Bending while Tongue-Blocking

Technique
1

Hi Am very much a beginner on a diatonic C. Am struggling with bending and tongue blocking. Am practicing on the 4 -. My question is do you lift the tongue or drop it while keeping it attached to the harmonica ?

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2

Hey @Ken1 welcome to the forum! I’m so glad that you’ve started this as a new thread. I was just mentioning to @davidkachalon that bending, especially quickly with precision is much more challenging to learn while tongue-blocking.

but it can be done!

The front of your tongue is on the comb of the harmonica. Raise the back of your tongue against the roof of the mouth. This takes time, but you’ll get it with practice!

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3

Hi Luke,
Appreciate the feedback. Have not being doing this for long but am determined to make it happen. I also need to up grade from from a Silverstar to a Pro harp ms or special 20 C. Thanks for all advice / you tube clips etc. Really has helped me getting to where I am today.

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4

Another question for you, same topic. How do you breathe when tongue blocking ? Am trying to work up and down 1-10 and back only playing single notes but am finding I have to pause half way to take a breath.

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5

Have you not been using your nose to assist with breathing?? It’s not there just to be picked… :laughing:

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Hey Slim ! Thanks for this amazing piece of advice. Would never have thought of it :grin:

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OMG @Slim…! :scream: :smile:

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8

@Ken1 yes you will appreciate a better harp for sure!!

YES, the NOSE is the secret weapon to playing harmonica, ESPECIALLY pre-war tongue blocking styles!

Rock on! :sunglasses:

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9

Well looky there! @davidkachalon just posted on the subject!

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@Luke
Finally getting the breathing right.
Diaphragm is also getting practiced

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:facepunch:t3: Solid fundamentals. Key to success. Rock on! :sunglasses:

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12

bending while tongue blocking is still a total mystery to me. I can only very poorly do it on my G harmonica on hole 2. On hole 3 I straight get a -3’‘’. Does anyone has other exercise to try to be able to move the back of the tongue while the tip is stuck on the comb of the harmonica?

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13

Push the harmonica deeper in your mouth if needed?

14

Thank you for the advice. I tried over the past days but it doesn’t seem to help.
I think the problem is really just figuring out

  1. how to use my tongue to bend while the tip of it stays in touch with the harmonica
  2. how not to alter the mouth seal on the harmonica and the blocking of the other holds while moving my tongue. At the moment if I try to bend my tongue will push the harmonica out or unblock some other holds, etc…

My body simply hasn’t figured out how to move the tongue for bending while tongue blocking. I might just have to keep trying random things and one day I will be enlighten…

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15

Yeah, you’ve got to lift your the back of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth. Pushing the harmonica deeper into the mouth will have the effect of blocking more holes - that’s literally the technique used to achieve a wider split. In your case I was recommending it simply because you’ve got to get the back of your tongue lifted and pulled back, so I thought this might help toward that end.

The way I’ve worked on TB’d bending is just to do the bend lipping, then do it tonguing, back and forth. This has been a helpful practice for me over the years.

Maybe TB master @davidkachalon has some additional insight into this topic?

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16

Good advice Luke. Going deeper is definitely a huge help. Understand the tip of the tongue touching the harp will not affect bending. It happens in the back of the throat and tongue. Think about pulling a Q sound down your throat. That will get the bend started. Remember force will not help. You can bend loudly or softly. It’s about creating the constriction point in the throat to pull the note down flat.

Think of articulating Kee Kay Kah Kow Kuu in the throat. Each one is a bit further down the throat kuu being the deepest. That is the place you will get the flattest bend.

Hope this helps!

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17

The thing is being totally truthful you WILL do it badly for a lot of time then suddenly out of the blue you’ll get it. I had the exact same problem with the low notes but one day I just got it. Just keep at it, you will eliminate all the wrong ways of doing things until you get the right one.

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@Luke @davidkachalon thank you for the advice. As @Andy2 wrote I think I just have to try until it clicks.
Mentally I understand what your are both saying but my body doesn’t and when I try to do it, my mouth and tongue do something else.
I think it will be like bending while lipping. The concept of pulling your tongue back and forth did not help at all at first. I had to come up with my own mental image so that my body learns what it has to do. And after months of practicing bending, one day I realized “Oh but in fact I am just moving my tongue back and forth” and could get rid of all the images I had constructed and focus on how much I was pulling back. My feeling is the same thing will happen with bending while tongue blocking.

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