Blues Harmonica Lesson - 5 Reasons To Use Tongue Blocking

[JohnnyBazooka]

Thank you. I just tried the first song I learned with TB. Sounds horrible, but it's not too difficult to hit the notes.

How do you do the bendings with TB?

[leesankeygroup]

@JohnnyBazooka Hi Johnny, thanks for watching. This video is part of a series I've uploaded on Tongue Blocking. There are 2 videos covering tongue block bends. You can find them on my channel. You can't post links here in comments. Let me know if you find them o.k. Lee

[hohner2010]

hi lee sorry for this.. another bloody question, i really need to start using the top end after 6th hole more than i do now . i can over blow and over bend but i really just want to focus on playing blow and draw for now to start using them a little more. can you help please

[leesankeygroup]

@hohner2010 Hey no problem, questions provide inspiration for what I should cover next. I think this could be an interesting area and I imagine many other people would like to hear about it too. I will do a video series in a few videos time. Meanwhile a good place to start is to make sure you can play 1st position major scale from hole 1 to hole 10. Up and down. Playing this smoothly and confidently, including the high register 7-10 will be very helpful.

[hohner2010]

@leesankeygroup ohh yes sssweet , thanking you kindly and i will read up and study the 1st possion as this i have not been over before either so i really need to get an idea of what holes are included unless it's straight harping then i know where i am. i think am at that stage now to venture off second possision which has been a certain home for me and my practice till now. many thanks for the returned replay

[hohner2010]

wooow any tuition video on the country chug you did it flows really sweetly, my chug is missing the wooping noise and timeing ? thanks for video its helping as i love and perfer pucker mode, and do what adam gussow uses with the tounge blocking as i cant yet move around with it to blow one hole or draw one hole without lettin air slip now and the. i can however draw bend ?? weirdly... does this mean later on i might acquier it totaly into my play

[leesankeygroup]

@hohner2010 Hi, if you prefer pucker mode then roll with it! I recommend being able to do both techniques. Tongue Blocking will give you certain effects so it's definitely worth learning. My tongue blocking videos (there's 8 or so now) are geared around combining pucker with tongue blocking. If you work through them you will begin to be able to move around the harmonica using tongue blocking. A few people have suggested I do something on county playing, so I will do soon, thanks Lee

[hohner2010]

@leesankeygroup thanks for writing back i had a 3 hour gap in my lazy day today and actually sucked a bit out of the tounge blocking video's and although i hardly use this tecneque unless playing 2 notes together i realised that my aim's off center and i need to get that sorted now rather than later and i can sort of jump from hole 1 to 4 without a slur of notes .. so all in all i owe you 1 and over time many more haha thanks and can't wait for country stomp

[arthur1062]

hi lee , terrific information on this technique, i am using both now ,to the best i can, i listen a lot to big walter horton , loved youre country riff , arthur .

[leesankeygroup]

@arthur1062 Yo Arthur, you can't go wrong listening to Big Walter, one of the all time great players. Thanks for the comments and interest. All the best to you, Lee

[pritchharp]

Hi Lee

As always an intelligent and informative video. I use both lip pursing and tongue blocking and have been using the latter more and more of late. My problem is I still revert to lip pursing for bending notes as I can't seem to get the same level of control with tongue block bending. Any tips or techniques on tongue block bending? Practice I guess. Could be the subject of another video?

[leesankeygroup]

@pritchharp Cheers for the feedback Adam. Thank for the suggestion on TB bending and I will try and include some more information on it in later. Bending low notes with tongue blocking can seem impossible in the beginning but they come with practise. One key thing is to use the throat more. I've just uploaded another video showing some bends, overblows and overdraws tongue blocked. Thanks again, Lee

[honeydawg]

Hi Lee, I do both, lip-pursing and tongue-blocking, and now I'm convinced it's the right approach :-) I enjoy your videos... articulate and well-considered. Your teaching is spot on. Looking forward to more!

[leesankeygroup]

@honeydawg Cheers, I would agree using both techniques is a great approach. Thanks for the feedback and look out for another TB video later this week.

[jondreauxlaing]

Hey Lee,

I'm not sure exactly what you have planned for this series on Tongue Blocking, but I've considered incorporating it into my style, except I can't seem to find much information on exactly HOW to tongue block... I just have a basic theory and I find it rather difficult to put into practice. It would be great if you could do a very basic "this is how you tongue block" video. Also, how does one go about Overbending tongue blocked?

Thanks,

Jon

[leesankeygroup]

@jondreauxlaing Hi Jon, thanks for watching and for the suggestions for things to cover. Keep them coming, I'll try to include them. As it happens the next video provides an overview of Tongue Blocking techniques which includes TB overblows and overdraws. Although I'm not sure whether you mean blow bends such as in 1st position high end? The short answer to your question is yes you can do all these using TB. Thanks, Lee

[gaijin134]

Hi Lee

I am definitely convinced, once again... that you have a monster tone. I wanna sound like that. Looking forward to the vids with much anticipation.

Thanks

Eric

[leesankeygroup]

@gaijin134 Cheers Eric, tone is everything is far as I'm concerned on the harp, so your comments mean a lot to me! Lee

[vvvultrasz2]

Thanks Lee!

I agree with almost everything except the intervals. But there is of course the question HOW you want to play them. I'm happy that the was a time where I tongue-blocked everything. It really helped me.

Best wishes

Konstantin

[leesankeygroup]

@vvvultrasz2 Hi Konstantin, thanks for your comment. If you are able to play intervals using only one technique, good for you. In my experience it can sound sloppy purely because of the accuracy involved in hitting reeds at distance. The ability to do this cleanly using TB both sides as well as some LP is the corner stone of my own style. Ultimately a player has to develop what works best for them. Thanks again, Lee

[vvvultrasz2]

@leesankeygroup Hey Lee! Yeah in the most cases I would also use TB to do that, but it can be done lip pursed too. The distance is only a matter of practice. The problem is that you don't sound bluesy.

Konstantin

[marcosvtc]

Hi Lee! what do you think about U-Bloking? I thing tha I can do all the efects with it.

See You!

[leesankeygroup]

@marcosvtc I think Norton Buffalo played U-Blocked, he was ace. Not everyone can make the U-Block shape with their tongue, so it's a rarer technique. Most people would tongue block with the side of their tongue. However, if you can U-Block and still bend, do octaves etc then it's something that works for you. I can't make that shape with my tongue. Lee

[marcosvtc]

@leesankeygroup thank you Lee!! 

[Tsutsomu]

Thank you so much Lee.

Another great and interesting video.

See you

STeph.

[leesankeygroup]

@Tsutsomu Cheers Steph, I try! 

[SurlyMac]

Thanks for more great perspective, Lee. I started this "journey" pretty late in life but your video lessons always give me hope that I can learn a bit of blues harp before it's all over. Thanks again.

[leesankeygroup]

@SurlyMac As we keep saying here my friend it's never to late. Small steps keep on moving forward and having fun. That's about it! Thanks for watching and I'll be upload more on tongue blocking very soon. Warm regards Lee

[DesertRatDan]

Excellent points Lee.  I love the full sound of the split octaves. I was practicing those as you were speaking. I tongue block okay out of one side but need a lot of practice on going back and forth between the left and right side, i.e. 2 draw to 6 blow.

[leesankeygroup]

@DesertRatDan Hi Dan, that's cool, octaves add a massive dimension to a player's sound so keep working on them. Using both sides of the tongue is difficult. It's something I'm still developing. It's a lifetime's work in fact. The possibilities it gives you though make it well worth the effort. Small steps is key e.g. just using it on the blow and draw 1. Best regards, Lee