help with pinch harmonics

[Dead Winter]

I need some assistance with my pinch harmonics...you know, the quintessential zakk wylde squeals. I think that's pinch harmonics...wait lemme think....yeah that's pinch harmonics....or is it?....oh well you know what i mean. LOL

Any suggestions? I'm ready to start adding some depth and texture to my playing, not just trying to mimic everything I'm learning. Lately I've been playing alot of doomy stuff like My Dying Bride, which isn't known for it's technicality. I guess I kinda took a break off of the frantic stuff I usually try to practice but end up failing miserably at, and slow it down a bit and get some good tone. Now I need to get back into the swing of things, back into my routine.

 

[R.I.P.2]

I am also confused about this...

Is an artificial harmonic the same as a pinch harmonic? And the only way I can do that is by touching the RIGHT PART OF THE STRING with the bottom of my palm...so it doesn't work usually. Plus I have heard that you are supposed to do it with the thumb anyway, so can someone explain how the hell you do them?

 

[Sacha]

Squeeze the pick a bit more than usual so your thumb is covering the pick more;
when you hit the string you hit with both the side of your thumb and your pick at the same time
move your right hand over different points along the string, the note of the artificial harmonic will change,
some areas of the fretboard provide easier pinch harmonics then others, this varies from guitar to guitar

 

[lord667]

If you think about how you play a natural harmonic, the idea is that you touch the string lightly with your fretting finger and then pull it off straight away. The same theory applies to pinch harmonics, except you're using the thumb of your picking hand. So you have to make brief, light contact with your thumb, and get it away from the string as quickly as possible once the note has been struck.

Most people play with the thumb behind the pick, so it's just a matter of gauging the contact. It's gotta be a quick, light touch and it's gotta be simultaneous with the pickstroke.

Now, how to hit the right note. Going back to the natural harmonics, you know the points at which they sound - the 12th fret, 7th fret, 5th fret and so on. These are the points halfway along the length of the string, a third of the way, a quarter of the way and so on. It's the length along the string that's important; on a badly intonated guitar, the harmonic nodes will not be precisely over the frets (which is how the 12th-fret check works).

You can also transfer this to pinch harmonics - the "nodes" are half, a third, a quarter and so on of the way between the fretted note and the bridge. As with N.H.'s, these are an octave, an octave-and-fifth, two octaves etc. above the fretted note. That's how you can work out where to find any note you want as a pinch harmonic. Then it's just learning to place the pickstroke correctly in the heat of battle (think of where it is in relation to your pickups, as a ready reckoner).

 

[warcorpse]

It took me a while to learn this back when I started. I practiced and practiced then one day it just kinda happened, cool, then it became EASY. I 'choke-up' on the pick and on a downstroke my pick thumb hits/brushes-by the string almost instantly which creates the AH. I think pick positioning is key, keep adjusting, and try to force your pick thumb to brush the string on the stroke.

 

[Vienyard]

Yeah, I just choke up on the pick something fierce.

One thing I noticed no one else mentioned was that if you want the loud, obnoxious Zakk squeal, you gotta get nutty with the fretting hand vibrato. You gotta shake the piss out of the note to get it to scream like that. Otherwise, its a pretty annoying sound if you dont bend or shake that puppy. I'm a huge squealer myself when I play in my band (moreso live), and thats the rule I use...if I'm gonna squeal it, I'm gonna shake it too. Make it really jump out and cut thru the mix.

 

[Lost Wisdom]

My guitar tech says hit the string with your thumb like your play Tiddlewinks

 

[Vienyard]

LOL!!

 

[R.I.P.2]

WOOHOO!


They have just come. I can do them now.

 

[Mr.Painkiller]

Originally posted by Vienyard
Yeah, I just choke up on the pick something fierce.

One thing I noticed no one else mentioned was that if you want the loud, obnoxious Zakk squeal, you gotta get nutty with the fretting hand vibrato. You gotta shake the piss out of the note to get it to scream like that. Otherwise, its a pretty annoying sound if you dont bend or shake that puppy. I'm a huge squealer myself when I play in my band (moreso live), and thats the rule I use...if I'm gonna squeal it, I'm gonna shake it too. Make it really jump out and cut thru the mix.

Yeah, the big part is to keep the note alive and well noticeable, once you hit the artificial harmonic (or pick harmonic or pinch harmonic whatever you want to call it). Pretty much again as was said in earlier posts, it kinda happens, and you don't know what you did different, until one day you cant stop throwing them into everything you play You can hit them anywhere on the fretboard if you have a good enough conditioned axe, and you can either pull this off with you thumb or palm of your right hand, although the thumb is much easier... once you get it down the palm can turn into the most wicked and highest pitch harmonics i've ever heard. Again, as Vienyard said, to get the Zakk Wylde squeal... pick harmonic and trill what you can out of it. Good luck, and Rock on.... keep trying and it'll happen.

 

[Opus(sy)2]

right i cant be fucked to read all the replies to this thread......but i can do pinched harmonics pretty well now and they are worth learning....they make your solos sound FUCKING GOOD!,

right, its basically a simultaneous movement on your right hand (unless your left handed), pluck the string and the moment its been plucked touch it with your thumb with a little bit of force and it will produce a squeeling sound, you should pluck the punched harmonic about halfway between the fretted string and the bridge, i normally do it over my bridge humbucker.

i hold my pick very low down my thumb and finger so my thumb is practically touching the string anyway and i find it useful, but there is a special way of holding the pick that i wont be able to describe properly on this.

my advice would be to search for help with pinched harmonics on the net and see what you come up with, just fuck about it a lot.

goodluck!

 

[plfffffft]

I just learned how to do them as well, and I've been playing the hell out of them(I must have played the chorus for Cemetary Gates for at least an hour one day), but I'm developing a blister on my thumb. Is that normal? Or should I be changing my technique?

 

[Sunbane]

Hehe, I know just what it feels like. =)

You may want to let the blister heal before you continue to pursue the perfect squealing tone =) , but the reason you're developing blisters is that your thumb is not used to doing that stuff. Eventually your thumb will harden and it won't be a problem anymore. =)

 

[Russ]

Originally posted by plfffffft
I just learned how to do them as well, and I've been playing the hell out of them(I must have played the chorus for Cemetary Gates for at least an hour one day), but I'm developing a blister on my thumb. Is that normal? Or should I be changing my technique?

...That's the part that got me started!!!
...The blister will turn into thick skin & you'll be fine.

 

[Mr.Painkiller]

Originally posted by Russ
...That's the part that got me started!!!
...The blister will turn into thick skin & you'll be fine.

me too! thank you Dimebag

 

[Cainite]

Originally posted by Joel_In_Flames
My guitar tech says hit the string with your thumb like your play Tiddlewinks

Hey man, who told you that? They told us the same thing in GIT London!!! Maybe you were in our class lol

 

[Russ]

thrashmetal78.. How are your "pinch harmonics" coming along, can you do em yet? ..What kind of guitar are you using & what pickups?

 

[Feanor IV]

I know that it's been a while since the last reply, but I wanted to add something: As far as physics are concerned, the harmonics are produced when you lightly touch the string in its middle. This means that if the string is open you have to touch it above the 12th fret, if you're playing in the 5th fret you have to touch it above the 12+5=17th fret. The way frets are 'created' you just have to add the number of the fret you hold to the middle-fret (12) and you get the string's middle point. So, if you are playing the 5th string and touch the 17th fret, that's going to produce the loudest possible harmonic. Besides that, you can touch the string's 1/3, 1/4 etc (like touching the 5th or the 7th fret on an open string). Try to achieve this, and it's going to produce the loudest harmonics...

 

[chaoticmanifesto]

don't over use the technique though, it gets annoying after awhile. and like most techniques, practise makes perfect.

 

[swallowyoursoul]

Originally posted by plfffffft
I just learned how to do them as well, and I've been playing the hell out of them(I must have played the chorus for Cemetary Gates for at least an hour one day), but I'm developing a blister on my thumb. Is that normal? Or should I be changing my technique?

HAAhahahaaahAAHAHHAHA

I learned to play the pinch harmincs the same way. Cemetary Gates is definitely, if not, the best song in which to learn and practice pinch harmonics. I never fully understood why or how I would be able to get it squeeeeal like pig somestimes and the others..fartin' like frog. But Cemetary Gates paved the way for sure....without a doubt. Practice that chorus and you'll fully understand.