Hole 1 bending with tongue block
Tue, 04/14/2015 - 07:29
Hi David! I've got a hard time bending my 1st hole on my A and G harp (tongue blocking, that is, with puckering it works fine). It just won't bend enough to be on the right pitch, no matter how much I drop the jaw or back my tongue. Must be something I do wrong. Anything I should focus on for these particular bend? By the way, I'm able to bend it on a C harp for exemple. Thank you.
Good morning Stef. You stated that you're dropping your jaw, which can be helpful, but you want to raise the back of your tongue instead of lowering it. I find it can be helpful to enlarge the throat, the same way that you do when you yawn. This makes more room at the back of the mouth to deal with the lower pitch, and your tone will be better. I also recommend that you play your 1' on your C harmonica, then your Bb and then your A... it can be helpful to feel the change of location of your tongue as you descend in pitch. Best wishes on this.