Rob Paparozzi brings up excellent points to this topic...
When I originally responded to this post, I wanted to share my experience that I was also frustrated with TB when I first tried it out, and it took me a while to get comfortable with it. I also agree that a versatile player should know both techniques, but it is an individual choice once you really learn them each separately.
I did however, want to encourage players to stick it out, and really give TB a shot. It has been my experience that learning TB can be frustarting, and plenty players give it up before they actually get the technique down, and it is a shame.
I can't say that TB is "THE" way to play harp, since there are great players who play well AND sound good puckering. Though it happens to be the way I choose, and I have said in the past (and continue to say) that you can't really play Chicago-stlye blues harp the way the greats played it without using tongue-blocking. That is because the pioneers in this music TB at least part of the time, if not most.
There are many advantages to learning TB, so I recommend everyone at least give it a decent try and be patient, no one gets it overnight. Everyone who uses TB has been frustrated while trying to learn these techniques, but just like when you hit your first bent note, a whole world opened up and days later you couldn't figure out what was so hard about it to begin with, the same usually applies to TB.
-Dennis Gruenling www.dennisgruenling.com
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