Re: [Harp-L] pucker/tongue block question



Plenty of tongue blockers can play very fast. Sugar Blue has been mentioned, also Robert Bonfiglio (classical chromatic), most of the classic blues players and many of the chromatic greats.

You lack of speed right now may be due to simple unfamiliarity. However, you may also be doing something you don't need to do when tongue blocking, which slows you down. Don't press hard. Many good players (including me) will tuck the tip of the tongue under the holes and press the surface of the tongue onto the holes, making for a better seal and a smooth sliding surface.

Try playing a single note tongue blocked, and then slide the harp left or right by several holes while inhaling or exhaling. You should be able to move the harp smoothly.

For the leftmost holes, you can stick with a tongue block that has you playing out of the right corner of your mouth, switch to the left corner of your mouth, or pucker. I do all three, depending on what I'm playing at the moment.

Sticking with a right-corner opening isn't that hard. As you move to the lower notes on the harmonica, the harmonica moves to the right in your mouth, the left end of the harp no longer touches the left corner of your mouth. However, your tongue is still in place, so you can just let your upper and lower lips close together in the wake of the moving harmonica. The lips and tongue will preserve your airtight seal. Later, when you move back to higher notes, the harmonica will move to the left in your mouth and your upper and lower lips will part to allow its passage.


Winslow
 

Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Harmonica Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: Eric Miller <miller.eric.t@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 6:32 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] pucker/tongue block question
 
I have two questions about pucker/tongue blocking (TB):

1.  If a player is a TB player, do they typically stay in TB mode for
faster runs...or do they switch to pucker for the runs?

2.  Is it common for a TB player to pucker the lower 3-4 holes, or do they
strictly TB all the way down, use corner switching etc.

I started off as a pucker player, learning TB...its really slowing me down.


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