Tip of the Day

Even though you're taking lessons with me online it's still a good idea to keep your eyes/ears open for instructors in your area. We know that harmonica instructors are rare, but they are out there and it's nice to have face time with someone. Many instructors use BluesHarmonica.com's lesson material and study plans with their private students (they and their students subscribe to the site). This is a good way to work through the material with someone. An instructor is also dialed into the local music scene. continue reading...

Either by practicing what I stated over the past days... or giving this skill time to manifest itself (your body learns this efficiency over time with focused bending work)... your tongue/mouth is formed to the pitch of each reed on the harmonica... allowing a bend to happen with the smallest movement of the tongue. Let's now mix in non-bends. continue reading...

Now that you've found where your tongue needs to be to have your mouth tuned to that 4 draw reed, do this same process for holes 1 through 6 draw. Keep in mind that the lower you go on the harmonica the more you'll use the back of your tongue in the back of your mouth (and commonly the jaw drops) and the higher you go the harmonica the more you'll use the front of your tongue in the front of your mouth. As you find each sweet spot for each reed/hole on the harmonica make note of how your mouth feels... what part of the tongue you're using... how dropped your jaw is... etc. continue reading...

Play your 4 draw now... any harp... and note where your tongue is placed. For most players the middle of the tongue will hump up slightly. This is the body's way of getting ready to do an action... in this case a 4 draw bend. Play that 4 draw again... now start to bend. If the note starts to bend IMMEDIATELY when you move your tongue then your tongue was in the correct place... it was in a place where it tuned your mouth to the pitch of that 4 draw... so by moving the tongue up and back just an 1/8" for the bending process it started to change. continue reading...

It's commonly agreed upon that there are four stages to mastery...

Step 1 = Incompetent - Unconscious
You're not good and you don't know why (or can't hear) why you're not good... you're new and clueless.

Step 2 = Incompetent - Conscious
You're not good, but are aware that you're not good and are aware of what you need to work on.

Step 3 = Competent - Conscious
You're now sounding good, but you have to consciously think about what you're playing and where you're going. If you get off, it's hard to get back on.

Step 4 = Competent - Unconscious continue reading...

When playing the 2 draw note how your jam is slightly dropped and the back of your tongue is slightly humped up. For the 4 draw your jaw is not as dropped and the middle of your tongue is slightly humped up. And finally, for the 6 draw your mouth chamber gets a little smaller and the middle-front of your tongue is slightly humped up.

Ponder this for a bit... has your tongue developed the muscle memory of where it needs to be "before" it starts the bend?

Grab a key of harmonica that you're comfortable bending and play a...

1) 2 draw (not a bend, just the 2 draw)... note your tongue and jaw position.

2) 4 draw... note your tongue and jaw position.

3) 6 draw... note your tongue and jaw position.

I was sitting with my good friend/harmonica student yesterday... who will remain nameless (Rick!)... having lunch with him and Tony, a guitar student of School of the Blues. I'm speaking with Tony for a bit and then Tony looks to Rick and says, "Are you a musician?" And Rick says, "No, I'm harmonica player." :-(

Now that you've explored how to get your tongue down in the mouth and experienced how it influences your tone, experiment with you're tongue's placement in the mouth for different sounds. Start with your tongue lowered for a big, warm, bassy, round tone... slowly raise the tongue until the wings of the back of your tongue touch your upper set of teeth (like saying "EEE" without vocalizing), this position can have good tone possibilities and may be a good place to fix some unwanted bend issues... continue reading...

For those of you that are making the trip to Steve Baker's Harmonica Masters Workshop in Trossingen, Germany, join me for dinner at 6pm at the Hotel Traub (my favorite Italian restaurant) in the back room Friday night. I'll buy a round of beer for everyone. I'll post this in the General section of the forum as well... please let me know if you'll be joining us... it should be a good time.