Harmonica Technique

The "Pucker" Method of Single-Noting

Whistling, or drinking liquid through a straw, provides a mouth position similar to the mouth position needed to get single notes with the pucker method of obtaining single notes on the harmonica.

Simply make a small hole with your mouth, approximately the same size as one hole on the harmonica. Tighten the muscles that circle your mouth to form a round, tight, hole as pictured.

Getting single notes is not easy for most people, so don’t allow yourself to become discouraged, or spend more than five or ten minutes on this today at most. Fortunately, all of the Part One material will work reasonably well even if you cannot obtain clear single notes at first.

Playing Songs With Chords

While continuing to work on the ability to obtain single notes, it is perfectly acceptable to use chords to play songs. Chords are formed by playing the note on either side of the note indicated in the notation. For example, the following song is notated using single notes.

To play this song using chords, allow your mouth to cover the neighboring notes as well as the notated ones, in the following manner.

Staccato Effects: Puffing and Tonguing

The musical term "staccato" (from the Italian word for "detached") refers to notes that are clear and separate from each other.

There are two ways to break up the airstream coming from your lungs into the harmonica so that it can be used to form a series of clear, distinct sounds. You can send separate short, exhaled puffs of air through the harmonica, as though you were trying to blowout a match sharply. Or you can use your tongue to break up the airstream, as you did when saying "one", "two", and "three" through the harp.

In general, tonguing is a more effective and versatile way to create separate sounds, so make sure that you practice it. Rather than saying "one", "two" , or "three", try saying "ta-ta-ta" through the harmonica. Experiment with different sounds. You’ll find that "Cha-cha-cha" will produce a sound quite different from "da-da-da", "ba-ba-ba", "la-la-la", or "ka-ka-ka", as slightly different movements of the tongue are required to produce each syllable. Most harmonicists find "da", "ka", and "ta" sounds to be the easiest to use.

The Tongue-Block Method of Single-Noting

Traditionally, harmonica players have used the method known as "tongue-blocking" to get single notes. This method involves covering four holes with the mouth, and then blocking the three leftmost holes with the side of the tongue.

In the past, all beginners were forced to learn this difficult way of single-noting.

However, tongue-blocking, although essential for very serious classical harmonicists, is not really appropriate for those beginning students interested in playing mostly folk, blues, rock, or country music.

If you have already learned to get single notes in this way, please learn to also use the easier "pucker" method. If you cannot tongue-block yet, you may not wish to consider learning it now. Eventually all serious or professional players will want to be able to obtain single notes both ways, but for beginners the pucker method is both simpler and more versatile.

(Shaded area represents tongue pushed against harmonica)

The Technique of Octave Blocking

An advanced harmonica technique somewhat similar to tongue blocking is known as octave blocking. When octave blocking, the lips cover four holes of the harmonica, and the tongue is used to cover the two middle holes of the four, as pictured below.

(Shaded area represents tongue pushed against hallllonica)

Octave blocking provides a deep, organ-like sound. All of the songs in this book may be played using octave blocking. When octave blocking, the single note written in the notation system (such as the initial 4e in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) will be the note played with the right side of the mouth, as pictured above.

The mouth will also cover the three holes to the left of the notated hole (the 1, 2, and 3 holes), and the tongue will block the middle two of the four covered holes, so that only the 1e and 4e play. If the written note were a 6e (as in the fourth note of Oh When The Saints), the mouth would also cover the 3, 4, and 5 holes, with the tongue blocking the 4 and 5 holes, so that the 6e and 3e notes would sound.

If the written note were a 5i (as in the third note of Oh When The Saints), the mouth would also cover the 2, 3, and 4 holes, with the tongue blocking the 3 and 4 holes, so that the 5i and 2i notes would sound.

The Technique of Bending Notes

Bending notes is an important harmonica technique, especially for blues, rock, and jazz players. However, the songs in this book do not utilize bent notes, and thus bending is beyond the scope of this book.

It is covered in detail in Progressive Blues Harmonica and the Progressive Blues Harmonica Supplementary Lick and Solo Book, so interested readers will want to obtain these books and their attendant recordings.

The Hand Vibrato

By using the right hand to form an enclosure around the left hand and the harmonica, an effect known as the hand vibrato is made possible by opening and closing the right hand. Harmonica players sometimes refer to this effect as the "wah wah" or "hand wah wah".

Hold the harmonica in the left hand as described at the beginning of Lesson Two, with the fingers of the left hand straight and pressed together, with no visible gaps between them. Place the heel of the right hand against the heel of the left hand, so that the flattened right palm covers the "cup" formed by the left hand as it holds the harmonica.

The hand position is somewhat like one that could be used to carry water in the absence of a glass, with the fingers of the left hand curled inside the fingers of the right, and the left pinky pushed against the right hand where the fingers join the palm.

The point of this hand position is to be able to block and unblock the flow of air through the harmonica. As hands come in varying shapes and sizes, experiment with the right hand position that will most comfortably block the air flow. It may be useful to look into a mirror, to see how well the right hand closes about the left.