New Guy has Questions
Hi all,
Glad to be here. I have been practicing for about a week, now, and really enjoying the tin sandwich. I bought a special 20 in ‘c’ and followed the coupon to this great site. The intro on tongue blocking was so much more helpful than my Harmonica for Idiots book.
A couple of questions:
1) My tongue is sore. Should I take a day off or so until it stops hurting, or just keep going and it will toughen up? Is it bad to practice every day?
2) I notice that I end up with too much air when there are multiple draw notes in a row. Any pointers Here would be great.
In any case, I ordered an East Top in ‘a’ so I can do the main course once I finish up with the section on the ‘c’ harp. Thanks all!
- The Hall
Thank you, sir, for the great advice. I’ll work on being gentler with the tongue blocking. I will also stop being stubborn/prideful and get the darn tongue block trainer as suggested in the videos! I hope I’d did not come across as disparaging the Idiots book. It’s a good book and very helpful, it’s just that I found David’s vidual instructions even more helpful. Being both a dummy and an idiot, I’ll have to pick up your book too :-)
if your tongue is sore, you're pressing too hard. The Special 20 mouthpiece is smooth enough that it's not going to abrade your tongue unless you're really jamming it onto the harp.
Your tongue is moist and pliable. it can make a seal on the face of the harp, just as your lips can with simple contact - no pressure required, just the effort of placing lips and tongue in a way that directs the air where you want it to go. Try using the gentlest contact possible, just touching the harmonica with your tongue, and work from there to get a good block.
Managing the air you inhale while playing is something almost unique to the harmonica among musical instruments. The first things that can help with this are:
You also need to take opportunities to balance your breath between musical phrases. A speaker, singer, or player of a wind instrument will take those moments to inhale so that they can make more sounds while exhaling. But a harmonica player often needs to use those moments to get rid of excess inhaled air. In those moments you balance your breath - either exhale or inhale according to need.
By the way, I'm the autor of Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition, and Blues Harmonica For Dummies (as opposed to the Idiot's Guide to the Harmonica).