re: [Harp-L] t-blocking

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don't know about the Sonny Terry bit. There was some discussion on
exactly this topic sometime in the last year or three (!) ie whether ST
used a tongue block. But apart from that, yeah, right hand side of
mouth, unless, for some reason you want the melodic note in the bass and
the chord in the treble. Best example of this is the A part (an AB form
piece) of Palmer McAbee's 'Lost Boy Blues', where the main theme of the
piece consists of a drone on draw 2 blow 1 accompanied by a chord in the
treble (right hand) register. Jeff (below) writes of George Harmonica
Smith using an octave trill; Gwen Foster was the master of this
technique,and in fact the old master of all tongue technique. I'd go so
far as to say technique-wise, Gwen constituted an entire 'golden era' of
harmonica playing in his own self!
RD
>>> Jeff roulier <jroulier@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 1/11/2006 12:54:20 >>>

My inane question for the month: when tongue blocking, does the 
single note play from the left of the tongue or the right? I know it 
probably sounds silly to many of you but having never done it(except 
for octaves ), i thought i should at least start on the right foot. 
Also, does anyone know if Sonny Terry used t-blocking or pucker? I'm 
kinda going in reverse i suppose but i am suddenly fascinated by all 
of his music.
                     Thanks,
                           Mike

I tongue block everything including bends.  I always have used the 
right side for the single notes.  There are times when you'll need to 
use the left side, but it's rare.  I know George "harmonica" Smith 
uses octave trills in Sharp Harp, so you would in such cases use both 
sides fast. If you can do octaves then that isn't hard at all.  Good 
luck. If you get tongue blocking down, you'll find a whole new world 
of techniques will open up to you.

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