Squeelers!

Hey,
Its come to my attension that people find pinch/artificial harmonic difficult. In one mag i read this guy said him and his pals had been trying for months to do them.
Am i missing something!! I mean, i can do the ones where you lightly place your finger above the string and the ones where you hit the string with pick and side of finger to get the squealing effect... is that it? There incredibly easy to do!! Could i actually be naturally good at something here!! is there only two types?

This is more of a "technique and style" thing, but yup, that's it. There's the kind you do with your right hand, by touching the edge of your finger to the string just before you pick it. And there's the left hand harmonic, where you just barely touch the string in one of the "hot spots" (like between the 2nd and 3rd frets on the third string) and then pick it.

Well, I have no problem with natural (left hand) or artificial (right hand) harmonics, but to do the artificial ones, I have to change the position of the pick to between my thumb and middle finger and hit the harmonic with my right index finger. The way I hold the pick (which is the only comfortable way for me) doesn't allow me to do them with my thumb. That's ok, though, because my index finger has better accuracy anyway. I tried for a couple weeks to do it with the edge of my thumb, but it never happened and I just gave up. Then I saw Eric Johnson use his index finger, and that was the ticket for me.

Hey, I've heard of this index finger thing before, but I've never been able to do it. I always use the edge of my thumb. Could you give me a description of how to do it with the index? . . . where do you touch the string?

I developed a cool technique for doing the right handed squeelers without moving your fingers further down the pick or adjusting your pick.
If you imaginge the pick simply hitting the string parallel to it and perpindiclurly lined up. you just rotate you pick hitted action to that the pick isnt hitting the string at the precise point your supposed to.. Its really hard to explain.. nevermind. Just dont move your fingers down the pick, rotate the pick and angle you hit the strings, i duno anyone else who does it. It means you can squeel whenever you want!

Torby

Axl, i can do the same thing,but not explain it (I dont usually play metal) it's putting the side of the pick to the string and picking with that..but at a slight angle..say 30 to 40 degrees to the string..oh I dunno :confused:

In reply to Christoph's inquiry of index finger harmonics...

You know how for natural harmonics you fret lightly touching the string above the 12th or 7th or 5th fret (the easiest three)? Well, it's the same principle as changing open chords into barre chords. You fret a note, say the 5th fret on the e string. Just go up 12 frets (or 7 or 5)to the 17th and lightly fret the note (as you would with your left hand on natural harmonics) with your right hand index finger and pick with the pick between your thumb and middle finger.

This produces a result just like as if you'd hit the 12th fret natural harmonic on the 5th string, incidentally creating another great way to tune your guitar. You can't trust comparing natural harmonics of the 12th fret on one string and the 7th fret on the next one up because you'll be a little sharper every string up, but if you tune by fretting the 5th fret and hitting a 17th fret artificial harmonic (or fret the 4th fret and do a 16th fret harmonic for the B string) compared to a 12th fret natural harmonic on the next string up your guitar you can hear differences between the strings better (especially if distorted), and the strings won't be as differently tuned as if you use natural harmonics.

Whoa . . . I just tried it out. That's cool . . . tough to pull off, but cool.

Want something really tough, but also REALLY cool? This is something I learned from Eric Johnson on his 2nd video.

Try making a chord like Bm x 2, 4, 4, 3, 2. Now play artificial harmonics 12 frets above on each note in an arpeggio. That is, you're fretting x, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, but you're playing artificial harmonics on x, 14, 16, 16, 15, 14. You're kind of mirroring the image of the chord an octave up. It gives a nice, tinkly sound to the chord. You can also sweep pick this artifical harmonic arpeggio. You have to sweep with your right hand while outlining the shape of the chord an octave up with your index finger (but let the notes continue to ring, using a clean tone. DO NOT lift your left hand fingers). Kind of hard to coordinate, but it's well worth the time spent learning (Ending a song on a Major 7th chord artificial harmonic sweep sounds so cool and jazzy). One last thing... if you want to hear the tinkly chord just fret it and slap the guitar around 12 frets up. Using a single coil pickup on the bridge setting works best. Christoph - I can email you a sound file of any of the above techniques if you want to hear them.

There's this part on the G3 Live video where he does something like that.

Yeah, I've tried the slap thing too (Steve Vai does it alot). There's another thing you can do with your palm. Fret a G major barre chord with your left hand, and place your right palm so it's barely touching the strings at the 15th fret. Strum it, and you'll get that nice "tinkly" sound.

Yeah, if you want to post a trick or mail me a sound file, that'd be cool.

talking artificial harmonics...I wonder if anyone here uses palm or knuckle harmonics? Since I also play pedal steel, I've been using these techniques a while, and they work real well on the guitar too!

/Wide