How To Play The Harmonica : 15 Steps - Instructables

For better explanations of bending technique than I can give, check out these websites:

http://www.harpsurgery.com/how-to-play/draw-bends/

http://www.harpsurgery.com/how-to-play/blow-bends/

https://www.harmonicaclub.com/note-bending-for-har...

Additionally, here's a beginner method that I originally pasted from http://www.hoerl.com/Music/harmon5.html, a website which doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Playing "bends" using the TILT Method Start with the #4 draw (you can pick any note to start with but the general consensus seems to be that #4 draw is easiest). Remember that you must change the angle of the airflow over the reed to "bend" the note. So let's cheat a little bit and alter the angle of the harmonica rather than alter the airflow angle by changing your mouth, tongue, and throat. Hold the harmonica by the ends and then while playing a clean #4 draw. Tilt the back of the harmonica up towards your nose. Make sure that when you tilt the harmonica up that you continue to draw the air through the harmonica though you hadn't tilted it up. - Do not let your head, mouth, and tongue follow the angle of the harmonica with your airstream, or you negate the effect of tilting the harmonica in the first place. - REMEMBER: You must change the angle of airflow across the reed to make the note bend. This trick of physically tilting the harmonica up, will create the same change of angle that you must eventually learn to do with your mouth, tongue, and embouchure. If the harmonica pops out of your mouth, start over and make sure you have the harmonica placed far enough into your mouth so that it won't pop out. - TILTING TIPS: The reed in each hole requires a different angle to achieve a bend. Generally speaking these angles look like this: Hole #4 draw takes about a 45 degree change of airflow angle. Hole #2 draw takes almost a 75 to 90 degree change of airflow angle to get it to bend down a whole step. Hole #3 draw takes an angle somewhere in between 45 and 90 degrees. Experiment with the tilting technique until you get a change in pitch. When you start getting a "bend" stay with it until you can make a noticeable change in pitch. If you just can't seem to get #4 draw to "bend"....go ahead and try a different hole. If one practice session doesn't yield any "bends", call it a day and come back tomorrow. But whatever you do, don't give up.

Playing "bends" Without Tilting the Harmonica (recommended) After you have reached the point of being able to get "bends" using the tilting method, it's time to start learning how to get the same sound without tilting. Tilting is OK to get the idea of "bends", but you won't be able to play very many songs if you're constantly tilting the harmonica around. You now must learn to change the shape of your mouth and tongue to simulate the same change in airflow that you got by tilting the harmonica. This is the most difficult harmonica technique to describe in words (and different people describe the same process differently) but here goes. -Start by playing a single, clean, draw note. -Push your lower jaw forward just a tiny bit. -Push the tip of your tongue against your front bottom teeth. -Arch your tongue towards the roof of your mouth.. (but don't arch so much that you cut off your ariflow). -Draw (pull the air) a bit harder to compensate for the sharp airflow angle caused by your jaw and tongue changes. -Caution: Don't draw too hard or you will move past "draw bend" to "overdraw bend". -Do 2,3,4, and 5 as close to simultaneously as possible. -Listen for the change in pitch (the "bend"). -Congratulations! -Immediately after the bend, relax you jaw relax your tongue -Return your tongue to it's regular place (at the bottom of your mouth) Continue the draw, and the note should return to it's usual clean single note sound.

There you have it. "Bending" a note only requires two things: good breath control and the ability to "shift" or change the airflow.

Below is a diagram of which notes can and can't be bent.