Posted Mon, 08/18/2014 - 07:10 by David Barrett Admin
A light touch of your lips and tongue on the face of the harmonica are essential for the proper execution of technique and to achieve good tone. If your tongue, lips or corners of your mouth become tender and painful, then you're pushing too hard.
Posted Mon, 08/04/2014 - 09:24 by David Barrett Admin
Last week I spoke of how the middle and back of your tongue is to be lowered to achieve good tone. If you've been reading the forum posts on BluesHarmonica.com you've probably noticed a theme... when students are having issues with notes sounding airy, flat, not at all or squealing... my answer to them is that their tongue is located in a place in their mouth that's offending that reed (commonly trying to bend the note). The fix is to make sure the middle and back of their tongue is lowered. continue reading...
Posted Mon, 07/21/2014 - 07:38 by David Barrett Admin
A student asked in the forum this morning how to achieve good tone while bending. I thought I would share my answer with you, it's a common question. continue reading...
Posted Mon, 07/14/2014 - 07:46 by David Barrett Admin
The root of the tongue and pharynx walls are what move in the vibrato process. The tongue needs to be in a relaxed state as to allow the tremolo action of the throat (vocal folds) to move the tongue sympathetically... this is why it's important not to use tension in the bending process as one advances in their skills. continue reading...
Posted Thu, 07/10/2014 - 07:59 by David Barrett Admin
The back of the tongue is used for articulation with all embouchures (it's the primary articulation for tongue blocking). This is commonly accessed by using "g," as in "ga" or "k," as in "ka." When bending this turns into "gu" and "ku." This is also the area of the tongue that's raised when bending lower-pitched reeds, like 3, 2 and 1 on an A Harmonica for example.
Posted Wed, 07/09/2014 - 07:07 by David Barrett Admin
We're now to the part of the tongue that's not used for tongue blocking or articulation. "EE" is a good approximation for the movement of the middle of the tongue upwards in the mouth. The humping of the middle of the tongue is commonly the location for bending on the 4 draw and the first stages of the 3 draw (3' for example).
Posted Tue, 07/08/2014 - 08:10 by David Barrett Admin
Behind the blade of the tongue (what we'll call the middle-front) is the area used to control draw bends on holes 5 and 6, and blow bends on holes 7 through 10. This area of the tongue requires the most training and time to develop. The middle or back of the tongue is easy to raise and interact with the roof of the mouth. The middle-front has the challenge of working in the area of the mouth where there's a sharp curvature, between the Post-alveolar and Pre-palatal (location 5 and 6 in the diagram here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonants). continue reading...
Posted Wed, 07/02/2014 - 06:45 by David Barrett Admin
The blade of the tongue is the front of the tongue, just behind the tip. This part of the tongue is used for tongue blocking an octave and for standard single-hole tongue blocking. When performing an octave, your lips surround four holes and with a very light tough, the natural convex shape of the blade of your tongue covers the middle two holes (if you press your tongue on the face of the harmonica too hard you’ll block all four holes, so a light touch is important). continue reading...
Posted Tue, 07/01/2014 - 07:53 by David Barrett Admin
The tip of the tongue is used for a single-hole block on the harmonica, like when playing the 1+/3+ and blocking the 2+ (creating the interval of a 5th, C and G while blowing on a C Harmonica). The tip is not used for standard tongue blocking due to its small size (more on this later). The tip is also used for the "T" articulation so common in the pucker embouchure for single notes, or for everyone when articulating chords.
Posted Mon, 05/12/2014 - 08:13 by David Barrett Admin
1) Play a Quick Chord - Playing multiple holes is a great way to clear spit. If you can incorporate this spit-clearing chord in the music, even better.
2) Quick Aggressive Tap on Leg - When the harmonica makes a dead-stop on your leg the spit keeps traveling and clears the reed slot.
3A) If not a memorized solo, avoid the stuck hole in your improvisation. continue reading...