pinch harmonics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter boredben86
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and heres a clip of a Zakk Wyle type pinch harmonic .....

(dont sue me Marc)..........
 

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cool. the title is especially true in that "hand in the bush" song.
 
AH! Pinch harmonics! I have never heard them called that before...

I use a technique I have not seen mentioned here: Instead of using my thumb, I use the fingernail of my pick index finger to lightly catch the vibration of the string as it is being picked. It works great - very rarely do I get the "Pinch Harmonic False Alarm" (You know, when you go to hit that killer harmonic, and instead get silence? That is the PHFA.)

And you don't have to have long fingernails. I bite mine down to the cuticle. I use the flat part of the nail, near the cuticle to do this.

I think I picked (pun intended) this technique up from Rik Emmett's Star Licks video, circa 198?.
 
i use a combination of using the fingernail of the index finger and the pad of the tumb w/ the pick in the middle of course. i use artificial harmonics a lot but i definatly dont use them in the metal way. i like to use artificial harmonics when i'm playing triple octaves when i'm playing jazz, i use them a lot in other rock stuff too, but the key to make them useful and to make them really spice up a solo is to use them sparingly. also i like using on a clean tone.
 
Hey Gidge, was that you playing??

Buy yourself some Dunlop Jazz III picks...you can pinch all day with these buggers!!! I pinch Smurfettes ass with them and she loves it!
 
I have also never heard them called "Pinch Harmonics" before but thats a good name. Tom Hicks had a dead-on description of them. Its actually one of the few things I do well on guitar. It seems easy to me, but I've tried to show other players how to do it and they usually wind up frustrated. As was mentioned you have to "choke up" on the pick, and I think it helps that I use rock-hard extra heavy picks.
 
i've been doing "pinch harmonics" for years, and never really thought about how i did it till now. i just use a heavy pick, choke up on it and strike the string with the edge of the pick and the fleshy part of my finger at the same time....usually while doing a bend. I think one of the best examples of this style is zz tops "la grange". Well, there is alot of this type of playing on the whole tres hombres album.
 
haha brad,

im laughing at the "pinch harmonic false alarm"

nothing like pulling the handle on one of those live!
 
Khompewtur said:
haha brad,

im laughing at the "pinch harmonic false alarm"

nothing like pulling the handle on one of those live!
Click to expand...

Heh. Especially when you make one of those faces expressing the intensity of the note that should be screaming from your amp, but all you get is a muted *tink*.
 
After further musing, id like to see a guitar mag or manual have something like..

pick string with a slight twisting motion, brushing the side of your thumb against the string immediately after picking. If coordinated enough, try to simultaneously make the "squeeze" face you make while sitting on the can.

If after picking you hear silence but your dog begins to howl, you have successfully played a "stealth harmonic"
 
Note that you can hit natural harmonics in strategic places over the pickup area. these "sweet spots are where you'll want to sort of catch the string with your thumb immediatley after picking the string. Like a natural harmonic, holding your thumb against the string isnt required. All I can say is practice them. I dont think any two guitarists have the same exact technique when it comes to artificial harmonics.
 
Check out Roy Buchanan, Robbie Robertson and Neil Young for other fine examples of this technique.

peace.
 
Thats funny, Id never heard of zakk wylde before this thread, and I happend to see him do a 20 minute guitar solo with ozzy yesterday at the worcester centrum...

Yeah.. Pinch harmonics are the harmonics dimebag does in cemetary gates.
 
One of the finest examples I've ever heard of "pinch harmonics" is the two solos from the Steely Dan song "My Old School".... played by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.
We're talking some about some GREAT guitarwork from back in '72.
Jeff was also a member of the Doobie Brothers in the 70's and is currently a defense analyst and a consultant to US Congressmen on Military defense and national security issues, mostly in the area of missile defense.

Is that cool or what? ;)

Check it out...
http://guitar.about.com/library/weekly/aa061801a.htm
 
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