Show HN: Let’s Bend – Open-Source Harmonica Bending Trainer

Post by smartaz42 » Mon, Jun 09, 2025, 2:22 PM UTC

noduerme wrote: post #17

Stratoscope wrote: post #14

This is very nice, thank you for creating it. I have a few suggestions, but they will have to wait until later this week. I see an email address on the Imprint page on your website - is that the best way to reach you? Somewhat related, for any harmonica player who likes to play cross harp for that bluesy sound, and wants to branch out into songs written in a major or natural minor key (e.g. much pop/rock/country), le…

Very interesting! I've played harp casually all my life without ever really learning about alternate tunings. The Melody Maker sounds like it would open some nifty possibilities! Someone bought me a chromatic harp once as a gift and I could never figure out how to play it properly. It's funny though, because as a piano and guitar player I never thought about what I was doing. I just play a cheap blues band or marine…

Post by egdels » Mon, Jun 09, 2025, 2:33 PM UTC

j_m_b wrote: post #32

This is cool! I made a similar app, but for guitar. However, I couldn't quite figure out how long I should sample. I wanted to make an app where it will play an interval and then you need to play it back on the guitar. If you can get this to work on a harmonica, I should be able to get it to work with a guitar. Will likely use your source for more inspiration, thanks!

Post by abdullahkhalids » Mon, Jun 09, 2025, 6:58 PM UTC

egdels wrote: post #23

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #8

This is great. Would have loved it when I used to have fun with the harmonica. Here is a suggestion. Display a graph of played-frequency vs time. Then I can compare visually how my bending performance improves over time.

Thanks — great to hear you liked it, and that’s a really smart suggestion! Actually, you've inspired a related idea I’ve been thinking about: since the app already shows a magnified pitch view for each target note, I could track how accurately each target is hit — not over time, but per note . That means collecting cent-deviation stats every time a target pitch is active. For example, if you’re working on bending hol…

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS » Wed, Jun 11, 2025, 3:01 PM UTC

philip-b wrote: post #15

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #2

Bending takes a bit of practice but it’s not terribly hard. Here are some general tips for absolute beginners that are based simply on my anecdotal experience as an amateur player: 1. Don’t start with a wooden harp like marine band. The metal and plastic ones are typically a bit easier to bend. 2. One hole at a time. Ensure you can exclusively blow in a single hole to practice 3. Lower notes are generally easier to b…

I disagree with (1) and (3). I think for a novice bending low notes is more difficult. For me the easiest note to bend was hole 6 on a C harmonica. Also, I don't think wood vs plastic matters for how easy bending is.