[Harp-L] tongue blocking fifths on diatonic harmonicas

[Winslow Yerxa]

Just to go into this a little further, I picked up a harp and did a quick recording using spreads (number of holes in my mouth ranging from 0 (neighboring holes, but still played with a tongue block) to 6 (with 4 holes blocked out in the middle).

For a tune I chose Good Night, Ladies/Merrily We Roll Along. The first time through, I used Blow 3/Draw 2 as a drone note. The second time through, I used those same notes, but pitched an octave lower - I was using a Brendan Power Lucky 13 harp, which duplicates Holes 1, 2, and 3 an octave lower.

When I went from playing Draw 2 and 4 together to playing Blow 3 and 4 together, I kept the same 3 holes in my moth and shifted between having the underside of my tongue block the middle hole to using the tip pof my tongue to block the two left holes in my mouth.

When i went to the lower octave drone, I pretty much always had the top side of my tongue on the harp to accomplish the wide blocks.

Here's a link to the resulting recording:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2g9x1qpe8u92i2/Good%20Night%20Ladies%20in%20Double%20Stops%202.m4a?dl=0
 Winslow Yerxa
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition: ISBN 978-1-118-88076-0
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School
President emeritus, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica


----- Original Message -----
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa at xxxxx>
To: Sheltraw <macaroni9999 at xxxxx>; Rick Dempster <rickdempster33 at xxxxx>
Cc: harp-l <harp-l at xxxxx>; Hannes Schneider <hannes.schneider.23 at xxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 1:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] tongue blocking fifths on diatonic harmonicas

Everybody's tongue is different, and you may not be able to isolate a single diatonic hole with the tip of your tongue (or especially with the broad surface).

What works for me individually to isolate a single hole is to point the tip of my tongue upward and use the narrow cord-like muscle that runs along the underside of the tongue to block that one hole. 

For really wide blocks, I use the top surface of the tongue as it's pliable, moist, won't poke into the holes and cuase drag, and will easily cover several holes.

To block 2 holes, I find the tip of the tongue works fine. Any wider and the tongue start pointing down. Any narrower and the tongue starts pointing up.

But that's just me.

Winslow Yerxa
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition: ISBN 978-1-118-88076-0
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School
President emeritus, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica



________________________________

From: Sheltraw <macaroni9999 at xxxxx>
To: Rick Dempster <rickdempster33 at xxxxx> 
Cc: harp-l <harp-l at xxxxx>; Hannes Schneider <hannes.schneider.23 at xxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2016 8:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] tongue blocking fifths on diatonic harmonicas


Lately I have been working on tongue blocking for playing dyads too. I usually play the two notes separately before attempting to play them together. This way you clearly hear what your target sound is before attempting to play it. I think Winslow may have taught me this. Winslow?

Daniel

Sent from my iPhone


> On Aug 29, 2016, at 3:47 PM, Rick Dempster <rickdempster33 at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Make your tongue into a point and place it in the hole to be blocked.
> RD
> 
> On 30 August 2016 at 02:32, Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx>
> wrote:
> 
>> Get a four hole spread octave on holes one and four by blocking 2 and 3.
>> Move your tongue slightly right and close the left side of your mouth by
>> one hole's width.
>> 
>> That is the fifth in 2 draw and 4 draw.  Learn that shape.
>> 
>> Hope that helps.
>> Michael Rubin
>> michaelrubinharmonica.com
>> 
>> On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 10:26 AM, Hannes Schneider <
>> hannes.schneider.23 at xxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>>> Ever since I got Richard Hunter's solo harmonica CDs and listened to Sam
>>> Hinton on Youtube I've been wanting to learn how to play like that. The
>> one
>>> thing that consistently eludes me is how to tongue block the middle hole
>>> out of three to play (mostly) fifths. Any help in learning how to get
>> there
>>> would be greatly appreciated ...
>>> 
>>> thanks
>>> 
>>> hannes
>>