OK, so you’ve made it up to the high end of the harp, and believe me things get pretty high pitched up here so it might be an idea to use a lower pitched harp (like A or G) for practising this. The technique used for blow bends is very similar between the holes 8, 9 and 10, the main difference is that as you get higher, the volume in your mouth get’s smaller – try whistling a note then make it higher, you’ll notice that your tongue rises and the mouth volume gets smaller, this is a similar thing.
The nearest thing I can think of to doing a blow bend is something like trying to whistle a very high note while making a shhh sound with your tongue. Mess around with it!
Hello Will,
Just discovered your excellent web site after picking up my harps after quite a few years of on use – thought it would be good to re-learn the blues harp during lockdown. I’m struggling with the 8910 bends overbending (have never been able to do them). Do you have to blow a lot more i.e. use more pressure? Or, or should the blow suck pressure the same as for bending lower notes?
Thanks
Andy
Hi Andy,
Glad you’re finding my website useful, yes a good time to learn new things!
Good question, I guess you mean the 8,9,10 blow bends (as opposed to the 9, 10 overdraws) you really shouldn’t require any extra pressure, and should be able to blow bend quite gently with no more effort than any other bend, maybe less effort even, since there is not so much air to move when compared with low draw bends. Hope this helps 🙂 Will.