Bending
Posted Sun, 01/31/2010 - 14:09 by Bender
Hi Mark , thank you for sharing and taking the time to help new players. I have a problem trying to understand the mechanics of tounge block bends. When I bend when lip blocking I can feel all the mechanics at work. Can you explain how you were able to get this feeling and understand the mechanics when you started to tounge block the bends? Please be as graphic as possible so I can visualize what you do. Thank you.
Comments
TB Bending for a puckerer
It is probably not my place to answer, but I noticed you have this question all over the place for different players to answer, so I'll give it a shot anyway.
I puckered the first six months before I discovered Dave Barrett's Tongue Blocking Method Book and I have used it exclusively ever since. Yes, even on the 10 blow bends up to the C harmonica.
Re-learning tongue block bending was exasperating because I felt like I had to go backwards for a little while in order to go forward. As boring as it sounds, I just started to incorporate tongue block bending about 20 to 30 minutes a day into my practice. That's about half the time I have available for practice on any given day.
What I did:
Knowing it could be done, I simply started to try. I moved my tongue all over the place and was convinced my tongue was too short to hold on the harmonica and still get a bend. This went on for a week or two with no progress......but I knew it could be done.
Then one day I involuntarily swallowed while in the draw mode on hole 4........and I heard it! (think dip bend)
It really was possible and my tongue wasn't too short!
But now how do I repeat it. I could not get it until another 20 tries and then it happened again (about the time I wanted to give up). So I decided it was time to pay close attention to where my tongue was no matter how many times it took. Needless to say I started to be able to get it about every six or seventh try. Now I started to feel the back of my tongue hump down or up (depending if I was in higher or lower octave areas).
Over the next couple of weeks I started to gain more control with daily practice and I started (almost naturally) incorporating them into instrumentals I already knew.
The take away is this -
It will take time (unless of course you are a natural)
The pay off is huge since there is no awkward embouchure switching
Do not move the front of your tongue right now, focus on holding it against the harmonica and either swallowing while drawing in air or trying to hump it toward the roof of your mouth.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Mind you this was over a year ago, thus before this website, but the only reason I had the perseverance to do this is because I e-mailed Dave about a different issue (pulls in particular) that I could not seem to get a handle on and he gave me some brief but important advice the ended with the comment to keep "digging in". At first that final comment irritated me because it did not seem to have substance. However I came to realize that the only reason I got better was because I kept trying - even though there would be days with no apparent progress and I wanted to throw the harmonica out the window and get on with other things in life.
So with that in mind - Keep digging in!
tb vs. pucker
I learned pucker first & then TB ,then TB bending. When I learned TB I didn't try to bend,so I was able to master TB but when I learned about TB bending I knew I would have to change over completly-so I could barely play fotr a couple months-I just accepted that a pluggede away at it & eventually I got it.
Confidence
Mark -
How many years did you play and how many songs did you have under your belt before you felt ready to be in a band?
bands
I was jamming with people within a year of playing & in bands in high school with a couple years but no pro gigs till I'd been playing for about 4-5 years. I worked REAL hard on harp practice my first 5 years-playing for 1 -4 hrs. a day by myself or with records. I was consumed with it. As I recall I had quite a few songs I'd learned from the start-since I was learning songs note for note off records.
Thanx Mark
I know this comes a litlle bit late but, we met in Vaasa....uuuhh..some yars ago.
You gave me some advice, but in that time i was so out of to play "seriously" harp.
Anyway i have always remembered what You told to me about bending notes and
now they go pretty much like they should go, even with TB.
I practised bendigs with guitar chromatic tuner. Pick up harp, check notes....parctise.
That tuner gives you pretty good "hint" when you`re in "the map" or you aren`t.
Sorry if i don`t write so good english, i`m from pretty far away, Finland :)
Lucky Sounds like you're on
Lucky
Sounds like you're on the right track! The tuner will give you the accuracy you need!
Mark