Blocking the holes 8-10 and the Wa sound
Hello. The lesson "Holding the Harmonica and Wa Wa" (https://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/blues_harmonica_fundamentals#TB_i...) tells us that we must block the entrances of the holes 8-10 with our thumb when doing "The Pinch". I've also read a part of Winslow Yerxa's "Harmonica for Dummies" and there he doesn't tell us to close the holes 8-10 with our thumb. Also, I don't hear any difference in the Wa sounds made when blocking or not blocking those holes. Also, I don't understand how it's supposed to work given that we have a hole in our cup of hands on the right anyway - see the picture.
So, I don't understand what the blocking of holes 8-10 is supposed to do, how this whole cupping thing works, and what I should do given that 2 different instructors suggest 2 different things.
Also, while I am getting some amount of the Wa sound, it's not as pronounced as when you or Winslow Yerxa do it. Why is that?
Hello David Barnett.
When you say "vented coverplates" do you mean the holes on the left and the right side of the harmonica? Do you mean that there are harmonicas without these?
Hello phi.
I was speaking of the holes you see in the coverplates... commonly called vents... on the left and right-hand sides of your harmonica. The coverplates are where your fingers go on the top and bottom to hold the harmonica (to protect the reeds).
The left-hand side is covered by your hands and lips.
The right-hand side is open (sticking outside of your right hand).
The model of harmonica I play (Hohner Marine Band) also has these vents.
Yes, they do make harmonicas without these vents, and the generally are darker, less bright, sounding harmonicas. The Hohner Special 20 is a good example.
Ok, I'm reporting back.
First, I applied your advice "1) The pointing finger of your right hand should be touching the back of the harmonica. This is the "pinch" in The Pinch title of the hold." This is good advice. More importantly, I realized that I can actually feel how well my cup isolates the harmonica by the sound - I can just hold the harmonica in my mouth, do a constant blow 4 with the tongue blocking embouchure, change or modify the cup in different ways and see how it sounds. And the key point is - when the cup isolates the harmonica well, the harmonica sounds like it's going right into my skull (or at least into my jaw). I think this is what you call having a "dark" sound. In contrast, if I don't cup it well or don't cup it at all, then it doesn't sound as intense. Using this, I've managed to achieve a tighter "pinch" using your advice. Although it still doesn't give me as good wa sound as yours. Another way to debug my cup is to check if moving away just the thumb that's blocking the holes 8-10 creates just a little of the wa sound. If it doesn't, then my cup is not tight enough. It's quite tricky for me to get the cup tight enough right away. I'll work on it. Also, when I do wa by moving my right hand, it pushes my left hand and my tongue or my lips often skip to another hole and I get an undesired sound. I suppose I'll have to just practice to avoid this as well. Also, I want to say that, man, this is hard. I need to keep my cup tight, it's not very comfortable, I need to keep my tongue low and the top of my mouth like in a yawn, I need to be blocking the note with my tongue correctly, I run out of breath. Oh my god, so many things to do at once.
Anyway, you can see a vid of me doing the wa wa with this modified cup at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VfEmmVeVM1FTDq5_6qtPWAfgDXWsQ-z_/view?u....
Ok, now, I understand that if I want to make a wa sound, I need to first make the cup as tight as possible and then quickly make it not tight, and if I want to make an ooh sound then I must start with my cup not tight and then quickly make it tight. But how should I hold the harmonica when I'm not playing wa wa or ooh ooh sounds? Should I still keep the cup as tight as possible? Or should I leave a small hole between my two hands?
Btw, I don't understand what you mean when you say "2) Take the thumb of your left hand and move it away from you to touch the pinky of your left hand." How am I supposed to do that? How can it touch the pinky? It can touch the middle finger of my left hand, sure. But the pinky!?
Hello phi.
I'm glad that the advice is helping.
You won't sound as good as me yet... it takes practice/experimenting over time to achieve a good cup.
"Also, when I do wa by moving my right hand, it pushes my left hand and my tongue or my lips often skip to another hole and I get an undesired sound."
This makes me think that you're pushing the harmonica hard against your face. Even though we're trying to create a "tight" cup, we're speaking of a cup that is as air-tight as possible, not really a cup that you muscle to close, pushing the harmonica hard against your face. Some experimenting is in order as you dial in your cup to have it be as airtight as possible (by manipulating your hands in different ways) without overly tensing.
"Also, I want to say that, man, this is hard. I need to keep my cup tight, it's not very comfortable, I need to keep my tongue low and the top of my mouth like in a yawn, I need to be blocking the note with my tongue correctly, I run out of breath. Oh my god, so many things to do at once."
All new endeavors feel very awkward at first, but you will get it with time
"Ok, now, I understand that if I want to make a wa sound, I need to first make the cup as tight as possible and then quickly make it not tight, and if I want to make an ooh sound then I must start with my cup not tight and then quickly make it tight. But how should I hold the harmonica when I'm not playing wa wa or ooh ooh sounds? Should I still keep the cup as tight as possible? Or should I leave a small hole between my two hands?"
Leave a small hole between your two hands. A tight cup is only used in preparation for those techniques, or when you perform on a bullet microphone. Keep your hands open and relaxed when you play.
"Btw, I don't understand what you mean when you say "2) Take the thumb of your left hand and move it away from you to touch the pinky of your left hand." How am I supposed to do that? How can it touch the pinky? It can touch the middle finger of my left hand, sure. But the pinky!?"
Sorry, yes, ring finger of your left hand.
Your Wa Wa looks good in your video. One tip... keep the fingers of your right hand closed
Hi David. I've got another question. When I block the holes 8-10 with my thumb, I can't tongue block them and I can't even tongue block the hole number 7. What do I do about that? Or will that be covered in the tongue blocking lesson?
Hello Phi. Luckily this is an easy one. As you move up the harmonica, slide your thumb to the right to accommodate.
Hello phi.
The most pronounced Wa effect comes with the End-Cap or Two Thumbs Up approaches (taught in the lesson). With this said, you can get a very good Wa effect with The Pinch. Due to the comfort of The Pinch, most players use it.
The key element of your right thumb is more that it's tightly against your cheek. Even though the right side of the harmonica is sticking out, and with vented coverplates (like what you play), one would think it would not make a difference, but it does... not a large difference, but a difference.
From your picture, I see two areas that can be improved with your cup...
1) The pointing finger of your right hand should be touching the back of the harmonica. This is the "pinch" in The Pinch title of the hold.
2) Take the thumb of your left hand and move it away from you to touch the pinky of your left hand.
These three adjustments (the third being the right thumb against the cheek) will improve your tight cup.
Report back.