Today’s lesson is all about how to play a 2 hole draw whole step bend and Sunshine of your love by Cream.
You will need a harmonica in the key of C.
If you cannot already bend a 4 draw you should back to working on that because the 2 draw needs quite a lot of power. Click here to see my lesson on bending.
There are two bends on the 2 draw, the semitone and the whole tone. The bend we want to get today is the second one – the whole tone bend as this is the one we use most in 2nd position blues playing.
1)Darth Vader
Try to make Darth Vader sounds on an in-breath. Imagine that a clean note is on an “ah” sound and the bend is on the “cah” sound.
2)Try normal bending technique
Usually people get the first bend ok by bending the same way you would a 4 hole draw but then they cannot get to the second bend.
Get as far as you can and then try the following –
3)Pull the jaw down actively
Try pulling the jaw down in an active way (taking the tongue with it). Make sure you do not relax the jaw and drop it. This will just make a clean single note.
4)Monkey Face!
Once you get to the first bend on the 2 hole draw, try making monkey face by pushing your chin out under the harmonica.
5)Sunshine of your love
Practice playing Sunshine of your love; it will really help you to hit that 2 draw bend consistently.
6)Final thoughts
If you can only get the semitone bend at the moment, do not worry. Just persevere until you can do this really well then try and apply some of the other tips I gave you today – it might take a few weeks…
