) is the note A.
Bending even more will get you down to -3’‘’ which is the 3 draw triple bend and it is the note Ab. The -3’‘’ is also called the 3 draw step and a half bend.
That is the end of the 3 draw bends. The next lower note would be the G (a half step or semitone below Ab). This can be played either on -2 or on +3.
Regards,
– Slim
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With practice I’m improving - it’s a slow and frustrating process, but, nothing that’s worthwhile is ever entirely easy.
Whilst I’m starting to find I get the pitch to bend after starting on a draw note most of the time when I’m trying to and working on getting that to be a note, my question is,are there any tips for starting on a bent note rather than getting the reed moving and then bending down to the note you need?
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Hi @Piglet
The best thing I know (and it is how I learned to start on a bent note) is what I wrote above to you; but perhaps the important part was lost in the entire message. I will repeat that important part here:
I actually found that Filip Jers (one of my harmonica heroes) had made a video showing this same method. He, as I recall, was sitting at a keyboard and playing the target (bent) note on the keyboard rather than using a tuning app – but not everyone has a keyboard available.
This method does require some patience and diligence, but if you do it regularly and pay close attentiion to the position of your mouth, jaw, tongue, throat, etc. it will work. Note that I have now included more than noting just the position of your tongue, because that was a little too simplistic.
There might be other methods to learning this, but I personally do not know what they are. So give this a try and let me know how you progress. BTW: using a “cello drone” in the key of your target bent note when doing this exercise also really helps to train your ear as well. You can find these drones in all keys using this link to YouTube. I find them to be even better than using a tuning app!! 
Regards,
– Slim
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Thanks @slim - you’re right I’d managed to miss that part being too focused on just getting the note to bend. Cheers.
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I’m only 4 month in but got -1 first. It was pretty easy I thought. Just now can do -4. I can somewhat do 1/2 step on -3 but not well as of this post. As far as -2 forget it. I can’t get anything yet. I just keep at it. I know it’ll happen soon I’m sure. -6 seems I can bend just a tad bit too. The journey is enjoyable tho!
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If you want it in 2nd position, you would need a D harmonica to play A in 2nd position. What could help is to jot down the notes in 1st position. Then by looking at your results, find those notes on a D harp.
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Slim
Thanks I am working on the music aspect and doing it from the start. I think the first thing is to make sure I am bending, have not taken the class yet. I do best on 1,2 and 3 draw. I hear a drop on tone. I do this by raising the tip of my tongue to the soft pallet and pull it in. Narrowing the corners of my lips and dropping my jaw seems to result in the best, what I call a dulling of the note. I use a C A 2 and notice several cent drops and the register shows a drop. Its seems that the amount of the drop is controllable but I am not sure this is a true bend. On my B flat the 3 blow is extremely close to a 2 D. Does this sound like a bend? I can get 4 & 5 draws to drop but not very much. It all seems to be about reducing the amount of air I can handle without reducing the capacity size and then reducing it slowly.
Strange as it may sound I have more trouble with 1 and 2 as my Osker requires more effort. The higher notes get more attention from practice standpoint.
Regards
Scott
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Hi Scott @scott4
I’m not sure what a “C A 2” is, but if it is a tuning device and it shows that what you are playing / bending is several cents below what is shown when you simply draw without trying to bend, then yes, you are beginning to get a bend. 
OK, I think there are several issues to address here. I assume that you are talking about a harp that is in the key of Bb (B flat). If so, then you should study the following important chart closely and either store it on your computer or telephone or write it down:
This shows you, on the 2 lines that are yellow, the notes that are playable on a “standard” 10 hole Bb Richter harp without bending. As you see, -2 (2 draw) and +3 (3 blow) are the same note. (On harps that have a layout referred to as “Paddy Richter” this is not true; but I am assuming that your harp is not a Paddy Richter type of harp.)
For draw bends: They are only possible for the holes that have light blue boxes below them. The picture also indicates how many different bends are possible for each of these holes as well as the names of the notes that an accurate bend will be sounding.
For blow bends: They are only possible for the holes that have light red boxes above them. Blow bends are something that you should not yet worry about or try until you have learned to play draw bends confidently and consistently, and that will probably take much practice and patience. Remember the saying: Rome wasn’t built in day.
There are other types of bends (not shown in the picture) that are really tricky – even some professional harp players cannot play them well enough or with sufficient confidence and accuracy to use them in their recordings or concerts. Just to fill out your harp vocabulary: these other bends are the “overblow” bends and the “overdraw” bends.
Now back to your attempts to get draw bends: You say that you can get -4 and -5 to bend, but not very much. Well, look at the picture and notice that for hole 5 there is no draw bend. There is no note between -5 and +5 that you can aim for or play. The best that you can do is to hit what is often called a micro-tonal pitch. The videos on YouTube by Ronnie Shellist often have examples of him playing this -5 “bend”.
For -4 there is the very important (for blues music, at any rate) bend that you should continue to practice until you eventually master it.
Keep practicing, using the chart and a tuning device or app and your skill will improve.
Regards,
– Slim
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Slim
When you bend say d 3 how do you use your tongue and do you drop your jaw?
Thanks for the chart. I do have this already. Its the correct way to bend I need help with at this Point.
Scott
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Pretend you are drinking a milk shake and you have to work to get it up the straw.
The thicker the shake, the deeper the draw…
This is best way I can figure out how to do it, but with that said, there are many ways to bend.
Reducing airflow seems to be the trick and this seems counterintuitive since we often think we need to draw harder and increase airflow. It can be done by tilting the harmonica, and I’ve found even reducing airflow from back helps, but these are not nearly as effective as when I replicate drawing a thick shake out of a straw 
Hope this helps 
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Hi Scott @scott4
Yes, my jaw does drop down as I bend. Not so much on -4 and even less on -6. The most dropping is on the draw bends on holes 1, 2 & 3.
But as @HarpinBobbyMcB said, the tongue and jaw move similarly to drinking the milk shake through a straw. But, as Bobby also said, do not use a stronger suction!
Take hole 3 draw as an example because here there are 4 notes that can be played: -3 (no bend), -3’ (half-step bend), -3’’ (whole-step bend or double bend), and finally -3"’ (triple bend or step-and-a-half bend). The -3’ (half-step bend) is for a rather “thin” milk shake. The -3" (double bend) is for a “thicker” shake. Finally the -3"’ (triple bend) is for a really thick shake! But do not suck harder (as you probably do when actually drinking a shake)!
Regards,
– Slim
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It took me a while to get your bend it app as I did not realize it is not an app. I instead got the bending trainer app which was frustrating because it does not automatically pick up what note you are playing, you have to tell it what you are trying to do.
The easiest note for me was the 1 as I discovered I was always bending it and it took me some effort to unbend it. The next easiest was the -3. What I thought was a bend was really a half bend. When I put some ridiculous mouth suction into it I could get it to the double bend but not hold it. I could easily get the -4 bend to the bottom of the original box but it took an enormous effort to get into the lower box and I could not hold it there. It also sounded like a weak note with bad tone. Like I stuffed a sock in the harmonica.
That is what I have for you on my first day after your bending lesson in beginner to boss. It will need some work
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That’s how it starts!
My first efforts were like a dying duck trying to quack 
Keep at it, you’ll get it
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