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embouchure

David's Tip of the Day: Harmonica Angle

Posted Wed, 05/11/2016 - 09:00 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Sometimes students change the angle of their harmonica to perform a technique, feeling that the change helps them. Resist the urge to do this, your goal is to use the same angle of attack on the harmonica pretty much all the time.

What angle do I recommend? continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day: Harmonica Angle

Posted Wed, 05/11/2016 - 08:58 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Sometimes students change the angle of their harmonica to perform a technique, feeling that the change helps them. Resist the urge to do this, your goal is to use the same angle of attack on the harmonica pretty much all the time.

What angle do I recommend? continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day - Challenges of Playing on the High End - Tone

Posted Wed, 10/07/2015 - 08:39 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

As blues harmonica players we prefer the tone of the lower keyed harmonicas and the lower six holes of the harmonica. When venturing above hole 6, the tone thins and we start to move off access of our cupped hands and away from our mic.

Players commonly use slaps as their default way to present the high notes for a more powerful sound. Using octaves (4 hole for blow and 5 hole for draw) is also a great approach for a bigger sound. continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day: Laws of Blues Harmonica - Deep in the Mouth

Posted Thu, 09/10/2015 - 08:56 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Open mouth, insert harmonica... that simple.

The common error is to bring the harmonica near your mouth and pucker your lips out to meet the face of the harmonica. Your mouth closes down towards the harmonica, the jaw raises (like when blowing out a candle) and the tongue raises with it, all creating a narrow air passage that's the perfect embouchure for thin, wimpy tone. continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day: Getting Rid of Tired Muscles and Lip/Tongue Abrasion

Posted Tue, 07/21/2015 - 07:27 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Use a lighter touch. The gasket seal of your lips and tongue on the face of the harmonica work best when they're soft and supple. This is especially important when you perform tongue block techniques like the pull... with the slightest amount of pressure you should be able to close all of the holes in your embouchure for the start of the pull. This also helps when sliding on the harmonica... you're quicker and will have less abrasion due to the tongue and lips gliding across the face of the harmonica, not getting stuck in the holes as you move.

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David's Tip of the Day: Radiant = Big Tone

Posted Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:24 by David Barrett Admin
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Yesterday I shared with you the important tip of using a yawn to create an embouchure conducive to creating big tone. Today I share the second element of how I create big tone on the harmonica... it's the word "radiant." This helps me to both play softly and direct warm/radiant air through the harmonica. Playing softly is at the core of controlled technique and the ability to play with dynamics (playing softly as your default provides a large dynamic range in performance). continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day: Big Tone = Yawn

Posted Thu, 05/21/2015 - 07:29 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Use a slight yawn… this drops your jaw slightly (opens your mouth cavity), drops the middle/back part of your tongue (most important... this the #1 cause of poor tone, even if everything else is in alignment), raises your soft palate (so that no air goes through your nasal cavity) and opens your throat (gives you a larger tone... noticeably more bass).

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David's Tip of the Day: Reference Harmonica for Octaves and other Splits

Posted Wed, 01/07/2015 - 08:57 by David Barrett Admin
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We need to take a quick break from the transcription series today for a fellow student in need of help with octaves. continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day: Yawn for Good Tone

Posted Thu, 07/31/2014 - 08:59 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Close your mouth and yawn. This will give you the sensation of what it feels like when a professional harmonica player with big tone plays the harmonica. The jaw is slightly lowered... middle and back of the tongue is lowered to the floor of the mouth... throat is slightly ballooned open... and soft palate is raised to close off the nasal cavity. continue reading...

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David's Tip of the Day: Top of the Tongue - Tip or Convex Blade?

Posted Wed, 02/05/2014 - 09:09 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Your tongue blocks two holes in the center, leaving the left and right holes open when performing an octave (1+ C and 4+ C for example). You can either use the tip of your tongue to block those two holes or use the tip-top of the tongue (called the blade), by using an ultra-light touch so that the natural convex shape of the tongue doesn't flatten out and cover too many holes. Give this light touch a try and I'll discuss some other interesting advantages of this light touch technique tomorrow.

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Free Sample Lessons

After watching the BluesHarmonica.com overview video, try one of the lessons below to experience a lesson at BluesHarmonica.com.

  • Tongue Blocking Study 2 – This study is for the newer player or the player new to tongue blocking
  • Bending Study 5 – This is for the advanced player looking to improve their bending skills

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