TB vs pucker (again) and breathing
Hi David,
I love your site. It is wonderfully constructed and I love the way you explain with every detail all the material you teach.
Wonderful site.
I have been playing the guitar for more than 25 years (mainly for dark 80s etc. - google Observe & Control) and have always wanted to playThe harmonica for blues.
I always wanted to just "know how to jam" but I have become obsessive since I have picked 2 harmonicas:
1) Blues Harp by Hohner in the key of C (I don't like it as it is not responsive enough for my taste)
2) Marine Band in the key of A (Love it!)
I have been playing for more than 5-6 hours a day, every day.
My progress is rather ok I think. I manage to Jam with tracks on youtube and I deal well with most of your exercises.
I started as a pucker and initially started following Gussow and Ricci's channels until I finally found you and converted to TB.
Everything had to be re-learned but I managed to get to an ok Level (considering I play for 2 months) and I bend all the notes (without overblowing and I didn't try over the 6 holes yet) to a 90-95% level of satisfaction (Im a harsh critic).
Finally - the questions:
Although I really like the old style playing - TB with slapping the chords,
The style Im after is more like Gussow and Ricci (he is, for me, like the Steve Vai of harmonica) - basically "faster" harmonica playing.
Im wondering if the TB is an approach that is suitable for this kind of playing, as Riccis, Gussow and Levy are puckers.
Is it possible to play very fast with TB? I can bend up and down, when puckering, really fast and there is no way (I think) I can do that when curving the tongue up and down at that speed.
I know I can always mix the methods but I want to focus on TB and be able to do everything with it. Can it be done??
And about breathing: (this is a very basic question but still): with example 2.3 baselines - when I do the example over and over...
When should I breath out? Most of the notes are draws with slapping. I tend to drown after a few reps.Help :)
Thanks for everything and sorry it was long.
Thank you for your detailed questions, Gnuth. There is no difference in the speed between the two embouchures. Where pucker is superior is in its speed of articulaction. Again, I stress that it’s not in the speed of playing, but in one‘s ability to separate the notes with articulation. In Jason‘s style, you’ll notice that it is very staccato, each note being articulated separately. In a pucker, the tongue is free to articulate with both the front (T) and back (K) called double tonguing. I, and other classic Blues players, are able to articulate at the speed we want with tongue block just fine. So, you can definitely use a mixed embouchure if you wish, but not necessary.
Regarding breathing, this one is simple. Open your nose to release air as you play your blow notes. Let me know if you have any further questions.