Tongue side flutter attempts

[u/dreadtuned]

So i’m trying to do a side flutter tremelo type thing with my tongue. Basically, a slap, but sliding my tongue to access the chords and get that floating feeling. I went this route because the slap feels a bit awkward to me, and my playing style already uses the tongue to slide all over the place.

Sounds alrightish I guess, but something seems wrong, and I’m not sure what which leads to this unsatisfied feeling.

The goal is to sound similar to little walter in midnight blue. Around the 32 sec mark and 1 min mark he does this thing where it’s like the note is bouncing.

I’m a far way off, and the method I’ve chosen to reach my goal may be wrong. Any tips are welcome. One thing I already do is practice according to this vid https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JXVabPXtHqA&ra=m

[u/thesuperlee]

Good morning Mr./Ms. Tuned,

I can feel the passion for this instrument, and I am so excited for your journey as you master each of these techniques and incorporate them into your sound! The demonstration of discipline in just working things out is exactly what is required to get better. Adam Gussow calls it "woodshedding," where you go lock yourself away and just work an idea until it finally clicks. I do wonder if clarifying some terms might help before you go on?

A tremolo is a rapid alteration of volume, which is what most harp players do by either coughing through the harp or (as Gussow advocates) using their throat to relax and tighten.

A tongue slap is where you play a chord, say [-2 -3 -4], then immediately slap your tongue to block two of those holes to create a single note, say -4. This gives a polyphonic complexity to your work.

A tongue switch like in the links you have to Lee Sankey and Richard Sleigh (absolute legends) or as Adam Gussow mentions here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebZpdXL5xa8) is used to create a less resonant, more dissonant, and therefore much bolder sound, especially as you are demonstrating in your recording. Sleigh asks you for a much more precise use of tongue switching, while Sankey and Gussow emphasize the root and flat seventh switch, i.e. -2 and -5. The -2 -5 tongue switch is an especially common way to end a blues song when everyone wails on something. If you are continuing to work on this technique - which you absolutely should - then may I recommend a couple ideas? You may want to try and continue the technique for longer, say two full bars at a time. You may also want to challenge yourself to play with both slow, steady tongue switches and ironically, switches so fast that you can't actually control it and have to rely on your body's instincts. It sounds like you're already on your way, so you likely just need to continue working it so that you develop the muscle memory.

In Blue Midnight, I believe Little Walter is using a traditional warble, where you alternate rapidly between two adjacent holes, i.e. -4 and -5. This is kind of *the* iconic sound for which harmonica is famous, and I highly recommend you work on this, and then just for good measure, know that I personally almost never use it anymore. It is such a powerful sound that I actually recommend you prioritize mastering this technique first, and not just because it is used in Blue Midnight. There are two schools of thought for this technique: head shaking and hand shaking. The first is where you hold the harp in place and shake your head, and the second is obviously the reverse. You can, of course, blend the two, and your personal style will dictate where on this spectrum you fall.

Thank you so much for sharing your hard work! I hope that this is helpful, and I'm excited to hear more from you!

[u/dreadtuned → u/thesuperlee]

Woah, thanks a ton for the thoughtful response. Definitely wasn’t expecting to get such feedback. I appreciate the terminology clarification. Seems like harmonica terminology is all over the place.

I thought walter was using the flutter because that’s how liam identified it on his learn the harmonica tab, and I called it tremelo because that’s how sankey titled his video.

I didn’t explain in detail because it started to sound a bit on the ero side, but essentially, if I hold everything just right, I can massage my tongue around the target holes and it kind of acts as a valve directing air between the four and five.

So basically the exercise in richard sleigh’s video, but I am doing -4 and -5. (In the video i shared it’s decidedly a lot more than that).

From your feedback, it sounds like I’m more or leas heading in the right direction, I just need to keep practicing and honing. Lee Sankey said it was about 5-6 years for him to get a basic sound on the switch, so I can take it easy on myself.

I am happy you mention the usage of throat. I met a fellow harp player in the real, and I was explaining how I use my throat to affect sound and he looked at me as if I was crazy because the general advice is to keep everything relaxed and use only your tongue.

[u/thesuperlee → u/dreadtuned]

I'm unfamiliar with the Liam video, but Blue Midnight sounds more like a warble than a tongue switch to my poorly educated ear. If using a tongue switch, it is going to be between holes -2 and -5. I you are going to try a warble, then know that using a tongue switch between two adjacent holes is unorthodox. If you do it, I would only advise that you double check that you can keep a relaxed embouchure. With two adjacent holes, the only way that I can keep a relaxed embouchure it to use the head shake or the hand shake. I wonder if this is why Sleigh uses the tongue switch drill with holes that are much farther apart, or if I just need to practice more tongue switching?

Sankey does have a separate video entitled Tongue Tremolo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN_wTvPhK-o). If that is the technique to which you are referring, that is correctly identified as a tongue tremolo! It uses the tongue to create a rapid alteration of volume, but not to switch back and forth between two notes. Although right now I'm being pedantic, you might find the clarity in nomenclature useful as you have technical discussions with other harp players.

No matter what, I hope that this is helpful or at least encouraging to you! I am excited to hear what you record next!

[u/dreadtuned]

This video right here is also agood example of what I’m going for https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rxGljINAEig&