BENDING. Harmonica Tabs & Study Guide. by Tad Dreis. WildflowerHarmonica.com

Transcription

1 BENDING Harmonica Tabs & Study Guide by Tad Dreis WildflowerHarmonica.com

2 BENDING TABS & STUDY GUIDE Author: Tad Dreis TABS 1. How to Read Tab 2. Half Step Bends: Blues on Holes 3 and 4 3. Whole Step Bends: Descending Major Scale 4. O Susanna in Second Position (Cross Harp) STUDY GUIDE 1. Which Harmonica To Use? 2. Single Notes 3. Quick Single Note Lesson 4. Eee Ooo 5. Moveable K Spot 6. Three Levels 7. Becoming An Explorer 8. Make Ugly Sounds 9. Weird Stuff About Holes 2 and Blow Bends 11. Conclusion Appendix: What Are All The Notes? THANK YOU! Tad Dreis here, from WildflowerHarmonica.com. Thank you for buying my bending lesson bundle! I hope it's helpful to you and moves you closer to your harmonica and musical goals. I've spent a lot of time putting together this lesson's audio, video, and e book, as well as the years of playing, teaching, and studying that led up to this project. In the digital age, it's natural to want to share files with your friends, but I'd really rather you just referred them to my website if you think they'd be interested. It's how I make my living, and I'm grateful for your consideration. Thanks again!

3 *** TABS *** 1. HOW TO READ TAB Tablature, or "tab" for short, is a numerical system that tells you which hole to play, whether to blow or draw, and how much to bend. There are several forms of tab, here's the one I use: 4 means blow on hole 4 4 means draw on hole 4 Draw bends: 3' means draw on hole 3 with a half step bend 3" means draw on hole 3 with a whole step bend 3"' means draw on hole 3 with a 1.5 step bend Blow bends: 10' means blow on hole 10 with a half step bend 10" means blow on hole 10 with a whole step bend Tablature is really intended as a shorthand, and it doesn't tell you anything about rhythm. I try to group notes together in phrases, which gives you a basic idea of where the pauses are, but tablature generally is best used in conjunction with audio examples or traditional music notation. 2. HALF STEP BENDS: BLUES ON HOLES 3 AND 4 Here are some simple blues riffs in Cross Harp, also known as Second Position. Just so you know, on a C harmonica, the low draw position gives you a G chord, which is great for bending around and playing funky, bluesy stuff in the key of G. Sliding Down 4,3,2 Draw: 4 4' 3 2 How about with 3 bent a little also? 4 4' 3' 2 Landing Directly On 4 Bent: 4' 4 5

4 3. WHOLE STEP BENDS: DESCENDING MAJOR SCALE Play the regular descending major scale in the middle of the harp: C B A G F E D C That's your reference. When you're ready to work on your bends on 2 and 3 draw, try to play the low version, using bends on 3 and " 2 2" C B A G F E D C The double apostrophe " means you play a whole step bend on that note. Hole 3 bends from B down to A. Hole 2 bends from G down to F. If you can get the descending scale, try ascending: " 2 3" 3 4 C D E F G A B C This is harder, because it requires you to land directly on the bent notes. 4. O SUSANNA IN 2ND POSITION (CROSS HARP) 2 3" " 3 3 3" 2 3" Well I come from Al la ba ma with my ban jo on my knee 2 3" " 3 3 3" 3" 2 And I'm gone to Lou si a na oh my true love for to see " O Su san na Don't you cry for me 2 3" " 3 3 3" 3" 2 For I come from Al a ba ma with my ban jo on my knee

5 *** STUDY GUIDE *** 1. WHICH HARMONICA TO USE? The skills I teach in my bending video are applicable to any Diatonic Harmonica. Which is to say, any standard 10 hole blues harmonica. I'd recommend getting a harp that costs at least $25, since higher quality harmonicas are more airtight and responsive, which makes them easier to play. In the video, I perform all the exercises on a diatonic harmonica in the key of C. Once your draw bends are in place from holes 1 6, move on to blow bends on holes 7 10, and get a G harmonica. You can learn blow bends on a C, but a lower harp like a G will make playing the high notes easier. 2. SINGLE NOTES Clear single notes are essential for bending. If you're not consistent with single notes yet, take some time and build that skill first, then return to bending. Once again: PLEASE make sure you've got your single note technique solid before you get into bending. 3. QUICK SINGLE NOTE LESSON Push your lips out as if to say "Ooo." Insert the harp deep into your mouth. Use the moist, inner part of your lips to isolate a single note. Feel the muscles engage on the left and right sides of your mouth. These are your "chops." You may need to adjust left or right a little, but the main thing is to push your lips out slightly, and keep your chops slightly engaged. Again, if you're just getting into single notes, I strongly recommend you step back from bending and take the time to learn to play single

6 notes first. If you need it, I have a separate video lesson to walk you through the process, with explanations, demonstrations, songs and exercises. Here's a basic outline for working on single notes: Get hole 4 clearly on the blow and draw. Learn the Major Scale from 4 7. Practice simple, short, familiar songs to build your skills and confidence. 4. EEE OOO Breathe in and draw your tongue from the front of your mouth toward the back. Your breath will sound like "Heeee Oooooo." Keep tongue close to roof of mouth. Play 4 draw with "Heeeee." Pull backwards to "Ooooo" and the pitch may drop. To release the bend, move tongue forward and pitch will return to normal. For hole 1, you'll need to open your jaw a little bit and yawn deeply. This will take experimenting and repetition! 5. MOVEABLE K SPOT Winslow Yerxa coined this term, and is the author of "Harmonica For Dummies," a truly extraordinary resource for all things harmonica. The K Spot approach gives us concrete vocabulary for what we do in the "Eee Ooo" approach, and helps you to visualize what's happening inside your mouth.

7 Just your breath, no harmonica: Make a K sound, say "Kih." Extend the K sound, "Kihhhhhhhhhhhh." Make an extended K sound on the INWARD BREATH. Your breath should feel restricted, and you'll hear a whistling, slurping sound. That's a "K Spot." It's what activates your bend. Make a K Spot, breathe in, and move your tongue forward and back, listening to the change in pitch. Forward = higher pitches (the "Eeeee" sound) Backward = lower pitches (the "Ooooo" sound) With harmonica: Draw Bends: form a K Spot, breathe in, and pull tongue backwards. Blow Bends: form a K Spot, breathe out, and push tongue forward. Have patience, and get ready to make some really weird sounds! 6. THREE LEVELS Level One: bend the note down and hold it steady Level Two: bend down, pause, then land directly on the bent note Level Three: land directly on the bent note 7. BECOMING AN EXPLORER Howard Levy often makes the point that the harmonica is an invisible instrument. It's true, you know? When you play, everything happens internally, inside your mouth. Students who are learning to play guitar or piano have it easy! They can use their eyes to see where to place their hands; by contrast, the harp requires you to use biofeedback. You can't see the instrument, but you can FEEL the sensations in your mouth and HEAR the resulting changes in your sound. Visualization also helps. Try noticing when your tongue is up, in the K Spot position, when the air is restricted, and which direction you move, forward or back.

8 When you hear a change in the sound, repeat what you just did, and see if you can reproduce the effect, and deepen it. Learn to listen closely, and pay attention to the feelings of pressure, suction, tension, and balance inside your mouth. This use of your attention can be truly engrossing, and makes "practicing" feel more like "exploring," an endlessly fascinating and intrinsically rewarding process of experimentation. 8. MAKE UGLY SOUNDS There is no way around it. When you're learning to bend, you are going to make loud, gnarly, hideous sounds. Embrace it! Close the door, and pretend no one can hear you. Learn to enjoy making a horrible racket. It's something that's pretty much built into the technique. When you bend notes, the tone changes and becomes slightly pinched and nasal. Your pitch becomes flexible and expressive, but also unstable. You can bend too little or too much. It takes time to learn how to bend "in tune." If you're a kind, considerate person, it's easy to become mortified by the weird noises and embarrassed to practice with other people in the house. What to do? We don't all have a private island or mountaintop to use as our own secret practice retreat. You're just going to have to say to your family and friends, "Please excuse me, I'm ever so dreadfully sorry, but I must now go and make horrible sounds in my room." Have a laugh about it, then close the door, pretend they're not there, and get to work. 9. WEIRD STUFF ABOUT HOLES 2 AND 3 Holes 2 and 3 draw are different from the other holes on your harmonica. Especially the 2 draw. Frequently it will bend unintentionally, play out of tune, sound breathy, or just not play at all. The reason for this has to do with the tuning of the blow and draw notes on those holes. Compare: hole 1 has the C and D notes (2 consecutive notes) on the

9 blow and draw. Hole 2 has E and G as its blow and draw. Okay, those are consecutive notes, but hey, wait, where's the F? It's located in between the two pitches. You have to bend to get that extra note. So there's extra territory available between 2 blow and draw. You can actually play 3 different pitches on the second hole draw! On hole 2, the unbent draw note is G, F sharp (F#) is the half step bend, and F is the whole step bend. One hole 1 draw, there's only D and D flat (Db). Hole 3 gives you even more possibilities. The blow note is a G, and the draw note is a B. There are 4 different pitches, just on the draw! The unbent note is B, the half step bend is B flat (Bb), the whole step bend is A, and the step and a half bend is A flat (Ab). No wonder holes 2 and 3 respond so differently from the others when you play them! The first step is to play those two notes gently, and try to tease out a clear, unbent note, supporting it with just enough air to get a full sound without unintentionally bending or causing the reed to jam and go silent. Once you can play 2 and 3 draw confidently, unbent, with a good sound, move on to their bends. 10. BLOW BENDS At the beginning, you should probably spend most of your time on draw bends, since they're easier to learn for most people. Draw bending will teach you the basics you need to play blow bends. You just reverse the technique: the tongue starts out in back and moves forward. You can blow bend from holes 7 10, because on those holes, the blow notes are higher pitched than the draw notes, so you can bend them down to just above the draw pitch. A word about high notes: the reeds are shorter and stiffer. They're harder to get moving. When a reed is reluctant, say "Tah" and punch the air a little harder. On the other hand, those high draw notes are more likely to jam and refuse to play. In that case, play more gently, and open your jaw a little.

10 To Blow Bend: Make a K Spot, and restrict the airflow at the roof of your mouth. Blow out, and move the tongue forward a little. This drops the pitch. As I mentioned at the beginning, you can learn to blow bend on a C harp, especially if you're good at single notes and are making progress with draw bending, but you might want to also pick up a lower harp, such as a G. On a low harp, the high pitches aren't quite as high, the reeds aren't quite as short and stiff, and it can make playing holes 7 10 easier in general. You'll still have to learn to play 7 10 on the C and the high harps, but it's good to give yourself a break where you can. 11. CONCLUSION Bending is your next big step on the harmonica, once you can play single notes. Draw bends are the place to start, on holes 1 6. Keep your jaw open slightly for the low notes. Learn to make a K Spot by saying "K" on the in breath, extending the sound and feeling the restricted airflow. You can drop the pitch on a draw bend by pulling your tongue back with that restricted airflow. Start making some sounds, try out the exercises and riffs we've gone over, and pay attention to the sensations in your mouth. Notice when the feeling matches a change in sound, and experiment until you can make those changes in sound happen consistently. Be patient with yourself. You'll get it, little by little. Good luck, and have fun! Tad Dreis Keene, New Hampshire, USA January 3, 2014

11 *** APPENDIX *** WHAT ARE ALL THE NOTES? I'm talking about a C harmonica here... UNBENT NOTES Hole Draw D G B D F A B D F A Blow C E G C E G C E G C ALL THE BENDS Hole 1 draw bends from D down to C#/Db Hole 2 draw bends from G down to F#/Gb, then F Hole 3 draw bends from B down to A#/Bb, A, then G#/Ab Hole 4 draw bends from D down to C#/Db Hole 5 draw bends down from F a tiny bit, to just above E Hole 6 draw bends from A down to G#/Ab Hole 7 blow bends down from C a tiny bit, to just above B Hole 8 blow bends from E down to D#/Eb Hole 9 blow bends from G down to F#/Gb Hole 10 blow bends from C down to B, then A#/Bb