Tounge switch or slide?
Hi David,
Just a quick question, i am currently studying the tounge blocking study 1 song walk with me. At chorus two, you go into the benefits of tounge switching, to switch between notes 1 and 3. As a complete beginner i find this a bit awkward to get my head (tounge) around at first, instead of switching my tounge from blocking holes 2/3 to 1/2 to switch from 1 draw to 3 blow, i find it easier to slide the harmonica to my left so im blocking holes 4/5/6 with my mouth over 4 holes. Im trying to train myself on the mouth position being over 4 holes and blocking 3 off to play a single note.
My question being will this be detrimental to me in the future if i learn and practise like this, whenever i was to play a single note i seem to try and do it like this, mouth over 4 holes and block all but the left. Will this hurt me in the future? Is there situations in the future where i should be able to switch my tounge and change the size of my mouth to cover 3 or 4 holels, or even learn to pucker my lips to play single holes as some players seem to do. As a complete beginner i dont want to limit myself too much by sticking with something i have found quite comfortable and setting myself up for failure in the future. If it takes a little while longer to get this first song sounding good then so be it, its good fun all the same!
Also do you recommend learning to pucker at all or stick with tounge blocking completely for single notes?
Thanks in advance,
Jamie
Thanks alot for your fast response David! OK i will continue trying to do the tounge switches and keep working on the exercises and walk with me song in lesson one and your lesson video for chorus two for that song.
Thanks again for your input!
Enjoying it immensely i must say, im lucky ive been managing to get in a few hours practise each day, great thing with the harmonica it fits right in your pocket, so take it to work with me, practise in my car (so as not to annoy co workers since im not very good yet :) )on my breaks then until i go to bed in the evenings, ive definitely caught the bug you might say! Very much looking forward to a couple of years down the line when i hopefully will be able to do some improv and relax playing some nice blues licks! Listening to great players is a real inspiration!
Cheers,
Jamie
Fantastic, happy I can help.
Hello Jamie. Yes, there is a reason to keep your tongue to the left. In your next lesson you're going to learn the first of the three most common tongue blocking techniques, the slap, and it requires that your tongue stay to the left. Down the road (a couple of years) when you're able to do all of the common tongue block techniques, you can then choose if you would like to play your single notes in the way that you described for a particular passage.
Stick with tongue blocking, puckering is only needed for double and triple tonguing... you can learn that down the road as a specialized technique.
Glad you're enjoying your studies, it sounds like you're making good progress.