except for slaps and split octaves i can't tounge block with any proficiency at all. i've been playing since 72. i was impressed by another thread where the poster played off the wall TBing most of it.
question, how obvious is it that i'm a purser? i know it can get difficult to discern w/ amped up harp.. thanks, mark MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
when I bought my first harp tried to tongue block gave up been lip pursing ever since-great respect for tongue blockers my conclusion if you do both you do have an advantageIMHO
i cant toungue block either i just fill the harp with slobber when i try. but i do use the toungue. get an ocharina like a cheap one just to play wild thing. you just cant blow in it you have to stick your toungue in the hole the pull it out a bit and blow. this has helped me bend blow notes. i can roll my toungue like into a tube i do this on first position as a handicap because i get bored and start playing crossed and mess up. but playing out the corner of my mouth thats crazy man. cant do it.
Your playing is excellent TB or not! I can tell however from the lack of that TB "percussion" sound that you're in the lip-purser camp. ---------- ~Banned in Boston!
Mebbe some of the historians here know the answer to this, but I suspect that those of us who started out playing "Mouth Organ" tunes a ways back in the last century quite often learned the TB method first. I'm primarily a TB'er but it was Portnoy's tutorial that convinced me to lip purse when it was potentially more effective, or easier-- esp. during certain transitional passages. I'd been playing for about 35 years by then. BTW, yer playin' sounds fine to me. I wouldn't think anything of it. But, I'd keep learnin' to TB,too.
It was probably just as hard for me to learn some of that as it is for some of you "purser" guys to learn to TB.
Another instance in disproving the persistent myth of TB as a sine qua non of blues harmonica. Keep on kissing that harp. (Pity the band won´t respond to your attempts at dynamics ... Was that to much bourbon?) /Martin
well thanks for the compliments!! never get tired of that.
like a lot of middle aged men i was turned on to blues harp by paul butterfield. he did a little blocking in the 1970s live version of driftin' and driftin'. also on andrew hoggs 'too many drivers' in his better days band but no bending as far as i can tell.
bending TB is difficult for me. i can do it but it sounds hollow. when i bought my first harp i tossed the TB instruction paper that came in the box. as a technique, it looked awkward.
i still practice TB bends daily in the hope i'll get it smooth and punchy as my LP. it's the articulation.
sort of OT- i like to cover all the bases as far as technique goes. howard levy interested me but it wasn't till i heard ricci that i felt i needed to learn to OB. OBing, to me, is easier than TBing. only took me 4 1/2 months to get a handle on clarity of tone.
essentially what LittleBubba is saying is that it is harder to unlearn something than to learn it. i also agree that to keep at the TBing is a good idea.
it's obvious to tmf714 because he's a TBer and Barry C can't hear percussive slaps. good call Barry.
Martin, yep! Bourbon and meds i suspect. also it was more or less a jam. i stopped playing with these guys about 3 weeks after this stealth candid camera work by kevin coleman AKA MojoKane.
thanks groyster, pharpo,nick,barry bubba, martin,billy, and thomas for weighing in. :) mark ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
With tone like that, who cares? Furthermore, how many harp players in the audience? Lol. Do you think anyone there cared?
You played well and people liked it...mission accomplished. Good job. You are not inadequate bcause you don't tb. Granted, one more tool is nice, but don't sweat it. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
Slaps and split octaves; you've pretty much got it covered. I wouldn't have picked you as a purser, and if I did I wouldn't have thought it an impediment
@groyster: you sure about Sonny Terry? ---------- Lucky Lester
So, MP-- forget about the tongue blocking/lip pursing question. I know that's the question you asked.
I hear more important stuff. You play beautiful blues harp! You sing! (only half in this forum sing, am I right?) Nice blues feel throughout. The band sounds pretty bluesy too, though I see you and they are not making music now.
It seems to me Mike that you have internalized the TB sound in your "mind" and your able to bring it out of your harp giving your playing that nice thick bluesy edge to it...
Now that you mentioned it - Since I started 5 yrs ago adding more and more Tbing to my repitore -I do feel dirty and nastier and refreshingly disgusting to boot....I guess that's a price you have to pay,LOL...
Certainly do ChromBluz - My wife is always referring to my playing as disgusting, I just assume she means it in a good way, hahahahahahahaha....
Last Edited by on Jan 28, 2012 8:09 AM
@ Groyster What you said about Sonny Terry seems right to me. I started with TB because it was easier for me to get clear single notes,but when I started bending pursing was easier so I've done both for years.I prefer TB or UB so I may have used some when I've tried to play his stuff,but most of it seems impossible without pursing. I have a hard time with Terry's stuff and I think it's because I'm weaker on the pursing. My jaws start aching!@MP Do you do any Sonny Terry Stuff? You sound great on this BTW.
yes wolf, we weren't making good music and you can see me trying to conduct in vain. this bugged the hell out of me. as i said, i quit them for obvious reasons. i have a duo and another four piece that are both extremely satisfing. can't wait till tonights gig.
the harp in this vid is a 30s MB and my go to C harp. sometimes you get lucky w/ pre-war harps. a lot of them are crappy. sort of like how i got lucky w/ the brush crystal i'm using. or the fact that that kalamazoo is driving 2x12 alnicos and actually works.
yes, i'm a gear nut. but a vintage gear nut so i can feel superior :) obviously i have insecurity issues as clearly evidenced.
Mike,et al- you are right. nobody really cares if you road block or u-turn or what. and i can't tell a huang star performer from a souped up firebreath just listening. even so..the seeds of doubt have been sown by people like drew:) filthy disgusting habit, here i come!
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MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
yes, i do sonny terry type stuff on occasion to demonstrate the stylistic differences to whoever is listening. his whooping is seemless and seemingly impossible to pull off. for speed playing charlie mcCoy was my man for melodies and blue grass stuff. i've played far more bluegrass than the piedmont blues of terry and brownie or cephas and wiggins. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
