Like many, I've been a lip purser for decades. Ever since reading that Tony Glover book back in the seventies, I've tried many times to tongue block with lots of frustration and little success. The upside is that I've widely explored the plateau of lip pursing embouchure and bending fluidity, but it is still a plateau from which I desperately wish to ascend to the level of also utilizing tongue blocking for the things it uniquely does well. Since the juncture of tongue and harmonica is obscured by the lips, it's difficult to actually see a visual, which is how my right brained learning preference can best comprehend it. Also, there are the questions about details like tongue to the left or right and where each is most beneficial. I know this is the best place to get suggestions for videos that might best show examples, give technique details, and teach very basic drills to get used to the art in its most rudimentary beginnings. Even though I can't execute the technique, I've learned to recognize it in its most obvious form, and this video blew me away with the masterful use of it.
Last Edited by Garlic Breath on Nov 24, 2017 9:26 PM
JJ is amazing, every time I've heard him I'm blown away.
I was in your shoes about a year ago - I only TB'd for octaves and other similar double-stop chords. But I spent three months doing only tongue blocking, and now I can do it fairly well. Intonation is even stating to dial in. Now I can even blow bend, OB and OB bend (but not as fluidly as with LP) decently while TB. What was the trick?
To let yourself be a beginner again. This is the key to committing. The reason we often don't learn TB in depth is because we've already learned how to sound good while LP. Remember the pain and suffering of learning to bend? learning to OB? TB is not as bad as that. So just suffer, sound like crap for awhile, knowing that you will improve. Let your LP playing slide, it will always be there for you, you won't forget how to do it.
I also signed up for blues harmonica.com, which has good details about the technique. For me this was mainly confirming that I was doing it pretty much right, and provided a few helpful tweaks. Also he gives encouragement to learn TB. Win-win for me.
One aid to learning is the Filisko Tongue Block trainer:
http://www.filiskostore.com/page/480389598
This consists of a collapsible plastic device that's like a hollowed-out harmonica and a small mirror. It's like the front face with holes along with covers. You put it in your mouth and anything you do with your tongue on the holes is visible in the mirror.
Garlic Breath - LevelUp is correct in that you have to kind of sell out and be willing to go back to square one to learn tongue blocking. I have been playing since 1972 and other than doing octaves and splits, I could not tongue block to save my life until about 2-3 years ago. What motivated me to pay the price was attending a Harmonica Collective hosted by Winslow and Jason. I came away from that event simply resigned to the fact that I had to learn how to tongue block. It was hard at first. It was as if I had never played a harmonica in my life. I had to go back to the basic of simply trying to play a clean single note. I never had the problem with lip pursing. I literally had to move my tongue over with my fingers so I could just play a clean single note. And that's what I did. As I was walking my dogs around the neighborhood I would just breath in and out. Then I practiced lifting my tongue off the harp and putting it back down to play a clean single note. Over and over until it became more natural. Learning to bend was another challenge. I had to learn to stop using my lips and the front of my mouth to execute a bend and learn to bend with the throat. I had been reading about throat bending for years but never quite understood. I found that my vibrato got much better too. I find it easier to do warbles while tongue blocking too. It is a looser embouchure which allows you to move the harp back and forth easier.
It was very frustrating at first, but once i got rolling it went pretty quickly. One tip I will give you is that there are a lot people who say they are exclusively a Lip Purser or exclusively a Tongue Blocker. I don't doubt them, but I don't think you should abandon one or the other. I think both have their advantages and I pretty much seamlessly switch back and forth without much conscious thought.
When it comes to TB and bending with your tongue on the harmonica, if you want the shortest path up the mountain, forget about "throat bending", as there is no definitive way to describe it in teaching. It has been debunked by most successful teachers who've found that folk think they are bending with the throat, only to find that they are actually doing the target spot tongue placement, but are focusing on their throat in their minds.
Also, relax the tongue for the most part. It should feel like a total blob on the harmonica as it is moved on and off.
It is never as difficult as one may think! ---------- The Iceman
OK, I'm in the same boat. I see these types of threads but I seem to miss the actual explanation. How does one toung block? What is actually going on with the toung? Thanks.
@BN- I taught my nephew the most basic use of the tongue this weekend (he plays that Bob Dylan style.) I told him to blow and thren draw 1234, until he was blowing a steady and clean chord. Then I told him to put the tip of tongue lightly on the spacer between 2 and 3 and then press his tongue down to block 2 and 3 and play 1 and 4. It took him a bit, but he finally got it right and was blowing/drawing a 1-4 octave. I then told him to play a 1234 chord and then block 123 and play the 4 alone, to lift his tongue on and off to achieve a slap effect. That was the lesson. He sat in a cornor working on it, making sounds he had never did before. He remarked, it is like learning to play all over again. Yup......
Last Edited by 6SN7 on Nov 26, 2017 5:58 AM
I tb about everything. Wasn’t always the case but I wasn’t much of a player when I was lipping it. Not that I’m anything special now, just much improved from those days. I guess I started hitting it with my tongue around 2007 and went full time in 2010 I think. But it was all experimental until dave Barrett told me it was not abnormal to bend with tongue on harp, and play single notes tongue blocked. Prior to that I’d had advice to the contrary. I’d accidentally bent a 3 draw while messing about and asked a pro player if he could do that. He told me no one does that and to forget about it. It’s hard to explain, but I think people make tb harder than it is. That’s my experience anyway. I remember the early times when I was trying to make it my default approach and sometimes I’d get hung up on something then find I was getting in my own way with ‘overthinking’. It’s kind of a natural thing. If you can talk and sing you already know how to use your tongue but if you think about how to move your tongue in order to say something it’s rather more awkward, and especially if you are more focused on the movement than the word. But of course, at first you don’t know the word and have to learn it. This might mean you DO have to focus on the movement for a while until you get the coordination. For me it helped to associate with a word or phrase. Like la la la la la la la for a flutter rather than thinking about putting my tongue on and off the harp.
LOL, you are complex Supe, I'll work on 6SN7's thing. I do try TB occasionally but not proficently. I've been an LP guy for 45 yrs. Thanks for the advice.
Imo the best way to learn tongue block is to play the harp in the way it was designed for ie simple melodies in first position. Try a tune like 'when the saints" in 1st.You'll probably be blocking in no time and also doing those percussive slaps we all want to do.
Next step is doing the bends..in second position.Now that can take a while for sure.
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