David's Tip of the Day: Different Types of Tremolo and Vibrato - Part 4, Throat Tremolo

This is the harmonica player's standard way of performing a tremolo and is the basis for the vibrato that we'll cover later. This technique is produced at the vocal folds, where you open and close your airway. Performing a slight cough (without engaging your diaphragm) will give you the feeling of this technique. Your goal is to isolate your vocal folds so that the listener never hears a coughing sound (you are exhaling, but it's a smooth and even stream of air, not a burst of air from the diaphragm for each tremolo piece).

As you exhale through the harmonica and perform this light coughing motion (around seven per second) you'll hear the note get louder for each cough and softer after each cough... what you're hearing is a change in volume (amplitude), not pitch. There is no tone change to the note you're playing while performing the tremolo. If you do hear tone change, then you might be performing "Ya Ya Ya" with the movement of your tongue or possibly "Ka Ka Ka" with the back of your tongue behind the hard palate... this is not what we're looking for.

Inhaling is more challenging for the obvious fact that our bodies are not used to coughing while inhaling. For most people they're diaphragm will try to get involved, pumping with each tremolo piece... the goal is to not do this, focus on just keeping an even flow of air.

The speed of the tremolo varies from player to player (I can't sustain the speed of Big Walter Horton's tremolo for example), yours will settle in at a speed that's comfortable to your body over time.

If you would like to see and hear me demonstrate this technique visit the lesson "Tremolo & Vibrato" at http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/tremolo_and_vibrato