Bending and Searching
Thu, 01/28/2021 - 09:13
Hi David,
As you've strongly recommended, I've established the Tongue Block as my default armbrushure. My tonal quality has markedly improved over the tinny and whimpy puckered notes. However, I have not yet been successful at consistently bending clear notes with my tongue in place. The tongue seems to impede air flow resulting in a very limited bending range. I must be misinterpreting the instructions as how to bend a tongue blocked note. How does one hump a tongue while simultaneously blocking holes?
I'm sure other beginners must have similar issues but I've not figured out how to search the Forum specifically for Bending questions and comments. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Phil Shalen
Hello Phil.
I'm glad to hear that you're happy with your tone while tongue blocking.
Place your tongue behind your bottom set of teeth... push slightly against your teeth, just enough to have a tactile feel of your tongue touching your teeth. This is an analogue of your tongue on the face of the harmonica.
Now, relaxing all your muscles, move your tongue up in the back for "K"... not a hard, muscle-laden K, just softly say K. This is your tongue in the similar location for the 3 or 2 bend.
Now, still being relaxed, say "Key"... this is similar to your 4 bend location.
Now, try "Shhh"... this is similar to a 5 or 6 bend.
Now, to slide in a bend, you're moving that constriction point smoothly further back in the mouth (like Shhh to Key). It's this wave-like motion that's key.
P.S., I talk about this in the video titled, "Can you bend with your tongue on the harmonica?" on the FAQ page (https://www.bluesharmonica.com/faq)
P.P.S., you will get it, it just takes practice over time.
In regards to the search function... that option is not available right now, but we're working on that when updating the site.