Wow your second easiest was -3. That’s been the toughest for me. -1 and -4 came fairly easy. Then I finally was able to get -2 but the the -3 has been a nightmare. Definitely the hardest for me. I’m 16 months in now and still struggling with it. About 5 months in a switched to tongue blocking so that kind of threw another wrench into things. It’s funny how we’re all different in what comes easier or harder for us individually. I’m really enjoying it. I finally learned buying a different harp wasn’t going to make me better but only practice would! We live and learn I guess. Hope things and your playing are going well! Take care bud! 
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Hi all. I’m on module 3 of JP’s blues course and doing the 4 draw stuff.
I find it interesting. My -1 bend sound like snoring and i haven’t got there yet. My -2 and -3 bend I can do full tone (bends). In fact on -2 I find a half step bend hard to pitch but a full tone fine.
The -3 similar. Half step (semitone) is hard to tune but full step is fine.
On the -4 JP talks about (on a C harp) bending half steps to Db but actually the sound he’s getting is a full step bend. He bends to a C but talks about it being Db.
I can do a half step bend happily, but i can’t do a full step -4 bend. Is that just my tongue shape, the harmonica itself or something else?
Does 4 draw even play both half and full step bends?
Thanks all. I’m looking forward to learning -1 bend next!
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I did the opposite basically because I had no one to show me any different, I was lucky as I pretty much ( after killing a few Marine bands) got all the bends, it was the blow bends that I actually struggled with for quite some time, I was after that Jimmy Reed thing getting the embrochre to get those notes to do what I was trying to do I found incredibly difficult this was before I learned how to gap the reeds too.
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Despite the most recommended bend to start with being the 4 draw, I had trouble with it and the 6 draw when I first learned to bend notes. My first bend was the 2 draw whole step, followed by 1 and 3 draw with their bends. But I got bends a lot quicker than most beginners, only getting down with them for only two weeks into playing. Before I started playing the harmonica, I’d look up tutorials on how to do certain techniques in order to get the movements right before I started learning. Which was probably why I progessed a lot quicker than most.
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I was somewhat intimidated by all the discussion on bending when I got my first harp. Too much pressure was arresting me as I was moving through the sweet spot. I hear you comment about saying KA when I felt the rush of air and then it activated. Now its learning the hard part, playing them as they should be consistently. The 1 through 4 all came about the same time. Another thing that helped was your analogy of an airplane diving and the sound of increasing air speed. It took about 6 months to ease off the pressure but hitting KA when I heard and felt the air rushing because of the press pressure differential was the key. Once I heard it and hit KA things fell into place.
Its one thing to activate a bend but really being able to play them well enough to help your music sound better is another. Its this part that seems to be the real challenge.
In you B 2 B coarse it seemed to be the little things like the airplane analogy that really helped. Another example was when tongue blocking was the topic, dropping your jaw to narrow the spacing was a real help. Most of the rest is learned while the harp is in your mouth, at least for me. Getting the basics down without developing a fault is a time saver and will get a new player moving faster I/M/O.
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@david7 YES! The -3’ is absolutely the hardest bend to play in tune and VERY few people do it well. VERY few people.
The -4 can only bend a half-step. The depth of bends is dictated by how far apart the blow and draw reeds are tuned. (That’s why the -5 only bends a 1/4-step, cuz it’s a half-step away from 5.)
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Luke
I get a 3 bend but hitting the first and second step quickly and correct on a consistent basis is a challenge. I get the first step easiest but still need many hours to improve. I do not bother with the third as it does not sound very good to me and I cannot recall seeing a tune with it. The slightest movement that is wrong seems to throw things off track. When you play the first and second do you use something like a Kah for the first and Kee for the second ?
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Bending does seem to have great mystique to it.
My biggest breakthrough to get the deepest bends, which were previously unreachable, was when I started to draw as if sucking a thick milk shake through a straw. The thicker the shake, the deeper the draw 
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@scott4 I used to think in terms of different vowel shapes for the different bends of the -3, there’s even a video on my old Funkyharp YouTube channel of me teaching it that way:
But now I try to think about more like moving the “Kk” spot more forward backward rather than vowels, because vowel changes the tone. Importantly, totally UNBENT, we can play “ee” or “uh” and “uh” is a much warmer rounder tone. That’s why I’m trying to think more in terms of the where tongue meets the roof of the mouth going forward and back rather than vowel shapes.
BUT - at the beginning. WHATEVER gets you the differentiation in the -3 bends is GOOD!! GO WITH IT! (And later you can tweak as necessary.)
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Been getting better with bending once I figured out that it was tongue that was the source of being able to manipulate a reed with now opening and pulling back to get down further.
Biggest issue I’m trying to solve now is how to say half step bend on 3, draw 3, half step again on 3 but then heading into 4 letting GO of the bend while heading down to draw again on 2. It’s a bit frustrating as I can sit on a hole, hit at least some sort of drop up to 5, but trying to get that smooth transition so I can actually riff while chugging has me all tied up.
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Welcome to the world of seemingly impossible things to do! 
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@webmetalreese yep. Ain’t nothing to it but to do it! And do it…and do it…and do it…and do it…and do it…
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