How often do you find yourself running out of breathing room in your lungs in the middle of an important note? How do you plan it so that this doesn't happen? And how do you smoothly change from a blow to a draw note? And how do you keep from getting winded as if you had just jogged a mile?

Breathing is an important factor in your harmonica playing. I wish I could give you some steps to improving your breath control. There isn't too much that I can say, other than it comes naturally. Once you have played a song 25 times then you know when you have to fill your lungs. But I can think of a couple helpful tips:

1. Blow gently. It can be downright exhausting to try to increase your volume by increasing the flow of air passing through your instrument. And it can wear your harmonica out faster also. If playing with a band or loud singing it is tempting to compete with the others. Forget it! The harmonica is not a trumpet. It is a soft-toned instrument that sounds best if played the way it was intended.

2. Play single notes. If you are playing 3 holes at a time you are playing chords and you are also using 3 times as much air. This could be why you have to take a breather after playing a few songs.

Improved breathing comes naturally in time.

• So Long It's Been Good To Know Yuh for your C harmonica
• Dear Hearts And Gentle People for your G harmonica