[Harp-L] TB bends and Stevie

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sergei asks:

"This has been bothering me for a while... does Stevie Wonder tongue  
block?"

I believe in general that Stevie puckers.  He may TB every now and  
then, but most of what I've read indicates he's primarily a pucker  
player, much like Toots.

BTW, I agree completely about Les Thompson--that CD with him on the  
second half is fantastic, it's a shame he didn't get to record more,  
and formally at that not just a live set (great as it is).  I also  
wish Toots hadn't abandoned his more growly, snarly tone that he had  
back then.  I love Toots' work, but he did have a bit more edge in  
his early stuff tonally, which I'd love to have heard when he was at  
his height with Pederson, Pass et al.

On tongue blocking and overblowing, J Compton writes:

"I'm sure there are people out there that can do this...and there are  
probably people out there who can hit both blow 10 bends right on  
pitch while TB too...but (throwing out another unsupported statistic)  
I bet 90+% of those who use OB in their songs play them puckered.   
From personal experience (again, not terribly relevant given my  
newbie status), I've never, ever gotten an OB w/ TB."

Most of the more prominent "overblow" type players do tend to use  
pucker.  However, I think this has to do more with familiarity than  
anything else.  I am primarily a TB player, and while I don't  
overblow well, I do so more easily when tongue-blocking than when  
puckering, probably due to an increased familiarity and feeling of  
ease with this technique.  The same for blow bends (I bend 10blow  
much better with TB, having just checked).  Moreover, one of the true  
masters of the instrument all-time, and an early user and master of  
blow bends, DeFord Bailey, used slaps and the like into his blow  
bends, indicating that he TBed them (or at least could)--and he had a  
great mastery of the intermediary bends on all of the upper blow bends.

I don't think you physically do much different in terms of bending or  
overblowing between TBing and puckering, I think it comes down to  
your individual comfort level with the embouchure.




 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()   & Snuffy, too:)
`----'