Single Note Pucker on Harmonica

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Part of the video series: How to Play the Harmonica

Playing the Blues on Harmonica

Playing the Train on Harmonica

Tremolo Harmonica Lesson

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Summary: Play the harmonica like a Blues Brother; learn how to perform the "single note pucker" on your harmonica in this free video harmonica lesson.

Views: 13,784 | Tags: care, scales, train, jazz, blues, harmonica, harp, chromatic, shuffle

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About the Expert

Jim Luke Jim Luke has been a bandleader, harmonica player and singer for over 30 years. He has performed in blues, country, rhythm & blues groups and with singer-songw... read more

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Video Transcript

Single Note Pucker on Harmonica

Hi this is Jim Luke again and this lesson is on the single note pucker. There are two ways to learn to play the harmonica. One of them is called tongue blocking and one is a pucker method that I’m going to show you. Tongue blocking is really a great way to learn to play; it is usually a little bit harder for beginners. So I usually tell people to start with the pucker first. Now the pucker essentially means that you use your lower lip, really only your lower lip. Just squeeze enough to get the single note; you never really purse your lips hard like you were sucking on a soda straw. It doesn’t work like that. The upper lip is, we call it zombie lip; it hardly ever moves at all. All it ever does is just lay on top of the harmonica while you purse your lower lip a little bit, just enough to get a single note. That is the basic secret of the pucker. So a good way to practice that is to get the harmonica in your face comfortable have it about the middle, the harmonica in the middle and start blowing back and forth very slowly and trying to get the single notes. Work on different positions of your, of your mouth and your lips. Now I forgot to tell you about one thing. You want to keep your tongue behind your lower teeth. Just directly behind them as you are doing this and it will give you the best tone. So now we are going to try a little; notice when I bring my lips to the harmonica I don’t kiss. That’s how you practice getting your single note pucker. So work on it, that’s the first step of learning to play the harmonica.