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 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 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 Thu, 02/06/2014 - 09:19 by David Barrett Admin
Here's my personal approach to playing the harmonica...
1) Tilt face of harmonica slightly downward (around 30 degrees)
2) Open mouth
3) Insert harmonica, bringing the harmonica to the tongue (not the tongue to the harmonica)
4) For a standard tongue block (single note at right, with lips over four holes and tongue blocking three holes to the left), the tongue moves just one click to the left (11 O'clock)
5) To tongue switch, move to the right to 1 O'clock
6) To play an octave, center the tongue and use a lighter touch continue reading...
Posted Wed, 02/05/2014 - 09:09 by David Barrett Admin
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.
Posted Mon, 02/03/2014 - 10:11 by David Barrett Admin
Simply stated, the more holes you need to block for a tongue block technique, the further back you'll use of the top of your tongue (your tongue is more narrow at the tip and wider at its base). This is achieved by either placing the harmonica deeper in your mouth, to access more of the back of your tongue, or by arching and sticking your tongue out towards the harmonica... and of course, there can be a combination of both.