Pinch Harmonics

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:17 am

As you know, I'm a relative newbie to guitar and surely the worst guitarist on this site.

When I'm playing some leads (particularly at high gain - crunch) I get that little squeal of pinch harmonics, but they are a delightful and seemingly random happenstance for me.

I'd like to be able to better control when these occur.

I take it they can only be produced at certain frets - where natural harmonics exist?

How do you experts produce these to order?

philipnz · Post by **philipnz** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:32 am

I love them. You can do them anywhere i think. I do it by pinching the string between the pick and my finger. Its very subtle and i certainly havent mastered it. But its a cool sound.

Post by Bg » Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:32 am

It happens when I hit the string with my pick and the edge of my thumb almost instantaneously. It is one aspect of the gat that I have mastered

It does seem to work best around about the middle of the fretboard up to about the 12th fret for me, and with high gain - but I can pretty much do it on all notes in between...

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 11:41 am

THe G note on the bottom E string is a great pinched harmonic.

Very Zakk wylde.

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:12 pm

It is indeed at nodal points on the vibrating string that pinch (or pick) harmonics can be produced - same as with natural harmonics, but using nodal points between the end of the neck and the bridge. Eric Johnson plays "harp harmonics" or somesuch, wherein he actually uses a finger to touch over the nodal point and another (or the pick) to strike the note; with pick harmonics it's the same principle, but you use the side of your thumb to touch the node as you hit the string with your pick.

I started doing them really early on, through listening to ZZ Top a whole bunch - they just sort of started happening without me consciously thinking about them. The less pick that sticks out between your finger and thumb, the easier they'll be. The less acute the angle on the surface of the pick, the easier they'll be; that's why some guys use their pick backwards, and one reason why Billy Gibbons uses a peso. It's part of the reason I use the chunky triangular picks instead of the normal shape. I also find that if my striking angle is less vertical, and angles more back towards the bridge as I pick downwards, it's easier - that's to do with the way your pick and your thumb address the string together. More gain helps, but you can even do 'em clean after a while - though they obviously don't ring out as well, or have the same effect.

You need to experiment and practice to find wherea-bouts to pick, but when you're up there close to the bridge, the nodal points aren't all that far apart, so it gets fairly easy to rip out a pick harmonic whenever you feel like it after a while

So crank the gain and have some fun

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:38 pm

When I play bass, I have to trim my plucking hand's fingernails right down, to stop getting an after-click. I guess what you're saying here is - I want an after click?

ash · Post by **ash** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:39 pm

This is one of the few techniques I can use reliably. As others have noted, it happens most easily if you hold the pick close to the point and pick so that your thumb clips the string as it goes by.

Things that help:
Pick by twisting your wrist rather than bending the arm or fingers, use the bridge pickup & pick in different places between the neck and bridge to find the nodal points.

Mostly it will be the second and third harmonics that come out, so think about where those nodes are given your fretting position. Around the 12th fret seems easiest for me too, but you can dig them out anywhere if you want to.

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 3:19 pm

DrRog wrote:When I play bass, I have to trim my plucking hand's fingernails right down, to stop getting an after-click. I guess what you're saying here is - I want an after click?

If you hit the string with your fingernail as well as the pick you can get overtones, which sound like - and may well be - harmonics. For actual screaming pick harmonics though, it's not your finger nail (and "after-click) you want to hit the string at the same time as the pick, but the edge of your thumb

Zakk Wylde · Post by **Zakk Wylde** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 3:22 pm

Er, Im not sure if its still there but there was a thread on here that I posted a big explanation on how to do all that.

MaloS · Post by **MaloS** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:12 am

eh...skipping over couple of posts, but here is the general technique :

1. harmonics can be run at alot of positions of the string, 1/2, 2/3 or 1/3, 1/4 or 3/4, and at many other places as long as it is a fraction of the length fo the string.
2. 1/2 is 12th fret, 1/3 or 2/3 is 7 and 19 respectively, 3/4 is 24, and 1/4 is 5 I think.
3. when you fret a string, you need to add the relative fret to run a harmonic. if you want a 1/2 on fret 7 you add 12, resulting in a harmonic on 19. if you want 1/3 on 11, add 7 (19 gives same sound but i doubt u got 26 frets), and you get 18th. on that selected fret you just tip the string to call the harmonic, and pick that string, resulting in that harmonic.

if you want incredibly high pitches, you will have to use your eye to figure out the length, just use the 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 there, others will make barely any sound and harmonic will not last.

oh yes, and unlike the rest of you here i am a fingerpicking guitarist, so it is alot easier to tip the string with one finger and pull with the other for me

MaloS · Post by **MaloS** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:16 am

and something I also forgot to put in:

there is also a 0 harmonic, when fretting a string put the left hand finger a top the fret and then right after you pick it pull the finger back into the position where you would normally fret. this will give the same tone that you would get from that fret, but it will sound like a harmonic.

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:21 am

Thanks guize.
Looking fwd to trying it all out.
I never plug into an amp at home, so it'll have to wait 'till practice or the gig.

MaloS · Post by **MaloS** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:05 am

that is why you should always have an acoustic

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:40 am

LOL!

But they're big and clumsy and I'm a little fat fella and they look ridiculous on me - besides, people might think I'm gay....

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:25 am

MaloS wrote:and something I also forgot to put in:

there is also a 0 harmonic, when fretting a string put the left hand finger a top the fret and then right after you pick it pull the finger back into the position where you would normally fret. this will give the same tone that you would get from that fret, but it will sound like a harmonic.

I quite like hitting natural harmonics and then fretting the string. If you do it right, the harmonic keeps sounding, but since you've fretted the note, you can bend it, add vibrato etc.