Louder harmonics? (Acoustic)

[Gwydion]

Lately ive been getting into some andy mckee and antoine dufour stuff which often involves a lot of harmonics. The problem im having is that i can't get my 5th fret harmonics to ring out as loud as the rest. There's also a technique antoine uses in "Ashes in the Sea" where he hits the 12 fret with his index finger an gets the harmonics to sound that way, which i cant do either. Is it the guitar that makes the difference? Or maybe some longer fingernails/fake nails would help? Any advice would be great


Heres a link to the video of ashes in the sea. The harmonic part im talking about is at about 0:57 and some other places too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcanWkRbnwQ

[light487]

Moved to appropriate forum.

[CSchlegel]

Is it the guitar that makes the difference? Or maybe some longer fingernails/fake nails would help? Any advice would be great...

Notice that the guitar has a pickup. And he recorded the audio you hear with a very nice studio mic (visible right in front of the guitar sound hole in the video).

He's not slapping the harmonics THAT hard. Just enough to get the sound.

Advice:

1. This stuff is extremely percussive in nature. You need to practice your "slapping attack". It's more about the velocity in attacking the strings than sheer brute force. Your fingers (tips or pads) need to "slap" the string(s) quickly and efficiently and get off of the string and out of the way as quickly as possible in order for the string (and the harmonic) to ring. Do not "hit" the strings. Do not "poke" the strings. It's like a drum stick on a drum head. "Slap" it.

2. You need to "slap" directly on top of the fret. Normally we guitarists are used to playing in between the frets as a matter of habit. This technique requires that you tap or slap the string directly over (or ON) the fret.

3. Your strings need to be nice and new. Dull, old strings with gunk on them will never sound as nice and bright and ringing as new strings.

Hope this helps. Best of success with it!