Pucker

Technique
1

Good day to all my fellow harpists,

I am wondering, is there well-known professional harp players that ONLY use pucker. That is, they use tongue blocking, little to no time at all?

OR, should I start learning to tongue block?

Thanks,
Don.

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Hello @DonC,
You will only find out whether you want to use tongue blocking later when you have dealt with it and ideally have learned it.
I’ve now worked through the lessons and although I wasn’t really interested in tongue blocking, I learned it anyway. :grin:
Today I can tell you, after the first difficulties, it was really fun and I’m glad to know the basics. After all, you expand your repertoire and skills on the harp.

Greetings from Astrid :woman_in_lotus_position:

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I will take the lessons and work through it. I suspected that I would need to really need to learn tongue blocking well enough to know what I’m doing and see what all the hype is all about.

Thank you AstridHandbikebee63

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Paul Butterfield, Howard Levy, John Popper, Lee Oskar, Adam Gassow

That list should shut the mouth of anyone who says “you’re not playing harmonica if you’re not tongue-blocking.” But in reality the tongue-blocking nerds will never stop touting this kind of garbage.

Tongue-blocking is a great technique that opens up new worlds of sound for many players. But many players have built successful harmonica careers without using it.

FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION.
FOLLOW YOUR INSPIRATION.

End of story. :sunglasses:

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Thank you Luke,

I listen to all of those players. I appreciate the feedback.

Don.

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