Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Yes, that helps. I don't get the sense though that when people are playing pinch harmonics, they are aiming for specific notes, like you might if you are playing tap harmonics for example.[/quote][p]I can't speak for everyone. But I know which note is where & how to play which one I want, when I want it.

I personally know players that use pinch harmonics, but are not as familiar with what note they are playing when doing so. Nevertheless, simply by trial & error they know what notes they like the sound of regardless of how much they know about the theory.

This is kind of like a baseball athelete that can throw a perfect pitch against the wind without knowing the wind speed or the physics involved. As long as his practical experience & physical skill can accomplish his goal, then what difference does it make? Sure it might help him improve. And some players actually learn that much because they are that devoted to their craft. But it's not absolutely necessary to achieve the practical result they are after.

However, I do know other players that, like me, do know exactly what they are doing.

Originally Posted by: dlwalkeWithout any frets up there, where you're pinching and picking (sounds like an old Hee Haw routine), it seems like it would be difficult to figure out where to touch the string with your thumb, and it just doesn't appear, from the videos I've seen, that people are moving their thumb into different positions as if they are aiming for specific notes.

Lots of things are difficult until you've spent years working on them & can do them with knowledge, confidence & ease. :)

[quote=dlwalke]

The fretting fingers are jumping around to different frets, but the position of the other hand seems to remain pretty stationary. And yet, it still sounds good. Is this because the pinch harmonic is most liklely going to have some familiar relationship to the note you're fretting (3rd, 5th, m7th) rather than being something that would sound way out of key (like a tritone or m2nd) and also because the actual pitch of the pinch harmonic is generally secondary to it's general coolness (for lack of a better word) in terms of what it adds to a passage?

Yes, it can help that most harmonics are part of the natural overtone series. And thus more likely to be on a certain chord tone. But I've heard plenty of people use them inappropriately. And knowing what you're doing is better than not knowing.

Hope that helps!