Walk with Me 6th Chorus
Hi David
I'm busy working my way through Walk with me.
I can noe play the song through 'reasonably well' and use the vibrato etc.
The thing I'm struggling a bit with is the two hole section on the 6th Chours on the first to the second measure.
I find that as I go from the 3rd and 4th hole to the 4th and 5th I am sometimes getting some 1st hole coming through. I have noticed that at some points whilst playing (especially this section that I have my harmonica angled ever so slightly out away from my facr on my right side. I find that the join of my lips sort of gets stuck/hooked up on the comb and I have to let it go off the corner and up to the first hole so as to get the tongue and the corner of the mouth to seal and stop the 1st hole sounding.
I have tried looking in the mirror whilst playing to see how much if an angle is there but it's not a great deal and is hard to even tell to be fair, but I think that I do it whilst I'm low down at holes up to four. Once I get higher up I think I straighten out lol
Im just wanting to check my technique before I get a possible bad ha it that's hard to correct.
So my question is really :- should The harmonica always be straight across and not angled to either side at all?
When I'm low down (say hole 3) the corner of my mouth just sits on the corner maybe 3mm or so back on the comb.
Hope you can understand what I'm trying to get across :-/
Many Thanks
Richard
That's great David, Thanks!
I think you've hit the nail right on the head and it's the pressure I'm using to hold the harmonica in my mouth that's the issue.
I think that coming from Lip Pursing I'm concentrating 3/4 of my brain power on not pushing my tongue too hard onto the face of the Harminica lol
Cheers
Richard
Great. Yes, this is common at first. Think that you're "placing" your tongue on the harmonica, not pushing. I use a very light touch. If I push at all, all the holes get covered (which is good in preparation for the pull, but not for single notes and octave... more on that in TB Study 3). So... light touch... if you can't cover enough holes without pushing, use more of the top on the tongue. Best wishes on this.
Hello Richard. I understand what you're saying.
When playing 4 draw, your lips will surround four holes. You'll feel the left corner of the harmonica's comb on the edge of your mouth, but the corner will not be in your mouth.
When playing 3 draw you have two choices...
1) Keep your mouth the same size. This means the left corner of the harmonica will be slightly in your mouth. The advantage to this is that your lips and mouth are a little bit large, so you achieve a big tone. I play this way.
2) Make your mouth smaller... over three holes. With this you won't have the issue of the corner of the harmonica in your mouth, but you'll need to compensate (most commonly on the lower-keyed harmonicas) and make your embouchure larger by making it more vertical (fish-face) to achieve a big tone (large, and resonant mouth cavity)
When playing the 2 draw I have a lot of the left corner of the harmonica in my mouth.
The key is to use a light touch. If you're PRESSING your lips on the harmonica, the left part of your mouth will get stuck on the left corner of the harmonica. If you use a light touch, then your lips will glide onto the face of the harmonica as you move right.
So... keep doing what you're doing, just use a very light touch so that the corner of your mouth doesn't get stuck as you glide to the right.