Approaching other harp players at a jam
Hi David,
I have been attending my local club jam night for months now getting familiar with the players and format and, thanks to bluesharmonica.com and particularly the encouragement from the forum discussions, I have played on the bandstand twice now.
That is quite a challenge a very exhilarating.
A harmonica player I connected with engages in initial discussions with me regarding technique, licks, etc......So we were talking about bend control when I explained my challenge recently was getting a handle on a D harp 6 draw Bend in TB. He asked me why I would want to do that which surprised me. I said I tongue block most everything. His response being that he only TB's for an octave here and there but plays pucker always and looked rather perplexed as to what I thought I was gaining by doing that.
So since I'm trying to pick his brain a little he seemed to be picking mine. He has worlds of experience above me so I need to be very humble in my approach. Any suggestions as to how to handle that gracefully? This topic of pucker vs TB seems to always be a hot one. That is a common question in your interviews with great players too.
Thanks David,
i will have to be wise in my questiona and answers as I develop at the club. It's so completely amazing how diversified the things to learn both in technical aspects and the social environment of a jam session. I am the new "young guy" barely under 50 but these guys have played together for years and years so it's so important to have the proper blues jam etiquette. I appreciate the heads up as I would not want to inadvertently offend anyone.
In this case with the other harp player I suspect he will notice techniques I use and wonder about them as I do and as you have done. After playing last night he was pleasantly surprised at my tone which was more than he was expecting from a beginner.
Lol perhaps he heard a little result of tongue blocking but didn't realize it.
And now to continue the journey.....soon it will be licks the other guys haven't heard perhaps !!!
John
Exactly! Well stated. Leading by example, I love it. Pucker can have great tone, but there is more work that needs to be done for puckering for tone development... so yes, students that tongue generally have better tone.
Good afternoon jgwilks. You're right, this, and overbending, are the two hot-button discussion points in the harmonica world. I will try not to bore you with pages and pages of examples of why tongue blocking as your primary embouchure is the right way to go. Let me go from your friend's perspective.
Most players after the 1960's learned in a pucker embouchure, for the simple reason that most of the music being played and the books being written were from pucker players. These players would commonly only use tongue blocking for octaves. Gary Smith, Mark Hummel, myself, and a whole host of other players also learned in a pucker, just out of ignorance (our own and that of the people teaching) and stumbled across tongue blocking on our own (or someone shared it with us... for me it was Gary Smith).
The very moment we found out that this (tongue blocking) was how all the great masters we're trying emulate (De Ford Bailey, John Lee Williamson, Little Walter, Big Walter, George Smith, Rice Miller, James Cotton, etc.) were achieving the sound they did, we dug in. We all worked hard to discover what is now common in my material, the slaps, flutters, pulls, 5-hole octaves, etc. The best of the best also underwent the process of learning how to tongue block bend so that we could use tongue blocking as much as possible (it's inefficient to switch between embouchures and for some songs it doesn't work, you have to tongue block bend, "Creeper" by Cotton for example... the main lick can only be done with tongue block bending). Bending in a tongue block is not harder than puckering... if someone says it is, then they just forgot how long it took them to master it in a pucker.
The advantage you have of being a student of mine, or Joe Filisko, or Dennis Gruenling, etc., is that you get to learn all tongue blocking from the beginning, saving you tons of time and grief.
Here's the key thing... your buddy can still make great music... and you should never make him feel that you're attacking the result of his approach. If one so desires to develop the skill, they could make great music that could inspire a generation playing harmonica through their nose. With all kidding aside, this is why it's a hot topic... pucker players generally get defensive due to them feeling you're attacking the quality of their music, which in turn is insulting them personally. The simple fact is that your friend is limited in his technique... his ability to present different sounds on the harmonica. He can't do flutters, side-flutters, slaps (though holes 1 through 3 you can fake them very well in a pucker), pulls (same thing here) and pull-slaps... sounds that I couldn't imagine not having in my bag... I couldn't play the music I play without these techniques.
Well, without even listing the pro's and con's I still wrote pages! Simply put, tongue blocking is superior for its ability to present different techniques and when speaking to someone who doesn't use tongue blocking try not to attack their music as being inferior, it's that they're limited in the amount of technique they can play in their music.