Bending Study 1
I just started LOA 3 and in the introduction noticed that maybe I should have already looked at Bending Study 1 which I have not done. So I went there and on the bending practice lessons I have a question. Since we have been doing nothing but tongue blocking so far I assumed you wanted the tongue block mouth position and then trying to bend notes, is that correct? Of course, I cannot do that at this point, but then in watching the video I thought maybe you were just starting with a pucker position and with proper tongue movement achieving bends. This I can do because that is how I learned to bend holes 1-6 starting with a pucker, tongue away from the holes and then drawing and moving tongue up/back etc to achieve the proper bend. But when i go to any hole with tongue block, I cannot move my tongue away from the hole(s) to achieve a bend.
Hello lhobdey. Everything is taught and played in a tongue block on the site. The physics and mechanics of bending are the same between pucker and tongue block, the one difference being that since your tongue is placed on the face of the harmonica, you'll focus more on the wave-like action I speak of in the video lesson (pucker also uses the wave-like action, but the tongue is also free to move back in the mouth, so it's not as pronounced). You'll get it, it just takes time and persistence, but it will pay big dividends to be able to tongue block bend (not needing to switch embouchures to bend).