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tongue switching for one hole

4 replies [Last post]
Sun, 10/08/2017 - 12:31
vid wes
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Hi David,

In Tongue Blocking Study One, in you had us tongue switch between the one hole and the four hole.  Now I am working on chorus 2 of "Walk With Me".  In order to accrss the one hole you are suggesting tongue switching from three hole position to access the one hole.  

Is my undrstanding correct?  Is this a descrepency?

 

Thanks

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Sun, 10/08/2017 - 17:47
#1
David Barrett
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You are correct, you are to

You are correct, you are to tongue switch. Essentially you will tongue switch every time you play hole 1... your tongue will stay to the left for holes 2 through 10.

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Fri, 10/13/2017 - 00:15
#2
Moun
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Tongue switching hole 2?

Hi David,

(excuse me if my english is not correct, I'm from Reunion Island)

I'm working on "Walk with me" tongue blocking study one and i naturaly take behaviour on tongue switching for hole 2.

Is that a good way or not?

 

Thanks

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Fri, 10/13/2017 - 00:25
#3
Moun
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Tongue switching hole 2?

I don't know if my question is clear, I mean:

My tongue is on the right when playing hole 1 and hole 2, and on the left for the others holes.

Have I to change my way of playing?

 

Thanks a lot.

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Fri, 10/13/2017 - 05:29
#4
David Barrett
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Hello Moun. I can understand

Hello Moun. I can understand you just fine, thank you. Here's the reason why you want to have your tongue to the left for hole 2...

There are three main techniques used in tongue blocking... the slap, pull and octave...

1) Slap - When performing the slap, you want the lower notes to sound when your tongue is off of the harmonica (you'll learn this in Tongue Block Study 2)

2) Pull - Same thing... when your tongue pulls off of the harmonica, we want to hear the upper note (2 draw) and the lower holes (only 1 draw in this case). You'll learn this in Tongue Block Study 3

3) Octave - No octave is available on hole 2, so this is not applicable

So, to sum up... the reason why we tongue block is to perform the slap, pull (and on upper holes) the octave. For the slap and pull we want the lower notes sounding when the tongue is off of the harmonica, and for this reason your want your tongue on the left. If you're playing a passage that will not include a slap or pull, you can have your tongue to the right, but that is generally rare, so I recommend you get used to having your tongue to the left for hole 2.

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