Weather you’re tongue blocking or lip pursing, gotta get it. I’m not going down the tongue blocking route. I’ll use the technique for octaves and things like that but i dont plan on focusing on that any time soon which is neither here nor there.

This site is so far the best i’ve found for learning to bend notes. That said, I’ve watched hours of youtube videos, read tons of sites and when skimming through this I realized this site helped me only because I pieced so many of everything together. So, I’m going to put all those pieces together here and maybe somebody will find them and it’ll help.

That said, I’m just now starting to be able to bend. so far only on the A and C harp and just a few holes. I also cant hold it well yet. It’s likely I’m still doing things wrong but the point of this in my search I wasnt even sure when somebody was bending, what a bend was exactly, how to know if i was bending, i was doing something with my tongue and thought it was bending. Turns out it wasn’t etc. So this is also to help identify all those things.

This site has an animated image that shows you how your tongue should behave. This along with one other tip I’m going to give when pieced together in my head was what helped me finally bend a note.

That diagram that’s listed however illustrates how you would do it if you wanted to go the tongue blocking route which seems incredibly advanced and when you factor in bending, it makes my head hurt. So ignore that. The visual of how your tongue should look will help you though. I can also assure you, if you think you’re doing it, you’re not. When you do it, you’ll know. When your tongue does drop the air will fly past that part of your tongue very fast and it wont feel like anything you’ve ever felt before. I grew up playing Saxophone and I never did anything like this for sure. Now you may not be bending it all the way, but when you finally get it, you’ll definitely know, and not just think you’re doing it. So:

Tip 1: Tape. If you’re not good at single notes yet this will help. Even if you are you should try this anyway. I’m decent at single notes now and doing this gave me 1 less thing to think about allowing me to fully concentrate on my tongue, not be distracted by other notes invading the sound.

My first bend cam on a C harp’s 2 hole draw so I’ll recommend you use the same. Also helps bc at the bottom of the first link there’s audio and he uses a C. Doing the same will allow you to confirm you got a bend with his.

Take some tape and cover the 1 hole as well as the remaining holes while leaving the 2 open. You can now fully press your lips against the harp and think only about your tongue.

Tip 2: Saying words. In the first link he asks you to pronounce Weeeee Oooooo. This never helped me a ton but it might have been because of the way i pronounce the sound. i think the sound you want is a long O sound instead of and “ew” type O sound if that makes sense. I saw another video that said his magic phrase to learning was saying “Weedle Doodle”. So there must be something to that, but so far It hasnt unlocked anything for me just yet. Maybe it will as i progress or need to change back and forth in notes.

Tip 3: This is the piece. This is the thing that finally helped me when i put everything together. After taping the harp, reading and listening to that first link over and over, I did what Adam Gussow mentioned in one of his MANY youtube videos. While doing a 2 hole draw on the C harp, tap the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue effectively pointing it up. As you tap it, move the tip of your tongue backwards as if its going down your throat. If you do this right and enough times, the back of your tongue will finally lay down which is what causes more air pressure to rush in faster thus bending the note.

not having to worry about my lips with the tape helped a lot.

You have to remember to try and force your tongue to lay down in the back while tapping and moving the tip backwards also. That’s an important part. If you do it over and over I think you’ll eventually get it.

I’m not sure it’s really how hard you draw but i see no harm in trying to draw hard at first. Another thing that i think helped me was i would try it on 4 different harps over and over back and forth between them all and each time i would frantically move my tongue all over the place just looking for any kind of signal that i was in the ball park of a bend. I never came close this way, but it helped me know what wasnt a bend as well as knowing for sure what a bend was when i finally got it.

So recap!

* Use tape for now!
* Tap the the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue while doing a 2 hole draw.
* Gradually move the tip of your tongue back.
* Do that repeatedly till you’re able to not think about it and then as your tongue gets further and further in the back, try to force your tongue to lay down. like an exagerated yawn but instead of it being in your esophagus, its still in the oral cavity. kind of at the drop off point for the tongue and throat.
* Sit up straight.
* Point your jaw up a little. that helped me at first some.
* Dropping your jaw may help also when you move your tongue back and down.
* To release the bend you can pull your jaw in or point your chin down.

Hopefully that will help somebody. You’re now up to speed with me. I cant do it on other harps yet without tape really. so im still working on keeping my ambushers correct while dropping my tongue. Insanely hard.

The greatest service that can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture.

If we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion by education

Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country

For here we are not afraid to follow truth where ever it may lead.