artifical harmonics??????

i got to say i have no idea what these are and have time so im going to ask now. how do you do artifical harmonics? what do they sound like ( if you explain how to play dont exlain what they sound like)? and last do you have any songs i can listien to to hear it for my self?

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i wrote this earlier for someone so hopefully its helpfull to you


artificial harmonics

"i don't know a guide, but what want to do is fret a note with ur left hand (obviously), and then us ur pick and the edge of ur thumb to make the harmonic. the way u hold the pick is important, some people hold the pick between the finger tip and the edge of the thumb so that the pick protrudes from the palm. but u want to hold ur hand in the folowing way.straigten ur hand first so none of the fingers are bent. the bend the second joint in ur finger (eg the middle one) 90 degrees.(u have to keep ur knuckle unbent). then bend the last joint in the fingure(the one near the nail) 90 degrees. lay the pick across the side of ur finger so that it is not gripped by the tip. then place ur thumb flat across the pick. ur thumb should be parrallel to the palm of ur hand and the last digit of the finger. lastly is is important that u let only a very small amount of the pick protrude.

when u actually try the pinched harmonic u strick downwards at the string and let the side of ur fingure hit the string after the pick. u might have to dig ur hand into the string a bit.

lastly u have to hit the harmonic at the right spot and it is easier if the fretting hand is lower down the neck so that the lower harmonics can be used.

an easy harmonic to hit is if u fret the ninth fret on the g string and try to place ur picking hand over the very edge of the pickup, nearest the bridge. i have covered humbuckers so u mite have to ajust this position if u have single pickups.

if all this doesnt work getting a thicker pick might help and increasing the volume and distortion of the amp will make the harmonics ring better, and if you have a compressor turn it on

anyways good luck"

distort it like a mother ****er when you're starting out, just like distorting to the max makes palm muting easier it makes harmonics come out even if ure doing them like **** at the start.

there are two types of artificial harmonics. the one that Fret Spider had made an excellent explanation on was called PINCH HARMONICS, which is more of a "hard rock" sounding harmonic. another type artificial harmonics i think is called the ARCH HARMONICS, i'm not sure what the correct name for that is. but this type of artificial harmonics are more for classical or jazz music. if you click on "country" under "by style" on the left of this website, then listen to debussy - girl with the flaxen hair, which is under one of the two free lessons, you'll get a good idea of what this type of articial harmonic is.

in order to perform the "arch" harmonics, you must master the natural harmonics. you can do natural harmonics in various frets on the guitar. the best ones are the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, and the 12th fret. NOW THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: when you play a natural harmonic on a certain string on one of those frets, those harmonics give a certain pitch, not random ones, but fixed ones. FOR EXAMPLE: on a D string, if you do natural harmonic on the 12th fret, it will ring the D note on a higher octive of the open D string. and now lets say if you put a capo of the 2nd fret of the guitar, and now if you play the open D string, it wouldn't give you a D note but an E note (because the 2nd fret of the D string is the E note and you've just put a capo over the 2nd fret). now, in order to do a natural harmonic to make that E note on the D string one octave higher, you must do the natural harmonic on the 14th fret instead of the 12th. This is because what you're doing is you're counting 12th frets over from the E note on the second fret of the D string, which turns out to be the 14th fret. PUT IT IN SIMPLE MATH TERMS:

12 frets across = one octive
0 + 12 = 12 = D note
2 + 12 = 14 = E note

NOTE: YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS ABOVE BEFORE MOVING ON!

Now, here's the trick on how to do "arch" harmonics:
the idea of arch harmonics is as soon as you are fretting a note on your left hand, you are capoing a note! another words: YOUR FRETTING HAND IS THE CAPO, AND YOU'RE BASICALLY DOING NATURAL HARMONICS 12 FRETS ACROSS THE NOTES YOU FRET. For example, if you're fretting the 4th fret on the A string, which turns out to be the C# note, in order to do the natural harmonic one octive higher than that C#, you must do a natural harmonic 12 frets across, one the C# note that is one octive higher than the one you fret. and while you do the natural harmonic on that C#, your fret hand MUST securely press on to that C# note cuz remember, YOUR FRET HAND BECOMES THE CAPO! To try to not make things too confusing and complicated, here are some tabs that will help you:

This is how you do a C major chord arppegio in arch harmonics:

first, fret a C major chord:

E ---------
B ---- 1 ---
G ---- 0 ---
D ---- 2 ---
A ---- 3 ---
E ----------

now, try to play the C major chord arppegio slowly, one note after another:
NOTE: THIS ISN'T SWEEP PICKING AT ALL!

E -------------
B --------- 1 -
G ------- 0 ---
D ----- 2 ----
A --- 3 -------
E -------------

your last step, make sure you hang tight on your C major chord with your left hand. now, do natural harmonics 12 frets (one octive higher) across all these notes. do you that you should use your place your picking hand's index finger on the natural harmonic position and pick with your thumb underneath:

NH NH NH NH
E -------------------
B ------------- 13 --
G --------- 12 ------
D ----- 14 ----------
A -- 15 -------------
E -------------------

I know i may seem a little bit confusing on this but trust me it's tough to explain everything without pictures! i've tried my best! i hope i am a help to what you're looking for. If you still have questions, you can feel free to give me your e-mail and i'll send you some pictures on how to do it! i'll do my best to help!

the type geoffy explained can also be done by tapping with the right hand exactly on the fret that is 12 frets above the note fretted with the left hand. if u see what i meen.

when u tap, strike the fret and instantly remove the finger. takes a bit of pracitice to get them loud. but i find them less fidly than using the method geoff used. also if you tap with your second finger, like me, you will find that you can do this type of harmonic without dropping the pick.

incedentally if u use the pinch harmonic method i explained above exactly 12 frets above the freted note you get pretty much the same sound as if you use arch harmonics. but it does get harder with a fretboard in the way.

If you're fingerpicking and you want to play a pinch harmonic, it's a little harder, but you don't need a pick. Fret the note in question, then place your index finger lightly on the appropriate string and simultaneously pluck it with your thumb. This is a three-step process at first, but if you practice it enough, it can be done with relative fluidity.