Monthly Archives: March 2019

Side Pull Technique

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This week we continue looking at techniques that change the presentation of the notes played. Tongue blocking offers quite a few techniques. In this article I focus on the side pull technique.

Side pull description

The side pull technique is very simple in principle but can be difficult to execute. As the name implies the tongue is pulled sideways to let air into the harmonica. More specifically part of the tongue is pulled sideways to go from a full block to a standard tongue block position.

The main difference to a tongue slap or a pull slap is that the tongue never leaves the face of the harmonica. It is simply the position and/or width of the tongue that change. This means that there is no chord played as part of the technique giving it a less aggresive sound.

Performing the technique

To peform the technique you start by fully blocking the harmonica and apply breathing pressure. Move your toung or change the with of your tongue on the right side to open up the hole to the right of your tongue. You will need to be in very good control of your tongue to do this correctly as the movement is very small. Use a tongue block trainer to practice. See the two steps below.

  • Start tounge blocking, full block demonstration
    Block all holes with the top of the front part of the tounge.
  • End result of side pull technique
    End result.

The result is a single note that start very abruptly as the air pressure has built up behing your tongue. All that air is now forced passed a single reed on the harmonica.

When to use

You can basically use the side pull technique any time you would consider a tongue slap or a pull slap. It is especially good to use if you feel the other two techniques sound to harsh or aggresive.

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Practicing Riffs

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I have written before about expanding your riff bank to have more tools in your improvisation tool box. However simply memorizing a new riff is not enough. They way you are practicing riffs have a big impact on how useful they become.

Make it stick

There is no way around repetitive work to commit it to memory. However you can add to your learning by introducing variations in your practice. Practice on different key harmonicas, practice with a metronome, practice at different tempos and make sure that you can recall the riff without the need for notation. Also try using different techniques to color the sound.

Practicing riffs in context

The real killer when practicing riffs though is to put it into context. You will never just play one riff and then be done with it. You will play it as part of a bigger whole. To do that effectively you need to understand when the riff sound good and when not to use it.

A great way of getting context is to pratcie with different patterns of repetition. Repetition is an important tool to let your audience know that what you play is important, use it!

Put the repetition in relation to the 12 bar blues and practice with a jam track. The simplest form is to repeat the riff for as many times as you can over a chorus. If it is a 2 bar riff you can repeat it 6 times. Listen to how it sounds over the chord changes, where does it fit best? Maybe it is great over the I-chord, OK over the IV-chord but sounds horrible over the V-IV-I transition.

Try changing between the riff you are practicing and other riffs, play the riff over bars 1 and 2, then play a fill over bars 2 and 4. Repeat the riff again over bars 5 and 6 and another fill over bars 7 and 8. Repeat the riff over bars 9 and 10 and finish off with a turnaround riff.

Listen to how other players are using repetition and emulate what they do in your practice. David Barrett calls this chorus forms and have included a number of these patterns in his books. It is all based on what the old masters used to do. It is wise to do the same.

Summary

Simply comitting a riff to memory you need to be practicing riffs in context and basing that context on different patterns of repetition is a great idea.

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Dirty Notes on the Harmonica

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When playing harmonica which notes you play are of couse important but how you play them is just as important. In previous articles I have described techniques such as tongue slap and pull slaps which are ways of presenting the notes differently from the simplest form of presentation. In this article I will introduce dirty notes which is a technique that can be used by both tongue blocking and puckering players.

Short definition

Dirty notes are simply notes that are colored by another note which is not the pitch you intend to play. This gives it a grittier, dirty feeling that works very well for blues. If you think that a riff sounds too clean, then this technique may be just what you are looking for.

How to create dirty notes

The principle behind dirty notes is very simple. You simply play the note you want to play and widen your mouth ever so slightly to let a little bit, maybe 20%, of the upper adjacent hole in. So, if you play hole 4 you widen your mouth to the right and let a little bit of hole 5 in. I like to think that I smile a little with the right side of my mouth. You can use a tongue block trainer to see what goes on.

TBT - Tool for learning harmonica techniques such as dirty notes
Tongue Block Trainer

The result should still sound like hole 4 but with a bigger dirtier sound. Remember you are not aiming for a two hole chord, hole 4 must be dominant. Listen below for an example.

Hole 4 on a C harp going from clean single note to dirty note back to clean single note.

How to develop the technique

To develop the technique I suggest you play hole 4 inhale and the very slowly and conciously widen your mouth to the right. When you hear the effect happening, experiment with how much of it you want. Too much will spoil the effect. It should sound dirty, precise and intentional. It is not just sloppy playing, it is a deliberate choice!

When to use

Dirty notes can be used very freely when playing blues, especially when playing something aggresive. To make the effect stronger it is a good idea to play some clean notes every once in a while. Also of you are going for a smooth sound then dial back on the dirty notes.

Now I suggest you try it out for yourself and hear how much bluesier you can sound. Don’t forget to sign up below to get the Welcome package and exclusive articles!

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Expand Your Riff Vocabulary

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For most blues harmonica players a riff vocabulary is an important part of their improvisation arsenal. You could argue that improvisation should be 100% spontaneous and not built on things you have learned before. A nice thought maybe but I would argue that making something new out of “old” material is as valuable as making up new riffs nobody has played before. Famous riffs are famous because they sound great and not using them can really hamper how you sound. In this article I outline methods you can use to expand your riff vocabulary.

Online search

The first method that spring to mind is to do google searches. There is a whole bunch of sites out there with loads of riffs. You can also be a bit more old school and buy books, almost all harmonica books out there contain at least some riffs. I have published a number of articles before with beginner riffs, build up riffs and V-IV-I riffs. For subscribers I also provide extra riffs (see below).

Extract from songs

When learning a new song either from tabulature or if you transcribe it yourself you have a gold mine a new riffs. This is probably one of the most unused sources for learning new riffs. Many players feel that they are stealing if they extract riffs from songs. What you should do is pick out riffs you are especially fond of and try them under new circumstances. Different, tempo, different key or a different groove can transform a riff and I can guarantee you that very few people will complain. There are of course riffs that are very connected to certain songs such as “Mannish Boy” and maybe these hooks are best left for covers of that song.

Moving between positions and ranges

When you search for riffs online you will most likely find second position riffs. If you are a beginner this is likely where you want to start but if you want to try third position for example you may feel a bit limited. You can of course search for third position riffs but you can also use your second position riffs to expand your riff vocabulary for third position. I have written about how to do this in a previous article. Not all riffs are suitable to tranfer to another position but it can give you good ideas for riff variations.

Another thing that is underused is transposing a riff from one octave to another. If you have a riff you like in the holes 4-6 range you can try playing it in the 7-10 range instead. This is a great way of learning to use the upper octave more.

Summary

As you can see you have quite a few ways to expand your riff vocabulary, how much time you spend on this is up to you.

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