Stepping Up Your Harmonica Game: Essential Harmonica Bending Videos

Stuck in a rut with your playing? Do you feel like you're lacking something? Ever wonder what you need to do to take your playing to the next level?

It seems to me there is often one thing that separates an amateur sounding harmonica player and pro, effective bending. Many of the blues harpers I see out at jams are not utilizing key bends on the harmonica. Anyone can play an unbent note but the ability to bend correctly separates the weak from the strong.

There are guys who have been playing for decades but are never able to transform their sound from amateurish to pro. One skill I try to encourage struggling players to focus on is correctly bending the 3 hole draw. Utilizing all this hole has to offer will open new doors of melodic possibilities in every genre of music. In the first octave the three hole draw is the gateway to major, minor, and blues land. Without these bends you will not be able to play a complete scale in the first octave, in any position, period.

To my ears, one thing that really makes a harmonica player sound like an amateur is excessive reliance on the 3 hole draw un-bent (in 2nd position this is the major 3rd). Failure to play this note as the blue 3rd (played in between a whole and a half step bent) results in playing that is lacking the very note that defines the unique sound of the blues. Similarly if you are a country style player, and are not playing the 3 hole as a major 2nd (bent a half step) you are missing out on a key melodic note. For example, "Amazing Grace" cannot be played correctly in the first octave without bending to this note.

If you are really looking to improve your blues sound, I recommend trying to avoid playing the three hole unbent, after all the major 2nd does not occur in the blues scale. Thats not to say that there is no place for the major 2nd in blues, there is! However I believe you will make great strides towards a bluesier sound if you avoid it until you are used to nailing that blue third. If you can learn to master these bends properly you will be sure to score big points with the crowd and even the staunchest of musicians at your local jam.


Adam Gussow's blue third lesson explains in great detail how to achieve this sound: This is one of the most helpful videos out there for harmonica players and is a must watch.
part 1

part 2



Jason Ricci does an excellent job of explaining the importance of bending effectively. His lesson on advanced bending offers helpful tips, exercises and demonstrations how the bends work in a few contexts. He also points out that it is very hard to do this accurately. It will take a long time (maybe years) until you are totally comfortable hitting each note perfectly. It's O.K. to get frustrated just keep working at it and you'll get it!

My Holy Grail of Harmonica Videos

This is pretty much as good as it gets for me. The Grateful Dead playing Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" with John Popper. On November 3, 1991 the Dead were kind enough to let the Blues Traveler front-man sit in for a spirited rendition of this blues staple. Undoubtedly this was a thrill for Popper who at this time was still a young man in the beginnings of his career. He joins a list of other legendary harmonica players to sit in with Grateful Dead members including Paul Butterfield, Mickey Raphael, and even Ken Kesey of all people! The Dead actually has a long history with the harmonica. Early on in their career original organist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's harmonica solos used to bring down the house.

Popper and The Dead performed for a crowd of nearly 500,000 at the Bill Graham Memorial Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The Dead's set also included guest appearances by John Fogerty and Neil Young.
Bill Graham was a legendary concert promoter who gained prominence in the 1960's promoting acts such as The Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and Jefferson Airplane. His company helped to promote Blues Traveler before his demise in a hellicopter crash. Graham's story is a very interesting one which includes his escape from the Nazi's during the Holocaust to helping shape the counter culture revolution in the 60's.

This is a fitting tribute. Enjoy!

Fantasie Impromptu, swung???

Here's a terrific video I came across over the weekend. In 1951 The Original Harmonicats delivered this great performance on a variety show I'm not familiar with (anyone know it?). The Trio led by harmonica virtuoso Jerry Murad take a gypsy swing feel to Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu. Murad's harmonica work is phenomenal. Al Fiore plays a giant chord harmonica. While Don Les plays the bass harmonica. Most of Chopin's work has a reputation for being extremely difficult to interpret on piano, can you imagine on harmonica? They are all huffing and puffing away but it sounds great! You don't see innovative playing like this anymore. The other piece they playt is Kabalevsky's the galloping comedians, also another spot on stellar performance. Great act and a great video, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7XmGiYBCBQ

sorry its not embedded!

News to me

In the summer 0f 2004 I saw Huey Lewis and The News perform at Rock-Fest in Cadott, Wisconsin. They put on a great show and played all of the hits. Lewis is a stellar song writer and an entertaining front man. I was extremely delighted to discover that evening that he also boasts some considerable harmonica chops.

Check out this great clip of Huey honking away during an encore in 1984. He rocks a Paul Butterfield-esqe tone, shows off his rhythm skills, and does some nice high end work. Who knew he could blow like this? Then, just when you think drumer and him are just jamming their saxophonist hops up and they go into some nice arranged riffing.

Huey Lewis and The News has won 2 Grammy's and were nominated for an Acadamey Award in 1986 for their single "The Power of Love" from the film Back To The Future. The guys continue to tour all around the world.

Welcome To Harmonica Musings

Thanks for taking a moment to check out my blog. All posts below this one were taken from a previous blog I had on myspace. Sign up for RSS feeds so you can get all the latest postings about harmonica content from around the web.

I've Been Searching...

Today's video is an acoustic performance of "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young. This song contains one of the most recognizable harmonica lines in popular music. This is an enchanting solo acoustic version from 1971. The quiet that surrounds him in this video accentuates the haunting melody from the harmonica. The banter at the beginning of this video is very interesting and insightful to Young's relationship with the harmonica at that point in time. He explains that he required a different harmonica for each key he plays in and fumbles with his neck rack and numerous harmonicas he has stashed in his jacket. Young also then invited anyone else with a "G" harmonica to blow along with him.

He was 25 years old when he sat down in front of an audience at the BBC Studios in February of 1971. This was a stop on an acoustic tour he did at the beginning of 1971 the year after he released his third solo venture After the Gold Rush. Young also gained fame for his work with Crosby Still Nash & Young. They recorded the famous song "Ohio" and they appeared at Woodstock together. Young has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on two separate occasions.

Oragne Flor Especial

This video features two harmonica players from Chile playing "Orange Blossom Special". The man playing the diatonic harmonica is a harpist known as Leo Enry. I tried contacting him for more information but he doesn't speak English. Regardless he is one hell of a harmonica player! The other player is a man who identifies himself as best as I can tell as Jon Jon. Maybe it was Shawn Jon (Puff Daddy style!). He is playing some sort of concert chord harmonica. It is probably something similar to Hohner's 48 Chord Harmonica. Enjoy this excellent bluegrass performance from south of the equator!


The Oragne Blossom Special was a train operated by the Seaboard Airline Railway from 1925 through the early 1960's. It took passangers all the way from New York City to Florida. Ervin T. Rouse and Chubby Wise, two accomplished fiddle players in their 20's rode the train and had such an inspiring experience that they went home and tried to capture the experience of hearing the rhthym and sounds from the train. They composed "Orange Blossom Special" and later recorded it on RCA Records.

"Orange Blossom Special" became widely popular when Bill Monroe recorded it in 1941. Later, Johnny Cash named is 1965 album after the song. Here is an interesting story I discovered told by cash about the song which I found here

*I can't cofirm the credibility of this site but it is still a cool story

"I recorded 'Orange Blossom Special' in the mid '60s, and in those
days everybody that recorded it claimed the "arrangement" because
no one knew who wrote it. But Mother Maybelle Carter was at the
session, and I asked her, "Do you know who really wrote 'Orange
Blossom Special'?" She said, "Sure I do. Ervin Rouse and his brother
Gordon." And I said, "Where are they? " She said, "Last time I heard,
they were in Florida."

It was the only clue I had. I called a disc jockey down there named
Cracker Jim Brooker, and I asked Cracker Jim, "Did you ever hear
of Ervin Rouse?" And he said, "Aw, I know Ervin. He lives with the
Seminoles out in the swamp, and he makes swamp buggies for a living."
I said, "You got any idea how I could talk to him?" And he said, "Sure.
I'll announce it on the air: 'Ervin, call me and I'll give you Johnny Cash's
number."' It wasn't an hour till Ervin Rouse called me from some little
settlement in the swamps. I said, "Ervin, I happen to be coming to
Miami on tour. Would you come to my show and do 'Orange Blossom
Special' with me?" He and Gordon came in the clothes they worked in.
I brought Ervin up to play the fiddle, and he absolutely killed them. At
the end of the song, they were applauding and he literally got down on
his knees. He was such a sweet, humble man. Gordon's still living. I still
see him every time I'm down there." - Johnny Cash