Tongue block alt method
Tue, 02/03/2015 - 09:37
Hi David, Im now and find your lessons very professional and useful. I have stuggled with top of tongue blocking as I make gallons of water in my mouth. I have had better success in using the bottom of my tongue keeping the tip on the upper not lower edge. Ive been able to do (now) 1b & 4b succesfull. As a former sax player Im mindful of starting off with bad habits that can before liabilities later. Is there any real problem using this technique? It allows me to avoid turning the harp into a fountain.
I'm glad you're finding the material useful gwknopp. I'm not aware of any issues with this. Keep in mind that at some point you'll be blocking up to five holes, so you may want to check that you can place the harmonica that deep to the underside of the tongue (the farther back you go, the wider the tongue is, and more easily covers more holes), your velum may get in the way. By the way, Gary Primich played this way, so you're not alone in the blues harmonica world... he mentions it in his tongue block video.