How to play harmonica blow bends 

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Great motive, wonderful lesson! Your explanations are impeccable. Few tips to add: * ALWAYS RELAX, standing or sitting comfortably, especially when you learn a technique which is somewhat "stressful" - you might find yourself stressing and "fighting" to get through - that is the best time to walk away for a moment, put down the harp, breath, loosen your lips and brain and get back to it relaxed and fresh. The top reeds are indeed very responsive and unforgiving, you can only learn to master the top octave by focusing and practicing a lot - see some scales you can do. * I recommend to start with a single blow bend blues scale to get the "feel" of the bend - 4th position - 6D 7B 8D 8B' 8B 9B 10D - Also, 4th position is very cool as you can use the same technique for the 8 hole blow bend to produce fluent 2 octave blues scale with 4ob (Overblow) - 3D'' 4B 4D 4ob 5B 6B 6D - I love 4th position - Great practice for both blow bend and overblow. * If you wish to practice 9 blow bend, play a song with Major scale, 2nd position (G on C harp) - 6B 6D 7D 7B 8D 8B 9B' 9B If you wish to go down an octave, you will discover another oveblow on the 2nd position Major scale, like in 4th position blues scale: 2D/3B 3B'' 3D 4B 4D 5B 5ob 6B. * 1st position on 3rd octave is a killer practice treat for blow bends fluency - 7B 8B' 9D 9B' 9B 10B'' 10B * I found that gentle "shadowing" of the Tongue for getting a blow tone bent down, is many times more accurate than changing the shape on the mouth cavity in general and blowing harder to "push" the note down, which is bad practice. Especially on 10 blow bend, to be precise, you can start by running long, steady, as quiet as possible blow airflow and experimenting bending it down by bring (slowly) the tongue edge to the bottom teeth base, and checking how it affects the tone - it should be clear, no additional pressure should be applied (don't blow hard to get the bend, do it "smart") and be very, very patient to get the tone in place. Depending on your unique mouth, tongue, teeth features, you might find that you don't need to get the tongue to the teth base but go half way, or a bit back or forth toward the air stream to change its direction - any method which will not be "stressful" and can be repeated accurately again and again to produce tuned bends is good for you if comfortable or you can get it without changing too much your "natural" playing embouchure - as you play the entire harp up and down and you need to get this "automated" and not something you need to think about and get ready for when a "special" blow bend comes up. Therefore - see some scales which includes blow bends, play stuff you play in lower octaves on the higher range, and ENJOY getting better every day :) Cheers!

This is a great lesson Liam, I've just done the 10 blow bends on a G Special 20, the best way to describe it is like gently forming a whistle sound thro' the harmonica with the middle of my tongue pushing forward 😊😊

Before watching this video, I did not know how to blow bend. Thank you for teaching me!

Before watching this video, I was fiddling around with my C harp and figured out how to “switch” the 8b from clean to bent, and I got my first “real” bend right after you explained what the tongue should be doing with your hand. Great video and thank ya!

Very excellent - something else I can add to my bag of tricks when playing. Thank you my friend.

The best blow bend lesson I've seen so far! Very well explained. I can blow bend the 8 and 9 holes now but the 10 hole is much harder. Do you have any advice for achieving it on the 10 hole?

Excellent explication! It's subtle... that's the secret :-)

I only have a C BluesBand harmonica, but can do some draw bends and blow bends. I gave my grandson one and recommended your website and RU-vid lessons. His name is Liam also.

Du bist einfach super. Jeder der Harmonica lernen möchte, ist bei dir genau richtig. Du bist perfect! 👌👌👌👌👌👍👍👍 Viele Grüße und vielen Dank Liam Manuel

Very helpful! Thanks

Great stuff Liam, i've moved on quite quickly because of this lesson. Cheers mate. ( on a Crossover in D )

Brilliant. Very clear. Thanks! 🙂

It is both so weird and scary that this afternoon I was looking at an illustration for “C major diatonic harmonica layout” and wondering how one does the blow bend notes for holes 8, 9 and 10. Then, this evening I go on RU-vid and your video is at the top of the list of recommendations. It cannot be a coincidence

Thanks for the tips

Very good video. You explain it well.

Thanks Liam that's why I cant bend when I try a melody step one done only

Excelente vídeo.

I found this very helpful. I managed to get up into the upper end of the harp. But just as you said, I try to go too fast and get frustrated. Thanks, Liam.

Great video. Could you please recommend a good harp tuner App? Many thanks

Can’t get the tongue position at all. Can’t figure it out

We should do some short tips on TikTok!

Do these techniques work with all harmonicas? Like my chromatic (push bar for sharps and flats) or just for blues harps?

hello again. i have a question. i note that in your video you state you're using an A harmonica. some of us getting started would like to practice our technique before buying additional harmonicas (and tutorials). could you possibly post a brief video on how a blow bend would sound on holes 7-10 for a C harmonica? i know you said it's squeaky but from an expert like yourself it would at least give us something to work off. thank you

Hi, I have 2 questions. Is the 5th hole blowing bend possible? Is the 7th hole drawing bend possible?

Overblow raises the pitch, whereas blowbend lowers it. Other than that, is that technique and embrochure the same?

please share levellers carry me tabs plssssssss

So an over blow raises the pitch? Blowbend lowers it?

I'm appalled ...I came for the balloon !

I dont understand why i cant do this.. i can do draw bend but i cant get it to change note whatsoever with blows. Update. Ok i figured it out. You should have put more emphasis on how literally small of a section of actual breath it is.. i know you did try to talk about it but i feel like no one explains it well enough to really get that

May you explain how to do it? To much mambo jambo bananas 🍌

Try it on F# sounds like dog whistle 😂