harmonics

ok, im feeling stupid here (ive been playing for 6 years...)

but i just cant do harmonics. like, at all.

please explain how. and all the different kinds.

oh yes and while im here feeling stupid, how do you do a dive bomb?

(geez i can tap solos and junk like crazy but cant do simple things like this....im so ashamed haha)

OK, Harmonics:

First, the theory here

You get a pinch harmonic by picking in such a way that the side of your thumb hits the string just after the pick - use your bridge pickup and as much gain as you can to start with. Vibrato brings the harmonic out a bit as well.

Natural Harmonics come from touching your finger on a string, right over the fretwire and picking - gets you a sound a bit like a bell ringing - experiment on different frets. It's easy to get these on the octave of whatever note you're playing.

Artificial Harmonics - like the above, but with the octave manipulated. Found a lesson on this site for that one: http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=8232

And Dive Bombing is dumping your trem all the way down until the strings are slack.... I tend to do the odd pick slide / dive bomb move, but that's it...

I think that the previous post did a good job at explaining the harmonics but now I'm confused. I always thought that artificial and pinch harmonics were the same. I have an old tab book that explains what a pinch harmonic is and one that's a little more recent that has the same description but for an artificial harmonic. So I read the artificial harmonic weblink thing and it sounds like an "artificial harmonic" is what's called tapping. Where you fret a note and tap the string an octave away(although it doesn't have to be.you can get them everywhere like five, seven, nine,.... frets away from where you're fretting). And I'm not talking about the tapping like what Van Halen does at the end of eruption. Those are called right-hand hammer ons. One tip when you bar dive. You don't want to just dive the note. The best way to do it is to whip your hand down the neck and pull off then dive the strings. You'll also find that it works best on the thicker strings(low e and g strings). You can also dive a note and have harmonics come out when you return to the zero point by diving the note and right before you return have a fretting finger do a natural harmonic somewhere like at the fifth fret or something. That's something I played with and I thought I invented it but I watched a video and it seems Van Halen's already done it. :(

the artificial harmonic isn't actually a tap - you fret a note as normal, then touch the string over a fret higher up, then pick the note with a plectrum or finger. It's the same a a natural harmonic, but with the root note moved.

You might be talking about fret tapping, which is where you, for example, play an a on the fifth fret of the E string, and then tap on the 17th Fret...

Originally Posted by: zreynoldspDive Bombing is dumping your trem all the way down until the strings are slack.... I tend to do the odd pick slide / dive bomb move, but that's it...

alright, i get the harmonics thing but please explain that bit... sorry im a bit newer on electric. been acoustic for years now.

It seems to be pretty well covered here.

Generally, natural harmonics are done at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets. Pinch harmonics are a trademark of Zakk Wylde, and can be performed much easier with the advent of distortion. Artificial harmonics aren't too difficult to do, but they are a hassle to explain, but it's pretty much covered...

Originally Posted by: CW14
Hit your low E string, and push downwards hard on the whammy bar. Van Halen does that a lot in Eruption. It doesn't need to be the low E string, it can be any note.

ah i see. is there any way to do this with an SG?

Not unless it's with one of those special Angus Young models that have whammy bars on them....

you can however buy a "whammy" pedal for around $200.... I'm not really sure of the realism and quality of them... but I'm sure there are sound files of it in action on music123.com - and Steve Vai uses it, so it can't be total crap.