The techniques you presented are useful to get a unique sound and I will be working on them as I like what you presented. It is interesting that what I was taught as a trombone player under the names double and triple tonguing, are a bit different than what you described.
What I learned, and use on both brass instruments and the harmonica, is to stop the air with the back of the tongue in addition to the tip of the tongue. The syllable ka most closely describes the air stop with the back of the tongue. Double tonging is used for the fastest sequences and is ta ka ta ka ta ka. Triple tonging is a bit slower but lends itself well to triplets and is ta ka ta ta ka ta ta ka ta. The patterns are similar to what you described, but the technique for the alternate stop is different. They yield different sounds and both would be good to have in ones toolbox.
While you can't uses either method of double/triple tonging while tongue blocking, you can use the ka syllable to get a more explosive attack on a tongue blocked note. It works well with split octaves.
Last Edited by STME58 on Dec 19, 2016 1:14 PM
Listen to 0:37 to 1:26. Is this triple tonguing? Whatever it is, in 1974 I acquired my tonguing technique from this song, Junior Wells' 1966 remake of "Messin' With the Kid", first recorded by him in the 1950s. We had no video lessons back in the day. I was, and am, a lip purser, so it didn't take long to figure out what Junior was doing.
Play/rewind/fast forward, remember this?
My "word" for the opening, absolutely arresting triple tongue segment (4 and 5 draw holes, played in staccato fashion) was "Waddl-ada, Waddl-ada" with emphasis on the "Waddl". The first "a" is pronounced as in "what"; the second and third as in "cat". The change in the sound of the letter "a" makes you stretch your mouth wide for the last two "a's" and encompass the five hole, after starting on the four hole alone. This is what Junior was doing.
This song is a masterclass in funk harmonica. I love funk, and love playing it.
The Junior Wells track was sample for the hip hop song Mama's Always On Stage by Arrested Development. Another master at this technique is Phil Wiggins.
Wolf, I'm glad you've thrown that particular solo into the mix. I transcribed it a few years ago, and it was hell to transcribe. I don't know what to call that sort of tonguing.
