hey i'm a guitarist, and i'm having a lot of trouble with artificial harmonics. the thing where you supposedly play the string with your thumb as well as the pick to make a harmonic. i just cannot get it. i try and try and try, but t will never even sound anything like it.

does anyone have any hints, tricks, good site or general info on how to learn and practice artificial harmonics??

I suggest you use our pinky instead of your thumb, but then it's all about what is more convenient to you (Ylside would kill me and say the thumb method is better). It may sound even more difficult but I find it a less messy method.

After that, it's all about timing and length. Also, you'll have a hard time trying to play an artificial harmonic above the 15th fret.
Basically, just hit the string with the pick and the finger simultaneously and vary the distance. For example, let's say you want to play an AH at fret 10, you will hit the string with your pick somewhere about the 25th fret. If you hit it You can, for example, hit it round fret 20 and obtain a different AH.

Also, what you do with your left hand on your desired fret is important. You have to "wiggle" to get the right sound.

I use the thumb. How would you use the pinky??

Written by [user id=3664] on 09.10.2006 at 17:31

Also, what you do with your left hand on your desired fret is important. You have to "wiggle" to get the right sound.

Hum, I don't really think that helps in producing an artificial harmonic. It's just like any vibrato effect played on any other note.

Quote:

I use the thumb. How would you use the pinky??

Luckily I still have that picture from the old forum:


Basically, you use your pinky just as you use your thumb, though of course the exact position is not the same. You just have to "put" your pinky on the string you're about to hit and release it right after the hit.

If you have studied physics and are familiar with the concept of a standing wave which is what a guitar string essentially is, youll know how you can split it into various harmonics by creating nodes with your finger.
Thinking of it that way helped me through it. the tricky part is to be able to visualise where the nodal points are given the different string lenghts.

Well i tried the pinky method, and actaully it worked rather well. Just have to get used to it.. Maybe I'll end up using it? Only time can tell..

artificial harmonics...dont you mean 'pinch harmonics'?

i can only pull off one pinch harmonic on the low E somewhere between the 21st fret, and between the second pickup. but yeah, those are pretty hard. and i also use my pinky. i think you need tons of distortions for it to work.

Hehe, I've always wondered about "Pinch harmonics" until I find out it was exactly the same as "Artificial harmonics". Since the abbreviation AH is commonly used on my tabs, I stick with the latter.


About the level of distorsion, it does help, but it's not necessary: I'm not that good at producing such harmonics but still I can play some without any amplification.
It probably depends more on the guitar and its settings (though I play very cheap guitars and don't know a lot about guitar preparation...). But it's essentially about where you hit the string, as crypt crawler said. I don't know theexact rules for placing, though.

The placing goes as follows.
you basically split the string into a number of equal lenghts using nodes. For example in a fundamental harmonic motion eg open guitar string the wave lenght is the string lenght (you can see that the whole of the string vibrates and the anti node is at the twelfth fret). Now lets say that you did a natural harmonic at the 12th fret, you would note that the section of the string exactly above the 12th fret would not vibrate at all. In effect you have created a standing wave in the second harmonic.
If you know your equation for the speed of a wave

speed = frequency X wavelenght

youll realise that since the wavelenght of the wave has been split in half and the speed of sound is constant the frequency of the wave must increase.

pinch harmonics are only one type of artificial harmonic....there are a few other ways to hit them as well.

I just cant get it right I HATE MYSELF
I love the sound of harmonics but cant really get it.............

ive tryed the "pinky method", and i can pull off a pretty good harmonic. key word, pretty. great stuff. thanks.

i found an easier way to do that without useing the pinky. instead of using your pinky, use your middle finger. and hold the pick with your index and thumb. now keep the pick towards you, and the middle finger away from you, and instead of pinching upwards, try twisting your middle finger with your pick. that means twist it so your pick goes on the bottom, and your middle finger goes on the top.

Written by Soliloquy on 25.10.2006 at 19:19

i found an easier way to do that without useing the pinky. instead of using your pinky, use your middle finger. and hold the pick with your index and thumb. now keep the pick towards you, and the middle finger away from you, and instead of pinching upwards, try twisting your middle finger with your pick. that means twist it so your pick goes on the bottom, and your middle finger goes on the top.

I didn't understand a single word u said.............

Written by iMPERiAL_iCE on 26.10.2006 at 13:19

Written by Soliloquy on 25.10.2006 at 19:19

i found an easier way to do that without useing the pinky. instead of using your pinky, use your middle finger. and hold the pick with your index and thumb. now keep the pick towards you, and the middle finger away from you, and instead of pinching upwards, try twisting your middle finger with your pick. that means twist it so your pick goes on the bottom, and your middle finger goes on the top.

I didn't understand a single word u said.............

what dont you exactly understand?

humm...aright, you know how to snap your fingers? just snap your fingers on the 'sweet spot' of the harmonic.

Written by wrathchild on 10.10.2006 at 16:27

About the level of distorsion, it does help, but it's not necessary: I'm not that good at producing such harmonics but still I can play some without any amplification.
It probably depends more on the guitar and its settings (though I play very cheap guitars and don't know a lot about guitar preparation...). But it's essentially about where you hit the string, as crypt crawler said. I don't know theexact rules for placing, though.

Exactly, I have the same problems. It's all in the pick-ups really. High gain/treble is needed too.

Thanks Soliloquy, that works quite well with the middle finger. I mean, it works better than the thumb method for me but I still prefer using the pinky. All in all, the technic is the same, one should choose to use the finger they're more comfortable with, regarding on their playing habit.

no problem wrath child

haha, my friends, and other musicians always ask why i'm not a better guitarist than what i am rigth now. i'm usually the first one to pull of some really technical stuff, like between then and me, i was the first to start alternating picking without reading up on it. was the first to violin, sweep and other stuff....yet i'm still not that good a guitarist when compared to them

aright..ahahah, i found yet another way to pull off the pinch harmonics...except, this way is a cheat, and you arent pinching it.

aright, basically find the 'sweet spot' for the pinch harmonics(if you have a strat, there are 2 found between the first and second pickups(no humbuckers! just single coils), and if pinching isnt working for you, then just put yoru finger on the sweet spot(doesnt matter what finger), and just push down on that sweet spot unless the string flies under your finger, and you are touching your pickguard.

@soliloquy,
If i understood your explanation correctly, those are called tapped harmonics, eddie van halen used them quite a lot if im not mistaken.

Written by Too many fail. on 04.11.2006 at 09:40

@soliloquy,
If i understood your explanation correctly, those are called tapped harmonics, eddie van halen used them quite a lot if im not mistaken.

does he now? well, either way, 'tapping harmonics' and 'pinch harmonics' sound really similar.

Thats because they are the same thing : ) just achieved through a different method....

It's kind of hard to explain pinch harmonics in words(i'm guessing this is what this thread is about). What i can say is that you can hit them at various frets 2nd, 3rd, 7th etc but not at every fret. The more distortion the better, but u can actually hit pinch harmonics even on acoustic guitars. I suggest you get someone who knows how to play pinches to SHOW you how it's done. I thought it was super hard but once i learned how to play them i realised they're pretty easy.

@Remus

Actually in theory you can hit artificial harmonics on every fret. its just a matter of figuring out where the nodal point is.

Written by Too many fail. on 05.11.2006 at 10:08

@Remus
Actually in theory you can hit artificial harmonics on every fret. its just a matter of figuring out where the nodal point is.

U'r right. This thread got me practicing last night and i realised you can hit the pinches even on the 10 and 16th frets - something i couldn't do before.

@Remus

And remember that you can get more than one artificial harmonic for each fret...
its just a matter of how many wavelenghts you manage to split the string into.

Use your thumb when you play AH. Thumb is already placed closest to a string when you pick. Use of any other finger requires change of hand position and in the middle of a fast riff it can be very hard to do it on time.
One more thing: I found out that sound of AH very much depends on the amount of distortion, pickup you use and tone. You should use pickups with clear sound for AH and it is best to set guitar tone to max level.

OK guys, so there are several ways to produce an artificial harmonic, and hence several types of AH.

The most common is pinch H, when using the thumb to produce it(u can use also any other finger, but thumb is the best...i know it, coz ive tried other ones too). This method is mostly used, and a good 'master' to learn from would be Zakk Wylde.

Then u can do it like this: hold your pick with your thumb and MIDDLE finger, then slightly touch then string right above the current fret with your index finger, and then pick. This can be seen in song from Deep Purple 'Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming', played by Steve Morse.

And then we have tapped H. Got famous thanx to Eddie Van Halen, and are done by tapping the string in the place of node. The best way is using your middle finger, but I think that Eddie uses his index finger and I've also seen Steve Morse to use his thumb.

As for the nodes, they are everywhere, but the frequency the string vibrates differs then. When you do it +12 fret above the note you play with your left hand, it's an interval of exact octave, and the frequency is 1/2. Then +5/+24 is for two octaves, +7 is for and octave and a fifth etcetc. In fact a complete book could be written about AH.

humm...try learning the main riff to 'cemetary gates' by pantera. that thing helped me alot, and now i'm using 'em pinch harmonics like crazy ol' zakk wylde.

just not to those experties....but you get the idea.

Written by [user id=16411] on 10.07.2007 at 18:35


Then u can do it like this: hold your pick with your thumb and MIDDLE finger, then slightly touch then string right above the current fret with your index finger, and then pick. This can be seen in song from Deep Purple 'Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming', played by Steve Morse.

I think your describing whats called a harp harmonic. Django Reinhardt used to that. There fun to play.