blues harmonica breathing tips - for beginners 

Look into Will Wylde, the chap is amazing

Circular breathing uses that. Christelle Berthon has a video where she holds a note for 5 minutes.

Hi, Mindrover and nacoran, Let me make a few comments on that. To start with, there is no point in learning circular breathing to play harp for it takes too much practice for an instrument that makes sounds both inhaling and exhaling, which to some extent makes breathing possible to keep alive by itself. Circular breathing is essential for playing instruments like didgeridoo, and even though not necessary, could be of much help for instruments that work blowing only, like sax, trumpet, trombone or the like, whose notes are altered through pressing buttons but keeping a steady embouchure. But on harmonica you've got to switch holes to play a different note, except for bending notes on a same hole, which would spoil that non stop note, no matter how good circular breathing technique is. On top of that, who wants to hear a 5 minute steady note? What does it express but dragging about? That's musically worthless, for music is feeling, not sport. Lastly, circular breathing takes mouth cavity mostly airtight, which would make a deep fat tone impossible because it takes the whole vocal tract (mouth cavity, nasal passage and throat) as a resonating chamber. To sum up, do as Adam say on the video for that's the real deal... and A LOT easier ;-)

I agree that circular breathing is more useful for other instruments. Actually, the closest I do to it on a regular basis is to isolate my mouth to get some effects on low reeds. I'm not circular breathing, but I do isolate the back of my throat from the rest of my mouth as if I were. On low tuned harps opening and closing your mouth behind the harmonica you can get some neat effects. Actually sustaining a note for five minutes is mostly a party trick. Christelle pointed that out in her video. She's a great player. She picked 5 minutes just to prove beyond a doubt that she wasn't using just one breath, because on RU-vid people always doubt the real stuff and believe the fake stuff! ( I once saw a piano player get accused of faking it because A) she was really good, and B) on a couple of her first videos the video software she used didn't sync the audio and video properly. It was off by a second or so.) Circular breathing is not as hard to learn as you might think though. There are some tricks using water that sort of help you visualize it. I got it after a few minutes with the water. I didn't stay in practice with it though, because, your right, on harp you switch back and forth a lot so you can manage your breath other ways. Every now and then you'll have a song with a long string of just draw notes or just blow notes... one of Adam's first videos actually suggested using the 2 draw/3 blow being the same note to sneak around that a bit too. Remembering that you have a mouth and a nose is really useful for breath management too. It's not circular breathing, but that first step, isolating the mouth from the rest of the tract, is useful so you don't accidentally play when you catch a breath through your nose! I have a theory on fat tone bit and why it's easier with the longer vibration chamber, and with medium breath strength. When you have the harp farther out of your mouth any small change in your mouth is a bigger change percentage-wise to what you are doing. If you have the harp gently against your lips you can get a real pretty sort of floating sound, nice for the final note of a pretty melody, but you have to have nearly perfect breath control on it or it pulses. Shove the harp farther into your mouth and you have your throat involved and you have a wider margin for error. There are some times when fat tone isn't what you want, although that's maybe 1% of the time.

@billmiller7613 Have you started with harmonica playing? How is it playing out? Hope you are well!

I have always played this way unless I am moving from the b7. Works well for me.

Gussows i enjoy your tutorial. Plz tell me which is the best key Harmonica to customise. I am from GOA, INDIA

That's an acceptable mod. I know people who play like that.

I actually have a video for that! I need to edit it down, but I have a video for how to play warbles without ripping up your lips! It's the only harmonica video I ever recorded. :) (The trick is to leave a small air gap between your top lip and the harp cover, and then to sort of let your bottom lip be all loose and go side to side instead of sliding along the harp.)