Ironically I have a question about Pinch Harmonics (artificial harmonics).
I've been doing them two ways, i think the first way is the common way, using the thumb to nudge the string after it has been plucked.

However, my guitar teacher insisted that I use my ring finger (on the plucking hand) to do the nudging and NOT my thumb. So if you picture your ring finger dangling just an inch or so behind the pick and gently touching the string to perform the harmonic.


Which one is better. I swear I have never seen, nor read about pinch harmonics using the ring finger until my teacher told me.

first of all, welcome to the Satriani forum! :)

:welcome:

:rock:


your teacher's technique actualy is a posibility, but I'd rather do it with my index finger somewhere on the fretboard, e.g., g string, second fret, tab with you index finger above the 14th fret (like in the Beat It solo by Van Halen).

BUT, I think you teacher is a bit uneconomical and old fashioned :) Use your thumb, usually it works best if your thumb is an angel of 90 degrees with the string. Bit hard to explain in English, but I think it's a technique you have to develop on your own, using some tips from others ;) Additionally, your teacher's technique is not very convenient when you're playing solo's!
Just mess a bit around and see what is the best way to you!

i would go with the thumb...

defenetly thumb. It's closest to the string already, so why make it more difficult!

+1!!! Though sometimes it might be nice to just mess a bit around with some tapping techniques and harmonics!

Cool, thanks
Yea, the thumb is a lot easier to perform except for the fact that I do approach a 90 degree angle with the string like (nail starts to face the string). The ring finger approach I can keep the pick picking normally.

It sealed the deal when I read in a magazine satch uses the thumb, and probably every other damn musician.


Thanks for welcoming to the forum..
i guess i'll do a quick bio

I'm 23. Name's Dave. Northern California.
Playing since I was quite young, maybe around 11-12, stopped for maybe 5 years, pick it up again 2 years ago.

I like it all, SRV, Jimi, Satch, Vai, Tommy Emmanuel, John Mayer

Main axe is a recently purchased Fender Lite Ash Strat in Vintage White, previously had a really really really, simply uberly crappy Washburn.
Peavey Amp, Fulltone Full Drive 2, Boss Ds1

Om-28JM Martin.

The thumb is the way to go :P just grab your pick close to edge, push down the bar and when you het the strings make sure your thumb's flesh slightly touchest the strings to get the harmonics out, after that release the bar and it'll sound great :P

It takes some practice but it's a fun thing to do nevertheless...

If done correctly it should sound something like this:

http://home.planet.nl/~neele004/joeharmonic.wav

Some Satch Boogie + Joe Harmonic Squeal Thing :P


PS.

Lots of gain/distortion helps A LOT

I brought this discussion up with my guitar teacher in more or less words and he emphatically stated that it is wrong. He has chops, his harmonics sound as good as I could ever hope for, but he does things differently.. and as stated before, this technique is foreign to everyone, but him...
do i need a new guitar teacher?

as long as your guitar teacher lets you develop and find your potentials, you don't imho! I'd only search for a new teacher if he "forces" you to use his technique (which would be a bit odd), because this way you cannot develop you own playing style...

btw, when you are familiar with the pinchharmonic, you can request a new nickname. I can change it easily :P

cool haha thanks.
damn i'm hitting a wall in my guitar playing.
I've been lookin into my hero's hero's, satch->hendrix, trying to learn hendrix stuff...

i never thot I'd face this, but my hands are too friggin small to do the things hendrix does!! small meaning, playing with my thumb, i literally cannot do some of the things!!!

I'm not really sure what technique your teacher is using... from how you've described it, it sounds like harp harmonics to me (although I myself don't use this technique so I might have it wrong). In that case... it's not really pinch harmonics! :P

in my opinion, if you're playing rock and roll music, use your thumb, because
1) most, if not all, rock guitarists do it that way. it might help to do it that way when learning their songs and trying to develop a rock vocabulary.
2) it seems that using the thumb is easier!

...someone else actually uses their ring finger? And all this time I thought I was a freak! lol

To everyone: I started out doing pinch harmonics with the edge of my ring finger until I eventually shifted to using my thumb. Still, I occasionally use my ring finger because, even after nine years, I can never get a note to squeal as loud or as defined with my thumb - no matter what angle I use, how much flesh touches, which node point, nada.

For some weird reason the edge of my ring finger just makes notes SCREAM. Maybe it the texture of the skin there or probably just how lightly it tends to graze, but trust me - it works and it it works good. I kid you not, without the guitar even plugged in I could play a pinch harmonic on about 95% of the string with that technique. Node points were irrelevant.

Of course, the problem is that it isn't very practical unless you keep your picking hand pretty much balled up ( to execute: with your hand in a basic fist shape, you graze the string with the pinky side of the ring finger, right next to the nail and almost on the cuticle). As my playing progressed, my hand began to stretch out across the guitar, thus rendering that technique of pulling off pinch harmonics a pain in the ass to do on the fly, so I just adopted the 'normal' style and stopped playing pinch harmonic chords and other crap. LOL It's even possible to sweep an arpeggio with pinch harmonics with this technique - man, it sounds killer!

So, no, your teacher isn't crazy and his technique isn't 'old fashioned' - if anything it's avant garde because it's unheard of and noone uses it. :P However, I don't approve of your teacher's attitude. Using your ring finger may be a wild and awesome way to play pinch harmonics, but's it's far from the only and 'right' way.

If it works for you, great! If it doesn't, so what? Everyone finds their own path and their own ways of walking down it. But keep in mind, that's a good technique he's showing you. Even if you don't adopt it, absorb it. Maybe it'll come in handy later down the road.


On a somewhat related note, you know those cool random harmonics you get by picking the string then sliding the tip of your finger over it back and forth over the pickuparea? Because of my experience with that unusual method of pinch harmonics I began using the edge of my palm to sound the random harmonics while I picked, leaving my fret hand free to cause more trouble.

So see, one technique led to another. :) Always keep an open mind. ;)

you mean you "pick" the string with your ring finger's nail and then almost immediately "pick" the string again in the same place with the flesh that lives under the nail?

i'm having trouble visualising the technique :huh:

LOL No, you pluck the string as normal with the pick in the index (or middle finger) and thumb and because you have your hand in this ball/fist type position the side of your ring finger should already be quite close to the strings.

It's the same premise as the normal way to get pinch harmonics, you're just pinching with the side of your ring finger instead. :) I hope that helps a bit. It's pretty unorthadox so without pictures it'll be hard to fully explain.

hey bob, is your harmonics technique comparable to Eric Johnson? I've seen something like that on the G3 DVD...
And as I said: Just mess a bit around and see what is the best way to you!

so there's a gap of like an inch and a half or so between the "picker" and the "pincher"?

that sounds a bit complicated! i'll try it later though...

yeah I've seen Eric Johnson's method... it seems he picks with his middle or ring finger and his index finger "frets" the node... it looks cool too because the index finger is "pointing" at the harmonic!

I use that occassionally too, but generally it's the flesh-of-the-thumb-behind-the-pick for me, or none at all a la IA Eklundh. Can't do that currently though as I have no trem bridge :(

No, Eric Johnson uses harp harmonics, what I did was just a strange method of pinch harmonic altogether ( I can't really play HH like Eric...tht's to damn hard!). :) Also, no, there isn't really a gap between the fingers. I looked at it today and I realized I hold the pick with my index AND middle finger, which then brings the ring finger right up there next to the pick. Ya, it's weird. Heheh

I'll try to see if I can't get a pic wrangled up to give you poor, confuzzled guys a definitive visual for such an oddball technique. LOL And although it's a very long shot, posting a soundclip of what pinch harmonics sound like at every spot on the string from end to end while on the same fret would be ideal. It's such an interesting sound.

But I'll see what I can do. :)

that's be great! :)

When I first learned this technique, it was called "CHIRPING".
And it is indeed done with the thumb squelching the note immediately after being picked. Of course, everyone has their own technique.
Whatever works!!!!