Harmonics

[girlyplaya]

I have been trying to pull off playing aritificial harmonics and I can't seem to get the high pitched scream. I understand picking and allowing my thumb to slightly touch, pulling my thumb quickly away to not deadend the string. For some reason it's just not sounding out. I have the distortion turned up. What am I doing wrong?

[shadowcat]

I had big problems with this technique at first, too.

This site helped me alot:
http://www.cyberfret.com/techniques/...inch/index.php

The most important thing is to find the harmonic spots, and then to practice hitting exactly that spot.

When you say "it's just not sounding out", do you mean you actually get a harmonic but it doesn't sustain?
Make sure no other string is ringing while you pick the harmonic.

[drockilles]

Vibrato, vibrato, vibrato. Adding just a little will help those harmonics ring out and not just fade out and die. And if you're trying to get those really high pitched squeals, the 3rd string is the spot for that. Practice on the 6th and 3rd strings at first, those are the easiest strings to hit them on. Use your bridge pickup too.

[jjw]

1st off pinch the pick when trying this tech Heather-its not called pinch harmonics for nothing!you will find ig you pinch hard and attack the string you will get a SCREAMER anywhere on the neck.

the harmonics that can be pinched are easliy found by doing this

hammer 4/3/open on the gstring(no pun intended and on your guitar heathernow keep that going fast and with your right hand lightly touch that string with a finger/flesh part of lil finger/ect and slide all over the string range from bridge to 4th fret.If you do it soflty enough you will hear all the harmonics you can use

i also use pick and middle finger at the same time(again no pun intented!)to get harmonics as this sounds mellow

hope that helps,and yeahh wide vibrato realy shapes it up nice!!

[jwoods986]

I used to have trouble doing pick (or pinch) harmonics the "right" way - i.e. with your pick and the side of your thumb, so I came up with my own way. Instead of using my thumb, I hit the string with my pick and the nail of my index finger. I can pull pick harmonics out of just about any guitar this way, even an acoustic. The only drawback is that your middle finger needs to be next to your pick, so lately I've actually tried hitting them with the side of my thumb and I am getting it down. Don't know why I had a problem before.....

[Grandturk]

IMO, equipment is also key here. I have some guitars that really scream and some that are only so-so for squeels. Also, your amp setting affect this - the more gain the better.

[jjw]

i can make my guitars scream all over the neck with out plugging them in

[Newc]

I can make them scream without even touching them.

Oh wait, we talking guitars or people?

Anyway, the closer your thumb is to the tip of the pick, the easier it is to do a pinch harmonic. If you're using a full-sized regular pick (like most people do), try holding it closer to the tip so very little of it is visible, or try a Dunlop Jazz III pick (red ones).

Let your thumb's knuckle lightly drag on the string immediately after you pick it and then move it away to let it ring. Also try hitting the string over the neck pickup - the coil closest to the bridge. Those are a bit easier to snag at first, then you move your thumb towards the bridge to find the various pitches you can get between those points.

ZZ Top and older WASP tracks (with Chris Holmes on guitar) are great resources for practicing pinch/artificial harmonics.

[RacerX]

WASP Blind In Texas: http://youtube.com/watch?v=i4tJe9CzMuE

[girlyplaya]

I have heard of the group WASP before, but I have never really heard their music. That video is wild! I was trying to pay attention to the pinch harmonics and the solo, but the lead singer kept popping up on stage doing a mixer of Flashdance and MCHammer moves! I kinda liked it especially his boots!

I hope I am calling the harmonics right. I can do a pull off, artificial harmonics, when I pick the 3rd string and barely touch the 7th fret using my left hand. My main problem is the pinch harmonics then. Say when I hold down 3rd string/ 5th fret and try and pick and slightly touch with my thumb. Just like the guitarist did in the WASP video. He had it nailed and could make it scream. That is my goal. Once I get that down I will master Mr. WASP's dance moves

[VitaminG]

I hope I am calling the harmonics right. I can do a pull off, artificial harmonics, when I pick the 3rd string and barely touch the 7th fret using my left hand. My main problem is the pinch harmonics then. Say when I hold down 3rd string/ 5th fret and try and pick and slightly touch with my thumb. Just like the guitarist did in the WASP video. He had it nailed and could make it scream. That is my goal. Once I get that down I will master Mr. WASP's dance moves

The harmonic you just described is a natural harmonic. These occur at node points down the unfretted string. You'll find them most easily at the 24th, 12th, 7th & 5th frets, but with some effort you can nail them at various points between the 4th & 2nd frets too.

The pinch harmonics you're chasing are artificial harmonics. An artificial harmonic is pretty much any harmonic that isn't a natural harmonic. So pinch harms, tap harms, trilled harms, etc. are all artificials.

The node points I mentioned above are also the points at which you will get the strongest (and easiest to sound) pinch harmonics. Here's a basic one to help you get the idea of node points on pinch harms. If you are fretting at the 12th fret, pick the string over your 24th fret (or where the 24th would be, if you are playing a 22 fret axe).

Got it?

Using this same principle, if you were to hold a note at the 3rd fret, pick the string 24 frets higher (over where your 27th fret would be, if you had one) and you should get a nice strong harmonic. If you notice that folks seem to like popping squeals around that area, it's because the corresponding node point sits right around where your neck pickup is. Practice picking pinch harms back and forth along the string around where your neck pickup is until you find the sweet spot. You may have to experiment a little until you find it, but once you do, the harmonics should just POP out!

Once you've got that, you can experiment to find different nodes for the same fretted note, so you can hit different harmonic notes just by varying your picking hand position.

[MegaMarty]

I'm trying to learn "Dimebag" squeals, which uses natural harmonics. I'm successful on 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 12th frets and so on.. but I need a 2nd fret harmonic! I couldn't find it, or the harmonic which I found is not "pure" harmonic. also its sustain isn't enough for an emotional squeal..

I have a very bad guitar with hard thrash tone(but I don't think pickups are strong) and a 10 watt amfi, no other equipment.

then I'm asking: can it be impossible to do it with these equipment, or couldn't I find that place of harmonic on 2nd fret?

[drockilles]

I'm trying to learn "Dimebag" squeals, which uses natural harmonics. I'm successful on 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 12th frets and so on.. but I need a 2nd fret harmonic! I couldn't find it, or the harmonic which I found is not "pure" harmonic. also its sustain isn't enough for an emotional squeal..

I have a very bad guitar with hard thrash tone(but I don't think pickups are strong) and a 10 watt amfi, no other equipment.

then I'm asking: can it be impossible to do it with these equipment, or couldn't I find that place of harmonic on 2nd fret?

what gauge strings are you using? i'd recommend 10s (i know dime used 9s), if your guitar/pickups are not that great, i find 10s give you better harmonics. make sure your action isn't too low either so the note isn't fretting out when you pull up on the bar. other than that add some mids and maybe more gain, i'd say try a wah but you said you have no other equipment. if you can get them at every other point it's probably not your technique (although with enough practice you'll be able to pull them off with a clean tone ) make sure you're right over the second fret too, any closer to the nut and they really don't work too well.

[MegaMarty]

thanks drockilles. last week first time I changed the strings to 10s, but again I tuned it to standard E. so now floyd rose is so heavy. but harmonics are successful on the frets I said above, with a clean tone too . I prefer low action but I think it's not extremely low (1.5 mm on 12th fret).

but I'll ask another thing: the harmonics that I found over 3rd and 4th frets, are not exactly right over these frets. for example, I touch the string 3rd fret's a few milimetres bridge side. is this usual? I looked for 2nd fret harmonic "around" the 2nd fret, but I couldn't found a pure harmonic as I said.

[VitaminG]

that is normal. You might occasionally see a natural harmonic noted as being found at 2.8 or 2.4, for example. This indicates roughly where the harmonic is between the 2nd & 3rd frets.