@Corky_Music Aw the venerable uncle Cork! I always appreciate it so much when you drop in and drop some nuggets of wisdom. Always liberating and full of joy and music. Thank you for your input. 
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Aw Luke! Thank you. Just trying to be helpful to the muse and its devotees.
Cousin Corky
P.S. As a Mr. Pucker harmonica player for about 60 years no one told me I should be bending notes using the tip of my tongue. LOL! I always do it by the back of my tongue and opening the jaw (except for maybe the higher notes.). As I understand it, Whatever you have to do to bend a note while whistling thatās pretty much the same thing, but at the same time you are resonating the chamber in the inside of your mouth with a desired pitch for the richest tone as Joe Filisko and Howard Levy would explain. I studied tongue blocking with Joe, but he could play many different ways, and toured extensively with Howard as a duet (Howard could do anything) ā to add a little credibility to my conjecture. Also toured with Mark Hummel. Not to mention played with Little Walter though thatās hard to believe LOL!
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That sounds intriguing! Different embouchures, like tonguing and lipping, can definitely create unique sounds and add variety to playing techniques. Itās fascinating to explore how these approaches affect tone and articulation.And you can enjoy your favourit songs by using SpotiflyerApp
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Hi David, Pete here.
I really think this is a great question. I play using both. A few years ago Rich convinced me to learn tongue blocking, so I spent a year learning the technique, even abandoned lip block for many months so that I had enough time to learn it.
Iād encourage every lip blocker to do the same, for the exact reason you mention. These are classic sounds that are core to our instrument. If one canāt or doesnāt learn those, it diminishes what they can do on the harmonica. In my philosophy, āmore is more, less is lessā applies to this scenario.
Iāve been very surprised by what can be done tongue blocking. Even today, I was walking home and practicing, and figured out how to smoothly play from 5 blow to 4 overblow - it was even smoother than when I do it lip blocked! I was SHOCKED. Someday Iāll unlock the 10 blow bend and perhaps overdraws. Weāll see.
I think you have the main difference nailed - you can do complex tongue articulations while lip blocking. I feel those are just as core to the art as say, pull offs and slaps. When I say articulations, I really mean the precision of it and the high level of control.
Control, however, always comes at a cost. When you have more control, it is easier to do it badly! Like a car with more sensitive steering, you have to know what you are doing or youāll crash.
I also feel that it is more intuitive to shape a note while lip blocking, whereas scooping the front of a note like 6 blow, I really have to think about it while tongue blocking.
I know people say you canāt play fast while tongue blocking but I can verify that is not true. If you already play fast lip blocking, it is a fact that you have to relearn your fast lines, and it takes time. But with enough systematic practice, it comes!
Given it has only been 3 years since I learned tongue blocking, I still have much to learn, so I hesitate to say that these things canāt be done tongue blocking. But I have not figured it out despite my attempts:
- Overblow chords (or creating the perception of them)
- Large bends for overblows. Normally I can bend these up at least a whole tone. Tongue blocked, I can bend up enough to play at pitch. Going higher is still very inconsistent.
- Large leaps to a blow bend. Iām sure this is possible but damn it is hard.
Another thing that Lip blocking does well is cutting through when you need to. When the texture gets thick and I sense that my part canāt be heard, I might shift my tongue forward a touch so that I can be heard. Probably better to tell the band to be quiet, but thatās not always an option.
I think restricting newer players to tongue block makes a ton of sense, if for no other reason than its much easier to get a good full tone. Lip blocking, it takes active effort to stay open and have good airflow.
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Lip pursers should not limit themselves to only tongue blocking! Just imagine how boring life would be if we all did exclusively did it. It would be boring, wouldnāt it? I tried to learn to tongue block, but it didnāt fit with the stuff I wanted to do, which was the Terry McMillan style country music. I feel like tongue blockers just donāt understand how expressive you can be with lip pursing. Listen to Terry McMillan play on āAināt Goinā Down ('til the Sun Comes Up)ā by Garth Brooks. Heās a phenomenal player and he is almost a pure lip purser. He occasionally does octaves, but they arenāt a defining part of his style.
No one is telling you to limit yourself or choose anything. This is about sounds exclusive to the t block embouchure. Not sure why you are hung up on this. I like your sound. Itās great! Iām only talking about what is and what is not possible. It is physically impossible to reproduce some sounds without the tongue. This is fact.
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Well said!
I was talking to @Hogie.Harmonica.
I do both, and cheek blocking too I can do various tones with each, pursing I tend to do speed, overblows (although, Iāve lost the knack just starting to get it back) blocking tend to slap, octaves, deeper tones and bends with my cheek blocking I tend to get a deeper tonal bend too Iām not sure where I got this from, it may have been Jason Ricci I think he said he did it because back in the day he couldnāt block, I used it myself but started notice I could switch from the bottom notes to the top ones very quickly without blocking I kept because it more or less became a habit. As for whatās best, well thatās up to the player?
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Yep, this is how I learned - Gussow style lip purse/block. My main point is this - both methods are very important to the the harmonica cannon. The BIGGEST impact comes from learning both.
But for beginners, they will advance faster with tongue blocking, especially in the tone area. It gets them faster to the big Chicago sound that most players are looking for. So it makes sense to orient beginners to that method to start.
My āmore is moreā philosophy means I advocate for all the people learning all the things. For example, I donāt believe in not learning to overblow, or not learning folk tunes etc. I especially think players should not restrict themselves to one genre- doing so, especially if not done authentically, slowly kills the art form.
Terryās great, as are the players who followed in that style. But learning to play Terry doesnāt mean you canāt learn Little Walter tunes. Or Folks Tunes. Or Jazz. Or Classical Music. Learn all the things. If you only do what you are āinterested inā then at best, thatās all youāll be able to do.
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I donāt know where youāre coming from with this, but I have been told by men who donāt know how to play harmonica or people who are straight up elitists to do these things. Years ago, it was always, āyou have to sound like Charlie McCoy because heās more successful than Terryā or āyou need to play like Little Walter and exclusively tongue blockedā. It drove me up the freaking wall and made me have an identity crisis to the point of almost giving up.
As an up-and-coming musician, Iām never told to play like Little Walter, Charlie McCoy, or XYZ player because not only was I not playing that type of music, I was always encouraged to sound like myself no matter what the song is. If I did learn everything, I wouldnāt be playing the harmonica at all because I didnāt learn what I wanted to play. People were always to deviate me from my path by saying horrible made up lies about Terry to get me to sound like Charlie or saying that I need to be a full-time tongue blocker because ālip pursing is very limitingā. Fun fact: nobody cares what embouchre or what styles you play except for other harmonica players. I donāt want to please other harmonica players, I just want to be myself.
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You must be Amy. Hi Amy. I really appreciate your love of Terryās playing. He certainly deserves more love from the harp community than he gets.
As for my recommendations. Personally I wish I had not laser focused in on doing things āmy wayā and spent more time listening to the advice of others. So thatās why I share those things and make certain recommendations. But everybody follows their own path ultimately.
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Iād like to know if anyone else has a similar problem to the one Iāve had for years, tongue blocking makes me retch, it always has and no matter how many times I try it always does, itās not nice but I canāt help it . Possibly an ultra sensitive tongue or some horrible experience in my subconscious. On the basis that Iād rather not throw-up in front of others I donāt tongue block. Jay1
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Wow. Well said. I wish I had started with tongue blocking. I started with forming a U with your tongue which seamed limiting then learned lip blocking. With diminished grey matter and very limited time tongue blocking is just a bit hard but I am occasionally throwing it into my limited practice. I think it is really necessary to round out your ability. I play all genres of music. The music you are most familiar with will be what you play best but expanding your mind out of your comfort zone is really good for you in all areas of life.
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Wow! Iāve never come across that myself, thatās very strange. I did get a little blister on my tongue when I first started that was years ago. But Iāve never heard of that
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I think this lip blocking people keep mentioning I call cheek blocking. Iām pretty much self taught with the odd lesson here and there. I never really learned some of the proper names for the techniques
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@Hogie.Harmonica I appreciate your input and perspective here, and I agree with you that tongue-blocking naturally puts you in a better mouth position to have great tone.
I donāt think Iāve ever heard a tongue-blocker with terrible tone. But there are TONS of lip-blockers with terrible tone!!! 
By the way @Andy2 ālip-blockingā is just another word for āpuckeringā or āpursingā - I prefer the term ālip-blockingā or ālippingā because thatās how this technique works (regardless of what you call it.) When you bring the corners of the mouth together, the bottom lip blocks the 2 holes on either side of the one being isolated. (And I think āpurseā and āpuckerā conjure up incorrect, tense, images that hinder beginners and cause them to, wellā¦have terrible tone!!!
)
At any rate, I agree that ultimately thereās a huge payoff in learning both. I love them both, and use them about 50/50 now.
BUT the reason that I teach lipping first is because MOST people can learn it much faster. Starting with tonguing might cause many to give up because itās so awkward at first.
You certainly donāt need to learn tonguing to play Piano Man! And if thatās all someone dreams of doing on harmonica, aināt nothing wrong with that dream to me.
Many people who want to play harmonica for fun, just wanna be able to play a few tunes - maybe not even blues tunes - and donāt care about the nuances of tone between lipping and tonguing.
Iām actually listening to a preview of @Corky_Music 's Symphonic Blues #6 (Concerto for Blues Harmonica) and his tone is so fat and rich in parts, I wouldāve guessed that heās tongue-blocking, if he hadnāt spoken here in the forum of the fact that heās a lipper through and through.
Peter - Iām very impressed that you can overblow while tongue-blocking. I canāt as of yet, nor can I really do blow bends tongue-blocking, nor can I do bends as fast with as much precision, yet. Maybe I will one day. Iāve only been tonguing for 5 years. (And Iāve really only been OB/OD-ing for one year.)
Maybe itās possible to play single note runs as fast tonguing as you can lipping. Iāll just iterate that the fastest players that Iāve ever heard - Buddy Greene, Todd Parrott, Howard Levy, John Popper, Rodrigo Eberienos, Jason Ricci - those guys can all do at least SOME tongue blocking, some are even very accomplished at it, but theyāre all lipping when theyāre going 100 MPH and up. 
Donāt get me wrong. I donāt think speed is whatās itās all about. Iām just keeping this wonderful thread going with my perspective.
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Ahh thatās well understood now, Iāve never really learned all these technical terms just getting used to them, I am told I play pretty fast, I canāt recall when it was but I heard John Popper play and initially wasnāt that impressed, but I thought if thatās the way itās going then I least need to have a āpopā at it so I started of very slowly and eventually got the speed, I now rarely do it unless Iām playing with a guitarist friend of mine we bounce off each other and he tries to throw me off with fast runs and I do the same to him itās just a bit of fun. I do believe though that it should be very much each to his own when playing I both Block and purse mine is 50/50 too, I can do overblows but not all the time as the type of music I play doesnāt really require them that much. Sometimes I donāt even realize Iāve done them! I play very much in the moment. But there have been some amazing pursers one that immediately springs to mind is Paul Butterfield he was an absolutely amazing player great tone, but his timing was also superb
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Oh Iāve heard many tongue blockers with tone issues. It isnāt a free pass. But it is easier. My opinion - the lip block embouchure gives you a very high degree of control. Too much, for most beginners.
I started of U blocking because I couldnāt wrap my head around the basic TB way. So while I think it is how beginners should start, many people will need well-thought-out guidance and support to get past that first bit of learning to do it.
Concerning speed, it is possible to TB at high speed, including overblows (in fact, TB overblows make it easier to play quickly with TB). But the TB overblow is not commonly understood. Maybe Iāll tackle explaining it in the future.
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Hah hah! Good luck with that @Hogie.Harmonica, I can do it but I donāt know how I do it
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