For me what did the trick was to YAWN. If you make the same movement you do when you yawn you'll get a clear tone in any draw note: just open your mouth really wide (drop your jaw low) and suck deeply the air in a gentle manner (not like a straw, keep your lips relaxed!). If you do it right you'll feel the air gently passing through the roof of your mouth. The important part, at least for me, is to drop the jaw and keep the lips relaxed.
After decades of frustration with old sticking harps, I found useful TH-cam sites about reed tuning, gapping, etc. While his advice may be ok to basic evaluation about one harp, it is obvious that advanced players rapidly moving between blow and draws, bends, and one hole to another can't slowly gently let air move to play a stubborn note. I spent a couple hours, and discovered that gapping is an art that must be addressed in pairs of reeds sharing the same hole, because the gap on one also changes how its companion reed behaves. In addition, I finished testing ease of notes by seeing that I could rapidly (but not too powerfully) blow and draw in each hole without either note choking, and each responding at about the same relative pressure in or out, ideally making a clean low volume note with the first light air pressure. At this point, the bending tones became much easier to play, because the two reeds are working in synchrony, and if you don't grasp what actually occurs in bending, you're in for a surprise.
Hi Dale, perhaps your harmonica needs a clean? The other possibility is that it's still about technique and you actually need to do the opposite of blowing very hard - play them very gently.
Thank you so much for your comments. Pretty much the same that you say in the video. I have tried what you suggest over and over, but blowing softly produces no sound whatever. Drawing softly does. This harmonica cost less than $10. I have ordered a new marine band which should arrive sometime this week. When it arrives and I try it out, if I get the same results, then I will know that it is my technique. I don't feel comfortable taking the harmonica apart to clean it, but after I get the new harp, perhaps it won't seem as critical a procedure and I can practice cleaning on the old harp. But the Marine Band is put together with nails instead of screws, so I may still feel uncomfortable taking it apart.
@@CasaErwin bought a new harmonica today and the 10th hole needs really hard blowing.. all 9 works fine .. in your case was your harmonica broken.. having same situation.. drawing softly works but blowing needs to be hard I am able to return mine (still in return period)
@@zeke72 I never did anything with it. It is still in my case. I have moved to a different brand and tuning. I am now using almost exclusively paddy-richter tuning. Gives that A in the lower octave that I was never able to get by bending. I have 2 Seydel harps and 5 Easttop harps. The Seydels are really nice, but the Easttops are surprisingly good for being from China and only around $15 each, including shipping from China.
@@CasaErwin i bought the easttop t10-3 for $8... Well i don't know if the last hole is broken or not.. It seems you did a lot of progress in the last year.. I'm just staring with harmonica
Thanks so much Liam I was trying to play your Hallelujah lesson however when I got to the -8 and +8 It sounded dreadful. When I tried 3 different harmonicas with the same result I knew it was me not the harmonica Again thanks 👍
I just realized this: Get the tip of the tongue out of the way. Put it way under your bottom teeth, while keeping the back of the tongue close to the roof of the mouth. That, plus breathing in a relaxed way makes the notes come easy and sound beautiful!
Thanks for the free harmonica lessons every week and keep up the good work. I have a wish: could you please show how to play "The man with a harmonica" form Ennio Morricone?
Thanks Liam. I am still a bit suffering with it, but thanks to this lesson it is improving. It is hard to relax my troath while playing a complete song from tabs on paper.
Thank you so much for this. I'm a new player and I've got a Suzuki 64 chromatic. I've wondered what's up on the high end...trying to play I get nothing but if I just cover up hole 15 and blow into 16 with my mouth off the instrument it sounds fine. I think I've been dealing with similar issues on the low end as well. So much to learn. Thanks again!
I'm absolutely certain that this is all great advice. But if I may add something. I'm finding drawing or blowing on the high and low ends of a reasonably priced Hohner is considerably easier than it was on the Lidl few quid one. I reckon it may be a good investment to get a well known/recommended brand to learn on, then show you can play any when one has acquired a few skills.
Thank you very much Liam, for this video. I exacly got this problem with my harmonica. -7 -8 and -9 en sometimes -2. I went frustrated with that and it influeted my motivation. But now I know that there probebly is a solution. I gone work on it. Gr Kees (the Netherlands)
This is great. I was beginning to think I had a faulty harmonica. Bad workman blames his tools 😂. But this helped before sleep, nevermind over night. Thanks buddy
Love your lessons and this one certainly helped with a couple of problems. Have you ever heard the melody from Fishermans Blues played on the harmonica ?. That's make a great tutorial
Thank you so much, 3 minutes into the video, and Ive got my high notes to sound just by relaxing, and I was already planning to get my reeds adjusted. Well why then my other harmonicas in other keys responded well
Hi.. Watch you all the time on your page... So.. How do you get the harp to 'rock' if your breath is but a whisper..?..... At the breath your saying to use do you play the harp all the time and that level? I just don't get it.. Why not just open up the reed a bit?
Hi J J, that's a great question. It's hard to explain fully in written form, but it comes down to controlling the breath so that you let the instrument play naturally rather than forcing it. You don't want to be heaving the air in and out, even when playing loud and fast. It's all about control. It often comes naturally, unconsciously, with time and experience.
Tnx for reply.. So when I see Ricci or Gusso etc and the seem blowin ther butts off, is it the mic making to the harp rock and all their movements are NOT related to the power they 'seem" to be using.. Keep up good work. Ur and awesome teacher.
I received a Harmonica as a gift: Blue Danube 48 hole? 24 on top 24 on the bottom? The higher notes sound like a cat or bumblebee getting strangled? barely audible. Is this broken? Or should the tips on your video still hold true to the gift Harmonica I received? What kind of music can this type of Harmonica play it is pretty awesome looking
Hi Alyson, it sounds like you have a tremolo or octave harmonica. I have a video where I discuss the difference: th-cam.com/video/rMLKPREJ1Vo/w-d-xo.html. It's hard to say whether it's broken without hearing it. Are you new to the harmonica or have you played before? All the best. Liam
Hey, Liam. I started playing Harmonica about a month ago and your videos helped a lot. But, since today, my 7 both blow and draw sounds way bad, it was fine since the past month. I have tried every solution online like washing, cleaning, hyperventilating. It still sounds bad. So should I change my harmonica? It's an easttop c harmonica. I can upload a video of me playing all the notes so that you can have a better idea. Please help me. Thank you in advance
Hi aryaman chawla, thanks for commenting and posting the video. It still sounds like you're playing very hard so you can still work on relaxing more. Also might help to work on your single notes (th-cam.com/video/YkEfzb-3pIM/w-d-xo.html) as you're hitting several notes at once. It's strange that it's stopped working all of a sudden though. When you cleaned it, did you take the harmonica apart? Cheers. Liam
I just don't understand why on the first two days of playing I could get every single note cleanly, but suddenly today almost every note either makes no sound or wants to bend. I have no idea what I'm doing differently to yesterday.
So either you've got a faulty harmonica or you're still forcing it too much. I can't stress enough how gentle you need to be. Has it worked in the past or has you always had this problem. Do you have any other harmonicas - if so, do they work?
@@Learntheharmonica Well I just got this one from my great uncle who passed a few years back. I never met him.. Only one I have.. I think I just suck at playing it. Because it works when I breathe it in...But not when I blow..
Thanks for watching! Start your 30 day FREE trial of my harmonica school today - www.learntheharmonica.com/members-zone-signup
I like when I search for something on youtube and get exactly what I want. Thanks
Haha, I'm glad it came up :) Hope it helps. Cheers! Liam
Liam, great video..... i thought my Harmonica was broken. this is very important lesson for new players. Good Job.
Thanks David, glad to be of service to you :)
For me what did the trick was to YAWN. If you make the same movement you do when you yawn you'll get a clear tone in any draw note: just open your mouth really wide (drop your jaw low) and suck deeply the air in a gentle manner (not like a straw, keep your lips relaxed!). If you do it right you'll feel the air gently passing through the roof of your mouth. The important part, at least for me, is to drop the jaw and keep the lips relaxed.
That's a great explanation, nice one Daniel! Can I steal your yawning analogy for my lessons? Cheers. Liam
Thank you for the tip.
After decades of frustration with old sticking harps, I found useful TH-cam sites about reed tuning, gapping, etc. While his advice may be ok to basic evaluation about one harp, it is obvious that advanced players rapidly moving between blow and draws, bends, and one hole to another can't slowly gently let air move to play a stubborn note. I spent a couple hours, and discovered that gapping is an art that must be addressed in pairs of reeds sharing the same hole, because the gap on one also changes how its companion reed behaves. In addition, I finished testing ease of notes by seeing that I could rapidly (but not too powerfully) blow and draw in each hole without either note choking, and each responding at about the same relative pressure in or out, ideally making a clean low volume note with the first light air pressure. At this point, the bending tones became much easier to play, because the two reeds are working in synchrony, and if you don't grasp what actually occurs in bending, you're in for a surprise.
Yes YES. Thank you! I thought i was going nuts but my harmonica just needed to be gapped.
Thanks. Your advice fixed my problem before the video was over. Thanks so much
You're welcome, thanks for watching :)
Thanks for the hack. I will always keep in mind your quote. "Breathe don't heave"
You're welcome Clifford :)
Thanks Liam, that did free up the high notes on the draw, but I still haven't been able to get any sound from when blowing unless I blow really hard.
Hi Dale, perhaps your harmonica needs a clean? The other possibility is that it's still about technique and you actually need to do the opposite of blowing very hard - play them very gently.
Thank you so much for your comments. Pretty much the same that you say in the video. I have tried what you suggest over and over, but blowing softly produces no sound whatever. Drawing softly does. This harmonica cost less than $10. I have ordered a new marine band which should arrive sometime this week. When it arrives and I try it out, if I get the same results, then I will know that it is my technique.
I don't feel comfortable taking the harmonica apart to clean it, but after I get the new harp, perhaps it won't seem as critical a procedure and I can practice cleaning on the old harp. But the Marine Band is put together with nails instead of screws, so I may still feel uncomfortable taking it apart.
@@CasaErwin bought a new harmonica today and the 10th hole needs really hard blowing.. all 9 works fine .. in your case was your harmonica broken.. having same situation.. drawing softly works but blowing needs to be hard
I am able to return mine (still in return period)
@@zeke72 I never did anything with it. It is still in my case. I have moved to a different brand and tuning. I am now using almost exclusively paddy-richter tuning. Gives that A in the lower octave that I was never able to get by bending. I have 2 Seydel harps and 5 Easttop harps. The Seydels are really nice, but the Easttops are surprisingly good for being from China and only around $15 each, including shipping from China.
@@CasaErwin i bought the easttop t10-3 for $8... Well i don't know if the last hole is broken or not..
It seems you did a lot of progress in the last year.. I'm just staring with harmonica
Helpful- thank you
You're welcome 😎
If you were a pitbull you would be a red nose
I heard "get ya tongue out the way" and it fixed the squealing. Thank you!
Haha, I'm glad it helped!
That just helped me too
Glad I didn't just order a new harp! Relaxing works, thanks! (now I need to learn to relax more in regular life, huh…)
Thanks a Lot Liam!
No worries Oriplay! Cheers. Liam
Thanks man 😅
No problem 👍
I bought a harmonica yesterday and for some time I thought I dropped it or hit it or something and it was broken but thanks God it's not.
I have to throw or pull a little harder in the last 3/4 holes. Could it be that the harmonica is damaged?
Thanks so much Liam
I was trying to play your Hallelujah lesson however when I got to the -8 and +8
It sounded dreadful. When I tried 3 different harmonicas with the same result I knew it was me not the harmonica
Again thanks 👍
You're welcome george12954, it's a very common problem - hence the video. Glad it helped. Cheers! Liam
u a gawd
I just realized this: Get the tip of the tongue out of the way. Put it way under your bottom teeth, while keeping the back of the tongue close to the roof of the mouth. That, plus breathing in a relaxed way makes the notes come easy and sound beautiful!
I will echo what styop said below. This is EXACTLY what I needed. I've just subscribed. THANK YOU.
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks a lot!
No worries!
Amazing how such a simple hack changes the sounds tremendously! Thank you so much
Thanks alot I had the same problem you described and yes it worked with a little bit training. ❤
Thanks for watching :) Cheers, Liam
Thanks Liam, you are a magician. This is exactly what I was searching for.
I never breathed like that in my life ahah
This is the way
i been trying to figure that one out for years lol
Thanks for the free harmonica lessons every week and keep up the good work.
I have a wish: could you please show how to play "The man with a harmonica" form Ennio Morricone?
Way ahead of you! th-cam.com/video/H5FZZtGTIyE/w-d-xo.html
Holes 3&6 are the only ones I have issue on. On 3 my bends sound choked off. On 6 it sounds choked off when playing a normal note.
When I relax I can’t play single notes, when I tense I can’t play high notes. Any advice? I’m getting nowhere. ☹️
Wow. Yea I was convinced it was my harmonica. I even thought it was the reeds.
I was just about to phone up mylocal music shop and complain that hole 9 is broken
great lesson :)
Glad you like it Mateusz! Cheers. Liam 😃
10 seconds of this tip and it worked. WTF. XD Thanks.
I'm happy to be of service to you!
Thanks Liam. I am still a bit suffering with it, but thanks to this lesson it is improving. It is hard to relax my troath while playing a complete song from tabs on paper.
Yes, relaxation is so important but easier said than done. Keep up the good work!
I have that problem I got a hohner c harmonica Marine band and I have that problem my high notes when you blowing air into 8910 it's almost nothing
Same here
that was the problem then, thank you so much! subscribed ! ❤🎉
My 10 hole gets no sound while just breathing I have to actually blow into it to get any noise at all. Dunno if that's normal
Thank you so much for this. I'm a new player and I've got a Suzuki 64 chromatic. I've wondered what's up on the high end...trying to play I get nothing but if I just cover up hole 15 and blow into 16 with my mouth off the instrument it sounds fine.
I think I've been dealing with similar issues on the low end as well.
So much to learn. Thanks again!
You're very welcome. Keep learning!
My 5 hole sounds the same on the draw and blow. Iv tried everything.
I am suffering with -6 and -7. My st of the time they sound terrible 😞
I had this problem and I tilted the harmonica slightly (by accident) and that seem to work
All the best discoveries are by accident :)
I have a C and a G harp of the 24 I own they are the only ones I can bend the 10 draw on I just assumed harps aren’t perfect at the top end .
Thank you. Just the sort of visual demonstration I needed.
Fixed it, thanks.
No problem 👍
هذا جدا مهم
I'm absolutely certain that this is all great advice. But if I may add something. I'm finding drawing or blowing on the high and low ends of a reasonably priced Hohner is considerably easier than it was on the Lidl few quid one. I reckon it may be a good investment to get a well known/recommended brand to learn on, then show you can play any when one has acquired a few skills.
Great tip, thanks for sharing!
excellent. thanks.
You are welcome!
Thank you very much Liam, for this video. I exacly got this problem with my harmonica. -7 -8 and -9 en sometimes -2. I went frustrated with that and it influeted my motivation. But now I know that there probebly is a solution. I gone work on it. Gr Kees (the Netherlands)
I'm glad it helped, Kees! :)
Yes yes yes finally :) that's is wt I had asked u
Number 2 and number 8 is always had to play
Sorry it took so long! I try to do as many requests as I can :)
thanks so much
You're welcome Laurent. Cheers! Liam
Why don't they make a hermonica that 2 draw is easy.
This is great. I was beginning to think I had a faulty harmonica. Bad workman blames his tools 😂. But this helped before sleep, nevermind over night. Thanks buddy
You're welcome Christian, thanks for watching. Cheers! Liam
I’ve downloaded your free tutorial for single notes. Thank you so much!
You're welcome, enjoy!
Thank you 🙏
You’re welcome 😊
Thank you so much! I thought it was the harmonica, but I was misinformed. Thanks for cleaning that up!
You're welcome Krisped Kermit!
Love your lessons and this one certainly helped with a couple of problems. Have you ever heard the melody from Fishermans Blues played on the harmonica ?. That's make a great tutorial
I loooove the Waterboys! But I've never heard the melody on harp. Maybe one day... Cheers. Liam
bro my harmonica is new, my 7, and 8 notes can't make sound, i should change the harmonica? its not my technique.
What make and model of harmonica is it?
Thanks dude, appreciate this lesson hugely. v.helpful
No problem
this guy is a savior
Thank you so much, 3 minutes into the video, and Ive got my high notes to sound just by relaxing, and I was already planning to get my reeds adjusted. Well why then my other harmonicas in other keys responded well
👍👍👍
It worked you just gotta be more gentle and breathe air more slowly
Nice one Shawn, well done.
Hi.. Watch you all the time on your page... So.. How do you get the harp to 'rock' if your breath is but a whisper..?..... At the breath your saying to use do you play the harp all the time and that level? I just don't get it.. Why not just open up the reed a bit?
Hi J J, that's a great question. It's hard to explain fully in written form, but it comes down to controlling the breath so that you let the instrument play naturally rather than forcing it. You don't want to be heaving the air in and out, even when playing loud and fast. It's all about control. It often comes naturally, unconsciously, with time and experience.
Tnx for reply.. So when I see Ricci or Gusso etc and the seem blowin ther butts off, is it the mic making to the harp rock and all their movements are NOT related to the power they 'seem" to be using.. Keep up good work. Ur and awesome teacher.
excellent stuff, subscribed thanks man.
You're welcome Robbie, thanks for subscribing :)
good😘
I received a Harmonica as a gift: Blue Danube 48 hole? 24 on top 24 on the bottom? The higher notes sound like a cat or bumblebee getting strangled? barely audible. Is this broken? Or should the tips on your video still hold true to the gift Harmonica I received? What kind of music can this type of Harmonica play it is pretty awesome looking
Hi Alyson, it sounds like you have a tremolo or octave harmonica. I have a video where I discuss the difference: th-cam.com/video/rMLKPREJ1Vo/w-d-xo.html. It's hard to say whether it's broken without hearing it. Are you new to the harmonica or have you played before? All the best. Liam
Great video it worked on hole nb 2 but when I blow on hole 9 and 10 no sound will come out
Hi George, it's hard to say without hearing you but you're almost certainly blowing way too hard. If you force the air at all, it won't work.
@@Learntheharmonica your tip worked thanks. I really appreciate it
THANK YOU ♥
You're welcome 😊
Mine sounds like that but when I try to bend. Is it normal?
Yes bending can take a long time to master. Keep it up!
@@Learntheharmonica Thank you Liam!
Haha 789
My first 3 notes are not giving proper sound at blow and draw
Hi Priya bichave, this video might help: th-cam.com/video/B9ro0V-jnH0/w-d-xo.html
Another great lesson
I was struggling with 6 and 10
I see the way forward
Thank you
Thanks Andy, and good luck. Cheers. Liam :)
Well it's not working again so I don't know
Hey, Liam. I started playing Harmonica about a month ago and your videos helped a lot. But, since today, my 7 both blow and draw sounds way bad, it was fine since the past month. I have tried every solution online like washing, cleaning, hyperventilating. It still sounds bad. So should I change my harmonica? It's an easttop c harmonica. I can upload a video of me playing all the notes so that you can have a better idea. Please help me. Thank you in advance
th-cam.com/video/sXHGJxfALW8/w-d-xo.html
Harmonica test along with sound of silence which uses 7 note
Please recommend if it's technique, harmonica or out of tune and what can I do about it and which harmonica should I buy?
Thank you once agaib
Hi aryaman chawla, thanks for commenting and posting the video. It still sounds like you're playing very hard so you can still work on relaxing more. Also might help to work on your single notes (th-cam.com/video/YkEfzb-3pIM/w-d-xo.html) as you're hitting several notes at once. It's strange that it's stopped working all of a sudden though. When you cleaned it, did you take the harmonica apart? Cheers. Liam
Very good!
Thank you!
Very good Liam! Thank you for this video.
Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers. Liam
This is my problem 😁 thank you very much!
Happy to help!
Thanks man! you fixed me in literally 2 minutes
No problem 👍
Wow, it worked! Thanks a lot!
Glad it helped
But then how do you play high up fast
Hi Yuri, the same way you play fast anywhere on the harp - start with slow scales and exercises and build up the speed step by step.
I just don't understand why on the first two days of playing I could get every single note cleanly, but suddenly today almost every note either makes no sound or wants to bend. I have no idea what I'm doing differently to yesterday.
I play so much I blow them out ALOT
It still won't work-
So either you've got a faulty harmonica or you're still forcing it too much. I can't stress enough how gentle you need to be. Has it worked in the past or has you always had this problem. Do you have any other harmonicas - if so, do they work?
@@Learntheharmonica Well I just got this one from my great uncle who passed a few years back. I never met him.. Only one I have..
I think I just suck at playing it. Because it works when I breathe it in...But not when I blow..