nacoran
3342 posts
Dec 04, 2010
1:26 PM
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I had a small insight last night into playing toothbrush wahs. Sometimes I could do it with no problem. It usually involved slobbering up my harp and playing it before the harp could dry. I found a clean harp played easier, but I also found that sometimes the harp would just catch the lips too much. I'd end up with sore lips and all sorts of slobber all over my harp drying into gunk that only made it harder.
No More!
I found a trick that makes the sliding faster, more controllable and more comfortable. Pick a lip. It doesn't matter if it is the top lip or the bottom lip. (I find the bottom lip a little more comfortable.) Push the harp firmly against that lip. That is your anchor lip. You are going to use the fact that lips are floppy to your advantage. Your harp is not going slide on that lip. Instead, your lip is going to wobble back and forth. Then, with the other lip NEARLY touch the harmonica (you can touch it a little, but not like you would for a normal seal). Now play, letting a little air come in and go out between the one lip and just squishing the other lip around- don't slide the harmonica along your lips while you move it back and forth. The pivot lip gets no friction because you are wiggling the lip instead of sliding along it and the air lip gets virtually no friction because you aren't forming a regular seal! Comfort!
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Nate
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eharp
984 posts
Dec 04, 2010
5:25 PM
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damn. your first paragraph makes playing harp sound pretty disgusting.
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nacoran
3345 posts
Dec 04, 2010
11:33 PM
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I tried my best! Usually it sounds dirty instead of disgusting.
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Nate
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eharp
985 posts
Dec 05, 2010
7:01 AM
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lol
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MP
1073 posts
Dec 05, 2010
9:46 AM
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hey nac!
i do that all the time, but that's because i'm really a dog in a man suit.
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MP
hibachi cook for the yakuza
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nacoran
3350 posts
Dec 05, 2010
11:39 AM
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Maybe I should have kept the post simpler. The technique really works. The anchor and pivot lip are the same lip. I should have used more consistent descriptive language the whole way through. It's a real lip saver.
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Nate
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