Winslow's Thursday tip - Hand cupping, Part 1

A tight cup needs a good seal to be effective.

But you don't need to cup the entire harp.

Your hands themselves should be airtight - they should form an airtight seal if you exhale or inhale into them without a harmonica.

But the left or right end of the harmonica can stick out of the cup without compromising the effectiveness of the cup.

This can help when you need to operate the slide on a chromatic - let the left end stick out.

Even 10-hole diatonics 1can benefit from not cuppig the whole harp. Letting the right end of the harp stick out can let more high-frequency sound into your tonal balance when you play acoustically,