How To Bend a Note on Harmonica for Beginners

► For the complete free harmonica lesson, and to find the free slow, medium, and fast jam tracks to play along with this lesson, go to: https://www.harmonica.com/how-to-bend...

The goal of this video is to help a beginner harmonica player who has never achieved harmonica bending before, to get their first note to bend on harmonica.

What is Harmonica Bending / Why learn to bend 0:30
2 Interrelated Techniques of Harmonica Bending 1:18
How Harmonica Bends are Activated 2:09
How Harmonica Bends are Tuned 3:54
Bending Prerequisites 4:30
Let’s Get Your 1st Bend! 5:40
The Airplane Diving 6:10
The Tilt Bend 7:43
Vowels EE-YAW 9:39
Vowels KAH-YOO 10:40
Help from the Bend-it-Better Tool 11:43
Long Train Runnin’ by the Doobie Brothers Lesson 13:30
How to Start a Note from the Bent Position 14:26
Long Train Running by the Doobie Brothers Play-along 16:10
Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple Lesson 16:57
Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple Play-along 18:26
Take Me Home Country Road Lesson 19:04
Take Me Home Play-along 20:03

It can also be helpful for someone who wants to understand the ins and outs of harmonica bending in more depth.

To find the free slow, medium, and fast jam tracks to play along with this lesson (Long Train Runnin’, Smoke on the Water, and Take Me Home Country Road) click here: https://www.harmonica.com/how-to-bend...

When we start playing, I’m playing a C harmonica for this lesson. Any 10-hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C will work for you to follow along with this lesson. The C harmonica is the key I recommend using when trying to get your first bend, and I recommend the -4, or perhaps the -1.

IMPORTANT! There are Prerequisites for Harmonica Bending!
Before you start working on bending, make sure you’ve mastered the Deep Relaxed Mouth Position and that you can play clear single notes using lip blocking. These techniques will ensure that you have the proper seal required to be able to bend well. Learn More: https://www.harmonica.com/lessons/

Thank you so much for watching my video on how to bend a note on harmonica for beginners. I hope you enjoyed this free lesson on how to get your first bend. If you have succeeded in bending a note on harmonica, congratulations! And I hope you’ve enjoyed learning some fun riffs!

If you have any questions about harmonica bending, or anything about the harmonica, please leave me a comment below.

Aloha!
Luke