How to Use the Harmonica Slurring Technique

The harmonica started in Europe and became intensely popular in the United States in the 1800's. The ease of carrying such a small instrument and simplicity of the design allowed the general population to have music whenever they chose. Even Lincoln carried a harmonica. Harmonica lessons on slurring the tones can actually be a lot of fun, which is another reason for its popularity.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Begin with experimenting different sounds. Start with creating train sounds. Inhale or exhale and block the wind by tapping your tongue against the reed. Blow on the top notes and cup your hand to get the whistle sound. This harmonica practice gives you the feel of the instrument and the tonguing helps you learn slurring.

2. Note that the tonguing you used in the exercise above created a staccato that sounded like the train chugging. When a harmonica exercise is about slurring it uses no tongue or staccato. The reason for the exercise was to learn what you're not going to be doing. You keep your tongue away from the reed.

3. Practice moving from one note to another in one breath. Don't use the tongue in this to separate the notes. This is slurring. It really isn't difficult once you understand the concept of the slurred note.

4. Tongue a few notes and slur a few notes. Try triple and double tonguing. This just means that you do several in a measure. A good way to explain it is the phrase "tiddley tee." If you try to say it with the harmonica in your mouth while you're blowing, you end up with triplets.

5. Bend the notes when you slur to substitute for sharps and flats. The slur is just a technique to get not only different styles but different notes than the ones built in to the openings of the harmonica. Slurring allows you to bend the notes around and create new sounds that cannot be done any other way on this instrument.