Tablature posted on this site or provided in private sessions follow the same format as David Barrett uses on bluesharmonica.com. Briefly summarised it goes like this.
- A number with a + sign following means blow that number hole. For example
4+means blow hole 4,
6+means blow hole 6 and so on.
- A number without a + sign means draw that hole.
- For illustration, the tablature for the major scale in the middle octave looks like this:
4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 7+
'indicates a note should be bent a half step.
''indicates a whole step bend, and
'''indicates a three semi-tone bend. For example:
4'= a 4 draw half step bend.
2''= a 2 draw whole step bend
3'''= a one and a half step draw bend on the three hole.
There’s more to it but that’s enough to get going with the Music Theory for Harmonica Players series.