Tone

Together with accuracy (see separate menu item), this is an essential foundation skill for any aspiring harmonica player. The principle steps to good tone are these:

• Good breathing
• A moist and airtight seal
• Accurate single notes
• Tongue in neutral
• Open mouth cavity
• Open vocal tract
• Work from the diaphragm

Breath control

This is neither table football, nor a MacDoald’s milkshake. Los ethe straw and stop trying so hard. You’re going to break a reed or burst a blood vessel. Inhale or exhale gently rather than blow and suck vigourously.

Airtight seal

Playing off the harmonica, or addressing it and behaving politely will result in a peripheral hissing sound. This means you have a gas leak! You need to sort this out as soon as possible. Lick your lips and get intimate. Like harp players, harmonicas love a kiss and a cuddle too. Adjust your embouchure so no air escapes and everything is passing through the instrument. This means pushing the harp between supportive but not rigid lips. So relax as well. If you are tense and your lips are too firm it ain’t gonna happen. We sometimes call the harp a blues burger or a tin sandwich. Don’t be afraid to chomp on that thing.  Either way, close your eyes and schmooze your harp.

Accurate single notes

When working on tone, you need to focus on individual notes. If you get good on one note, you can always multiply the effect afterwards. But in singling out notes early on, there’s a chance you’re going to activate more than one and you instantly limit the amount of tone you can produce. You’re spreading yourself too thinly. Effectively it’s the same as that gas leak above. So narrow things down and give yourself a break. And don’t put up with cheap imitations. If it sounds like a car horn, you’re catching too many holes. If it sounds clean you’re where you need to be. Use your ears and listen to what’s going on. Incidentally, in order to locate the note you want, don’t be afraid to use the tip of your tongue to count up from 1 or down from 10. It’s a legitimate process. Get sloppy.

Narrow tone – the letterbox effect

When you first latch onto a note, you’re tongue will most likely be front of house. This gives you a narrow tone we sometimes refer to as the letterbox effect. It’s a sound you’ll hear Sonny Terry, Kim Wilson and Sonny Boy Williamson II use from time to time. So there’s a place for it. It’s kind of metallic in thin. Now we want to build out and find that big sound.

Tongue in neutral

For the biggest tone, you don’t want your tongue near the harmonica. Simply relaxing your tongue, leaving it off the harmonica and resting it will open up the mouth cavity enough for a significant change in the sound you’re producing. Let your tongue fall away and start to pull or push from backstage. On the lower draw notes especially, if you introduce your tongue into the mix, there’s a strong chance the note you need will sound flat. This is because you’re signalling to a reed that you want it to start bending. Let it go, back off and draw (or blow) softly from the diaphragm.

Hot Potato (or Hard Boiled Egg)

This is the next important concept to take on board. You need an open mouth cavity and vocal tract. Sos imagine you have a hard boiled egg in your mouth as you play. To resist the temptation to bing your tongue into  the equation, change the boiled egg for a hot potato. Otherwise try imitating Mr Bean for a while.

Diaphragm, diaphragm, diaphragm

Blow notes - Push from your chest but support the airflow from your diaphragm. Once a clear note is achieved, let your tongue fall back. Open up the throat as if yawning and push a little more from the chest. You should notice greater depth in the resonance and warmth of the note. This is tone!

Draw notes: Once you start to draw and achieve a note, DO NOT manipulate with your jaw, lips or the front end of your tongue. It’s going to bend the reed and we don’t want this yet. Instead, pull from your chest and diaphragm. Now try again. Breath inward across the reed. Pull from your chest and diaphragm – but resist manipulating from the ‘front end’. Let air in through your nose initially if it helps balance the pressure on the reed and correct any bending – you will hear the pitch alter. Continue to pull from chest. Let your tongue loosen and fall comfortably as far back as possible.

Open up the throat as if yawning. Pull more from the chest. You should notice greater depth in the resonance and warmth of the note. This is tone! Still not there yet? Whistle a low note or pretend to yawn. This is where your jaw, tongue and throat need to be positioned for the best resonance and fullest tone.

Conclusion

If you can’t hear it yet, go back to the start and work through again. It’s worth it. PLaying one note with the best possible tone beats loads of weak notes every time. Think cricket or baseball. Listen to the sound you’re making and find the meat of the bat. The sweet spot. You know when you’ve found it becaus it will ring in your ears and fill the room.

Finally don’t confuse tone with volume. Tone applies to any note, quiet or loud!