tongue articulation harp harmonica embouchure touch

Bring the harmonica to you, not you to the harmonica.

Translation...

Players often bring the harmonica close to their lips and purse their lips to meet the harmonica. This pursing raises the jaw and makes the entire mouth cavity (your resonating chamber) small... this results in poor tone and tired facial muscles.

By opening your mouth and bringing the harmonica into your mouth, then all that's needed is a slight closure of the mouth to create the seal (like a soft gasket) needed to play the harmonica... this results in better tone and less fatigue.

Bring the harmonica to you, not you to the harmonica.

Translation...

Players often bring the harmonica close to their lips and purse their lips to meet the harmonica. This pursing raises the jaw and makes the entire mouth cavity (your resonating chamber) small... this results in poor tone and tired facial muscles.

By opening your mouth and bringing the harmonica into your mouth, then all that's needed is a slight closure of the mouth to create the seal (like a soft gasket) needed to play the harmonica... this results in better tone and less fatigue.

U-blocking on the harmonica is where air travels down the center of the
tongue... commonly where the left side of the tongue blocks the hole to the
left and the right side of the tongue blocks the hole to the right (most
players will have their lips over three holes when doing this, e.g., when
playing hole 2 your tongue would block holes 1 and 3). The tongue is either
curled in a very evident "U" shape (this is also genetics at play here...
not everyone can do this) or there's much less of a prominent U-shape and continue reading...

At 1:50 he plays a 2", which is a bend that uses the back of the tongue to necessitate the large chamber needed to tune the mouth to a low pitch. At 1:51 he plays a 3", which is a bend that uses the middle-back of the tongue, further forward in the mouth, due to the fact that it's a higher pitched bend than the 2". At 1:53 he plays 3 draw and moves his tongue down slightly to tune the pitch of his mouth to the 3 draw and then plays 3+ and he really opens up to give that note a big, resonant sound (large chamber = big tone). The 3 draw after his bend holds the secret to vibrato... continue reading...