Jim Rumbaugh
872 posts
Jun 27, 2013
4:45 AM
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I'm trying to grasp the preferred way to play "tongue switched". By "tongue switched", I am talking about playing tongue blocked with the tongue to the right for playing the low notes on the left.
How important is it to play more than hole 1 switched? How important are holes 2 & 3?
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theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
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The Iceman
959 posts
Jun 27, 2013
4:50 AM
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Everything is just as important as you wish it to be.
The more options you have, the more interesting a player you become.
Myself, I play single notes, TB (tongue on left), TB (tongue on right), bend with or without TB, play all sorts of split intervals, OB (not TB), and can't high end exhale bend w/TB.
Result....an endless pool of creative ideas at my fingertips.
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The Iceman
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Jim Rumbaugh
873 posts
Jun 27, 2013
5:20 AM
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Crap!
I just looked at the title..
I left off the word SWITCHED.
oh well, let's see what happens...
and thank you Iceman, for the first insight.
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theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
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harmonicanick
1976 posts
Jun 27, 2013
5:37 AM
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I lp single notes, but use the octaves all round the 10 holes using tb, lots of possibilities. How many holes? then 10 I guess
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yonderwall
60 posts
Jun 27, 2013
5:53 AM
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I think that Iceman sums it up pretty well. I personally TB every hole except hole 1, but am starting to tongue switch on that hole because I like the sound of a nice tongue slap attack. As I become more proficient at this (and the requisite bending while TBing on the opposite side of my mouth) I will probably adapt this to holes 2 and 3 as well.
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Frank
2519 posts
Jun 27, 2013
6:02 AM
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Jim - do you ask cause your having trouble playing those notes at the same time either 1 & 2 or 2 & 3 etc with a switch?
Last Edited by Frank on Jun 27, 2013 6:05 AM
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timeistight
1277 posts
Jun 27, 2013
9:56 AM
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I used to always play left-side-blocked down to the 1 hole. I've been practicing tongue switching on the 1 hole and now probably do that about a third of the time.
I don't think I right-side block above the 1 hole very often unless I'm playing octaves or other split intervals.
Last Edited by timeistight on Jun 27, 2013 10:07 AM
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2chops
139 posts
Jun 27, 2013
10:19 AM
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I've always had my tongue to the right side when playing 2nd position. Just made sense to me. No need to switch on the bottom end.
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You Tube = goshinjk
I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
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WinslowYerxa
357 posts
Jun 27, 2013
10:33 AM
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For me it's not a matter of where I am on the harp.
Instead, it's a matter of context:
- What am I doing at the moment?
- Where am I coming from?
- Where am I going?
For example, let's say Im playing a split of holes 4 and 7 Draw. My next note after that is Draw 3 and after than Blow 6.
In that case, my left side is on Hole 4, right next to Hole 3, so I play Draw 3 out of the eft side, and then Blow 6 out of the right side.
The more you play around with this stuff, the more you can be spontaneous with it.
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Winslow
Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Jun 27, 2013 10:33 AM
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Kingley
2799 posts
Jun 27, 2013
11:03 AM
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"How important is it to play more than hole 1 switched? How important are holes 2 & 3?"
It's not important to play any of them tongue switched. Unless you want to that is. Playing hole one tongue switched though can often give more depth to the tone of the notes on that particular hole. Sometimes I play it switched but not a lot. Mostly I tend to play tongue blocked to the left and play out of the right side. I do this on every hole, except the blow bends which I tend to lip purse. If I play overblows (which I don't very often) then I play them tongue blocked just like all the other notes.
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mr_so&so
691 posts
Jun 27, 2013
11:19 AM
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Jim, I started tongue-switching to get the 1 hole, from Dave Barrett's lessons. I only do the switch to a right-side block for that one hole. For 2 and above I use a left-side block for single notes. Winslow's point above is also taken for playing splits to single notes, or for doing a "big jump" from one note to another.
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mr_so&so
692 posts
Jun 27, 2013
12:04 PM
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@The Iceman, on low harps (G,A,Bb,C?) I can TB OBs and blow bends, including 10, but I have yet to master this on higher harps. I wonder if anyone here can do it all on any harp? Maybe Joe Spires, but he has the advantage of great harps. Mine are cheapies so far, and my gapping skills are still developing.
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nacoran
6885 posts
Jun 27, 2013
1:40 PM
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DRAAAAT!!!
I wasn't sure, so I picked up my favorite Bb to check, and the 1 hole has developed a rattle. :(
-I seem to purse the 1 hole when I am isolating it. I don't tongue block it unless I'm going for a split, but I've never developed great TB bends, so I tend to bias towards pucker anyway. I do use TB a lot on more classical numbers where I'm kind of doing counter harmony, switching between single notes and splits quickly.
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Nate
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Jim Rumbaugh
874 posts
Jun 27, 2013
3:45 PM
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@Frank
I have a student that want to learn to play tongue blocked. I am walking him through Filisko's Blue Byrd Blues which has switching from 1draw to 3blow. There is a part that goes 1Draw, 2BLOW, 2DRAW. And YES, I'm having trouble with 2DRAW switched.
My concern is not so much for me, I can see that with time the 2DRAW will come. What I don't want to do is push this student too hard in a direction that reaps little benefit.
From the above posts, the 1 hole is most common use for switched. I understand that 2 draw is commonly played unswitched so you can use the 1DRAW,2DRAW combo for chording. I can see pros & cons both ways and I now have a feeling on how much to push my student.
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theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
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Kingley
2803 posts
Jun 27, 2013
9:06 PM
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Jim - I wouldn't worry too much about the student getting the tongue switching thing at this stage. As there's more than one way to skin a cat. I'd be much more concerned that they are getting the tune down, the timing and general feel of the song. They can still get a perfectly good sound without using tongue switching.
If they can pick up the tongue switching quickly then I would say yes, spend some time on it with them. If your student is struggling a lot with the tongue switching then I wouldn't dwell on it too much. It's easy to find a workaround to tongue switching in most scenarios.
I'd have them work on tongue switching as an aside to learning this particular tune instead. That way they can add it in once they are comfortable with it.
Last Edited by Kingley on Jun 27, 2013 9:08 PM
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Gipsy
17 posts
Jun 27, 2013
11:34 PM
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@Winslow. As someone who is looking at tongue blocking, thank you so much for confirming my amateurish conclusions. There is no must or mustn't. It is a technique which you can choose to use or not depending on context. Obviously if you don't have the technique you can't use it.
I've played golf and have hit all sorts of shots in the past 47 years, not all intentional. You don't use the same club for every shot, but pick and choose from a selection and use appropriately.
Last Edited by Gipsy on Jun 27, 2013 11:36 PM
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Frank
2523 posts
Jun 28, 2013
4:07 AM
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I see, I was thinking you meant playing partial chords with a right side block :)
As winslow pointed out - you can take advantage of where you are in a block...
one instance I'll point out is...doing a run to the high end of the harp with a left block and landing on the 6-9 blow octave and answering that with a descending lick using a right block starting off of the 6 blow :)
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SuperBee
1259 posts
Jun 28, 2013
4:43 AM
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I tongue block almost always, but generally pucker the 1, although I don't think it's really a different embouchure...oh I guess it is, I don't put my tongue on the wood. But I tongue switch from 4 to 1 for licks which call for it...usually if I'm going back up to the 4 straight away. I haven't been playing many of those licks for a while. My right side block bends get shallow if I don't specifically practice bending with my tongue to the right.
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JellyShakersTipJar
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