Bending
Sat, 04/11/2020 - 04:03
Hi David,
I am beginning to get some bends by drawing the sides of my tongue hard up against my upper back teeth. However, I can only do this while puckering... totally impossible while tongue blocking because this manoeuvre pulls the tip of my tongue back away from the harmonica. Any magic tips?
Many thanks.
Hello rdh61. The magic tips are really experimentation and time. You WILL get it, you just don't know when.
Now for two concrete tips for today...
1) The tongue already inhabits the entire length of the mouth. Your focus is humping up the part of the tongue that's already at that point of the mouth. So, the focus is not moving your tongue back, but moving/humping up.
2) No tension is needed for bending (there will be "some" in the beginning of course, but it should not be excessive), so if you have to use a lot of muscle tension to make the bend work, you're not moving the right part of your tongue.
Experiment, experiment, experiment... you will get it.