Hi all!
I’m stumped - any idea how it’s possible to simultaneously play a note (like in the middle and end or the audio file) while overlaying the “tududu tududu” sounds - seems like magic.
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Sounds like tongue blocking and tongue slapping?
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Tongue blocking allows for multiple Mayes of sound. This is why it’s so important.
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Definitely tongue blocking and slaps no doubt
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thanks David, Dblues, Andy!
Darn, since I’m a lip purser this “multiple mayes” will be harder to achieve, still I’ll attempt to “hack the system” somehow to fake it, right now I did the “regular” version without all of them mayses, I think it still does 80% but I’ll keep on experimenting
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I think @KeroroRinChou may know about that as they are a lip purser, they may have come across a way to make pursing sound like it’s tongue blocked. Personally speaking I think it may be based on playing from the side of the mouth and trying to Isolate a single note? And using the air- flow and tongue articulation to get a slap- like sound? Rather than targeting a particular hole and slapping on and off Maybe? I still use a bit or pursing but I primarily tongue block now, I’ve got so into that, I can’t recall if there was a way around it. Paul Butterfield seemed to manage, But he to used a bit of blocking.
Andy you are right - the whole “tongue block required” is just propaganda by “big tongue block”
Okay, jokes aside, I’m making progress:
(forgive the video quality, I usually like to make the video look good but this was just me experimenting)
- Right now, I was playing it “slowed down” but it’s definitely possible
- The trick was listening to the original slowed down. Turns out, the prominent “tududu’s” were only after ceratain notes, not after every note (there, it might have been supplemented by tongue slapping/breathing), once you know where to actually do them it becomes way more manageable and no longer impssible.
- so for example (here is the first line), they are after the 6-blows, that was the secret!
- 5 -5 6[tududu] 6 -6 -5 -6 -6 6[tududu] [tududu]
(there may be more, but it’s about getting the “important ones” first to get 90% of the way there)
oh and where are my manners, here is the original:
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Okay guys, I’m getting there (intentionally playing slower for now):
- I now think tongue blocking/lip pursing doesn’t even have anything to do with this, since it’s playing chords (3 notes at the same time)
- The biggest trick was listening to the original in slow motion and trying to reproduce it slowly as well
- Initially, I started off inserting the “tududu’s” only after several of the notes where they are most noticeable as in my last post. Here, I tap my foot and do tongue slaps in sync with the tapping of my foot in addition so it gives it a “wholeness.” So yeah, this whole technique is “kind of” an illusion.
- a mental trick that helped me was, you know how rappers insert stuff like “ahh yeah” “uhuh” in their raps? I think the tududu’s serve a similar purpose and think of them in the same way
I tried to be as detailed as I could so hopefully this thread would help someone later.
@yuriythebest l Yeah the more I listen it sounds like a partial octave, not fully on. I’ve Listened to what you’re playing it’s not that far off just needs tidying up speeding up and you’ll get it I’ve no doubt
I do have my methods of creating this sound, although I don’t play blues. The way that I do it is playing 1 and 2 draw, sometimes I slip the 3 draw in there, then rapidly close the side of my lip to isolate a single note, giving it a more textured chord. Winslow Yerxa, the walking talking harmonica encyclopedia himself, actually describes it in his lip pursing exclusive techniques video. I might have to share it if anybody’s interested.
P.S. Thank you so much for referring me with they/them pronouns. You brought me so much joy the day you posted that comment. It comes to show that just that one little action can brighten up somebody’s day.
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@KeroroRinChou, My son who is also autistic and his partner are both Trans so I’m very used to it. Although, it took some time to get there being an old git. But I know how important those pronouns are. It was only when you mentioned that you took were trans too I thought it only right to do that. I’m glad it made you happy.
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My son’s partner is also American but is going for citizenship in the UK as they have suffered a lot of discrimination where they are from in the US.
Ah, that’s the magic of tongue blocking! Joe Filikso’s study song “Skip to My Lou” is an excellent introduction into that world. Maybe @davidkachalon will chime in else wise, but I think that’d probably be the best place to start - or private lessons with Dave!
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Oh thank you Luke! 
The skip to my Lou study is by far one of the best ways to practice the layers of sound available from the tongue blocking technique. Nailing them independently is important before putting them all together. From folk style vamping to Chicago blues style vamping, important chordal effects, and sustained breathing. It has everything. I highly recomended it.
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Hi all! I think at my skill level I got it as far as I could for now. Oh, and I finally got around to making an actual youtube channel and not just posting “unlisted” videos in my old one.
It’s a really deceptive song, in that it sounds “simple”, and it is, but once you add the “multiple mayes” then it gets super difficult to master. I’ve been listening to it in slow motion and practicing, and came to realise that it’s like a magic trick:
the “trick” is that the additional “beats sounds” - are not made everywhere, only in strategic places and supplemented by foot tapping. in the middle of the line they are made “in between the notes” and at the end they are longer and more spaced out
My method for initial practice was I created a looped part of the middle that goes s 6-beat-6-beat-6-beat, whether with bending or with these, these “small looped parts” are my secret weapon:
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Well I’ll be! You can play the notes that’s for sure. I personally think you need to get a bit more experience with feeling the groove so to speak get funky. You do a great job at hitting the notes you want to now really well done. I have enjoyed watching your progress. Try a backing track and let loose, let the music carry you instead of the exact tune note by note. Maybe dance around.
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That’s very good advice
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Thanks Andy, Toogdog! Re-watching the video, it seems I was overly rushing it, and while I liked the way it sounds my biggest challenge was to try to get as closer to the original, so after some more practice I now have a slowed-down version
Toogdog = is improvising done in country music? So far I’ve just been learning by tabs, might give it a shot! Thanks for following me learn - at times I feel like a neural network (since that’s what we basically are lol) in that I fist need to play the song in all the possible wrong ways before I begin to get good. Like, even eight now I re-played it after a short break and realized I still had an aspect of it wrong and I still need to make a 3rd version cause now I don’t feel satisfied with this version
mayes mayes mayes = I did lots of searching for “mayes” in various spellings, even asked chatgpt and it didn’t have a definitive answer either, are you guys sure the term is correct? Right now I’ve reverted to calling it “multi-layered sound”
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Take a look at Terry McMillan. Most of his licks are improvised, although he took country harmonica in a more bluesy direction, but the way he phrase those licks makes them have a lot of soul.
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Mmmm. No you not JUST a neural network. You feel emotions otherwise you wouldn’t post here. You want to know what we think because you care. You cry you laugh you probably occasionally feel scared or turned on. Put it in your music. That piece evokes images of a woman dancing while holding and swishing a gypsy skirt. Or pixies dancing under a toadstool. Try imagining something playful now that you know the notes. Theres a time for ridged learning the notes then comes interpretation and enjoyment. Theres no exams here. 
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