harmonics

[slowpoke]

I was at the library the other day and they had a Tal Farlow book and one section was "Special Effects." It talked about a few harmonics he used but the one I find most interesting (and the one I remember) is where you take your pick between your middle finger and thumb and rest your index finger on the 12th note away from your fretted note (or open string). This is such a neat sound but would take a long time before I could start using it effectively. I think this originated out of classical guitar playing. I've seen Tal's Hot Licks video where he explains this technique and he didn't explain it as good as the book but since once you're playing in the higher register you have no frets for reference he uses the screws in his pickups to help visualize the notes he's hitting.

Anyone know any other harmonic techniques? Or does anyone use the one I mentioned? I know lenny breau does those "waterfall" harmonics, but I don't believe I'll be attempting those any time soon (maybe not anytime at all). I think you need to have the nails/touch for them too.

[mahayana]

I've used the natural harmonics of open strings for fine- tuning for a long time. Maybe Professor can give a theoretical explanation for why certain harmonic notes occur at various places on the strings.

Anyway, the loudest harmonics are over fret 12 (the halfway point of the strings). Barely touch the string right over the fret and pluck below. For tuning, I use the harmonics over frets 5, 7, and 9.

Low E string 5 = A string 7
A string 5 = D string 7
D string 5 = G string 7
G string 9 =B string 5 = high E string 7

[slowpoke]

yeah, I tune that way too. do you know matching harmonics for g and b?

also i do "pinch" harmonics every now and then which is sort of fun, but a little difficult. the way tal does it so cool though, i think i'll work with this technique for a while. it's difficult picking when you have to have your first finger of your right hand 12 frets above your fretted note AND pick with your middle/thumb. am i making sense? because 12 frets away from an open or fretted note is where an octave harmonic lies. i believe that's correct terms. hamonics happen because the note is getting divided, i think. hmm.

[mahayana]

If you mean for the G string and B string, that's my last line above. The G string sounds a B note when you do the harmonic above fret 9 (same as fret 5 harmonic on B string and fret 7 harmonic on high E string.

I do the fretted harmonics by touching the string (12 frets up) with my thumb, plucking with index finger. Easiest to do little chromatic runs with this.

[slowpoke]

oops, didn't see that there. sorry for making you repeat yourself.

i dig the fretted harmonics though, it'd be nice to be able to play a melody or solo all in harmonics, i never knew it was possible though... so many tricks to learn with the guitar.

[Professor]

Slowpoke,
That's not what most people consider "pinch harmonics". Rather, when you pick a note, do it on an up-stroke, and let the tip of your middle finger touch the string just after the pick does. Experiment around, a small movement up or down the string makes a big difference. I think Roy Buchanon and others called it "blatting".

[slowpoke]

well shoot, i'm just a jumble of confusion in this thread. i didn't mean to confuse the terms in my post... i do pinch harmonics by doing a downstroke and letting my thumb hit the string after. i've also done it on upstrokes but just extending my index finger past the point of the pick.

I haven't heard of Buchanon, what's a good listen?

P.S. I just tried the upstrokes w/ middle finger and it worked pretty well. Thanks for the tip!