Tongue position options 1 draw to 2 draw
Thu, 08/31/2017 - 11:25
Im playing the Cotton lick ...not quite as well as you but not bad.
In the vid, you seem to saying there are some tonuging choices for 1drw 2drw. I Essentially pucker the one draw and then move right, cover the one home and draw the two hole. I can do this but the two draw is not smooth. Id like to do better. Any other options or do i just need more work.
Gary
Hello Gary. It is common to pucker hole 1 and tongue block hole 2 (mouth over holes 1 and 2, with the tongue covering the comb to the left and hole 1). The standard way of playing blues harmonica is to tongue block all the time, but it's common for players to pucker hole 1, even if they say they're 100% tongue blockers. Some players (as I teach in Tongue Blocking Study 1) tongue switch, which is to move their tongue to the right, covering the upper holes with the tongue to play hole 1. If you would like to see this in action, look at Chorus 1 of "Walk with Me" in the Tongue Blocking Study 1. Either way, the constant is that hole 2 is played in a tongue block embouchure.