Artificial Harmonics

Thunder33

Thunder33

New member
A wonderful sound that should be on any recording with distorted guitars? Or a played out novelty that, while fun, should have been buried with Randy Rhoads.




Discuss.
 
I do them every chance I get. I also make a wierd face and shake the neck violently just to make it that much better.
 
They have their place. But tapping VH style should have died long ago. Not to say ALL tapping is bad. Just the 17-9-12-9 kind of stuff.
 
This is not aimed specifically at thunder33, or anyone else here, but this is something I have noticed over the years: Pinch harmonics are most commonly bashed by people who can't do them (or at least can't do them RIGHT). As in this 'example' conversation between a band and an auditioning guitarist:

Band member: "Hey man, that part would sound really cool with an artificial harmonic thrown in there..."

Guitarist:"Nah man, pinch harmonics are gay. I hate them."

Band member:"Well, it's kind of an important component of the style of music we play. Just throw one in right after that part...just to see if it works there."

Guitarist:"Nah man, they're stupid. I hate them. Anyone who uses pinch harmonics is stupid."

Band Member:" Uh, you do know how to do one, don't you?"

Guitarist: "Of course I do! I just don't want to do one...."

Band Members "Right. Whatever, man. We've got some more guitarists to check out. We'll call you." (Not!)


Anyway, the point is, that Pinch/Artificial harmonics are used by everyone from ZZ Top to Stevie Ray Vaughn to Zakk Wylde to add emphasis to a song.
Not every song or style of music calls for them, but there are tons of people out there that love them.
 
Yeah I enjoy Zakks solos. He does it like no other. It's a shame he started singing like crap. What happened to the days of pride and glory and the book of shadows?

But yes there is a place for it.
 
IronFlippy said:
They have their place. But tapping VH style should have died long ago. Not to say ALL tapping is bad. Just the 17-9-12-9 kind of stuff.
Click to expand...


Yeah. What Flippy said. They can be used tastefully. I prefer the sound of them as part of a groovin' riff rather than part of a shredder solo.
 
mx_mx said:
Do you have to have the gain on 11 for em to work or what?
Click to expand...

More gain helps, but no, not really. You should be able to hear them with the guitar unplugged actually, it will just be really quiet.

Can you not do them at all, or can you just do them every now and then or what?

Do you understand the concept behind it?
 
Pinch harmonics i can do, but i cant get that full on squeal, shaking the neck thing. It sounds more like a cat getting stepped on. So i guess i cant actually do them
 
mx_mx said:
Pinch harmonics i can do, but i cant get that full on squeal, shaking the neck thing. It sounds more like a cat getting stepped on. So i guess i cant actually do them
Click to expand...

Well, it's all the same thing really. The really raunchy sounding ones (a la Zakk Wylde) mostly happen on the bass strings down low on the neck. You've just gotta dig in really hard and be aggressive about it. And shaking the neck is just a way to get wider vibrato on the low E string...at least for me it is.
When I'm doing harmonics in a lead or on the higher strings, I've found that a much lighter touch works alot better. Also, hitting the sweet spot where you pick really makes those big squealers pop out.
 
Thanks for that. This is reminding me of that bit in Rock Star (eww Marky Mark) where he's trying to get the guitarist to 'nail the squeal'.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top