tongue on the left, or right?
Is there a particular reason that the tongue blocks the left holes? why no the right holes? since blues rarely uses the high pitch holes, moving the tongue to the right constantly avoids the need to switch tongue or change mouth size when using the holes on the left of 4 hole. is it right?
Hello zech, welcome to the site.
We keep our tongue to the left for all holes except hole 1 (you'll learn this in Tongue Block Study 1).
The reason for this will be heard in Tongue Block Studies 2 and beyond. It has to do with chords available when your tongue lifts off of the face of the harmonica during play. We play many techniques (slaps, lifts, pulls, flutters, etc.) where we lift our tongue off of the harmonica, and the chord that sounds we want to be lower in pitch than the main note (the note on the right), so keeping the tongue to the left is required.
Hello again zech.
My teeth are also on the cover plates (my teeth are not actually touching the covers...my mouth is a little more open so that they do not touch...but if were to bite down, they would bite the covers).
I recommend you watch the two beginning students on on the site... Sharon Barrett (https://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/sharon-barrett) and Hob Bosold (https://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/hob_bosold). We spend time on embouchure.
Thanks for your both replies! That makes sense.
I've thought about this a lot lately. It is sort of awkward leaving emphasis on the lowest tone on a slap.
What about Gary Smith's "Minor Mambo" when he comes in the 2nd time with ||: -1' -1 -2 -1 -2 -1 :|| -1' -1 -2 -1 -2 -1 -2"
I've been trying this particularly from the left side only, since there's a lot of 1-hole action that would otherwise require the tongue off the harmonica, unless...
Should I instead be tongue switching between the -1 and -2? The tempo is quite fast on that lick though, which made me think it was left side only.
~ Ryan
Hello Ryan. You can keep the tongue to the right the whole time if you wish... there's nothing wrong with that. You can also pucker your 1 and tongue block the 2 (that's how I play that lick). You can also tongue switch for hole 1. Whichever way you choose to do it, with practice, you will get the speed you need. I recommend you experiment with all three and see which you like better. Down the road, you may choose a different way to play it, and that's fine... hole 1 does not follow set rules.
Thank you, David! That is the best response I could ever had expected... and the most mysterious. I'll give them all a go to determine what sounds best if/when I become more proficient in each.
When I watch the lesson video, one thing I am not clear is that how deep I am supposed to put the harmonica into my mouth. I found my harmonica is deeper than my teeth - my teeth are on the cover plate. is this the right position?