Artificial Harmonics?

What are these and how do u get them? whats the difference between natural and artificial? I know of the harmonics of lightly touching the string above the fret. Is this artificial or natural. Thankx alot for the info.

um.... i might be wrong here, and if i am i apologize in advance. when you lightly touch the strings its a natural harmonic. artifical harmonics are when to note "squeals" at a higher register. listen to zz-top for examples

to do them you need to catch the string a little with your picking hand as you play the note. unfortunetly its kinda difficult to explain, one of those things that you can't explain, only demonstrate. just trying picking the notes with a little force and some drive, keeping your hand close to the strings. sorry i can't be of any more help

is that the same tone u hear when a guitarist bends really really high and hard and it screams? dimebag darrel from pantera does this alot. i wish i could do that. Do you need better grade pickups for that? thankx for the advise

Dimebag Darrel is most likely using a whammy bar to produce that sound. Artificial harmonics usually refers to tapping while pinch harmonics usually refers to lightly touching the string with your right hand. I wish I knew a better way to explain it without showing it to you.

If i was to go to say guitar center, and ask an employee there about these techniques do you think they would show me? Cause iw ould really like to learn these and possibly use them in some stuff

yeah dimebag darrel uses a whammy for all his weird stuff
they should be able to show you, if they are any good guitarists that is!

If you listen to any Ozzy or BLS, you have heard AH. Just make sure you are using some nice deep distortion, Bridge pickup (postition 3) if you have humbuckers, Bridge/Middle (position 4) if your on single coil. It is easier to do on humbuckers, but it is possible with single; I do it everyday. Then, just find all of the sweet spots, like where to pick, how hard to pick, how hard to hold the pick, and how much of your thumb needs to hit the string. Happy squeals!

Just a suggestion but since you're already on a guitar site here, why not try going to the homepage and entering 'artificial' or 'harmonic' in the search box.

You really don't have to to have a distorted sound at all. How well they ring out is more a matter of your pickups, other amp setting, etc. For example, my RG with PAF pros in them, I can pinch harmonics out very loud and clear anywhere on the fretboard, and the sustain for as long as necessary (so you can do all those Satriani whammy tricks I guess), but on my HM strats (which have Dimarzio Super Distortions or Super 3s on them), it can't really be done without a lot of gain.

If I'm not mistaken, you're all wrong. Artificial harmonics are harmonics that can be shifted around the neck. To pull them off, you must be fretting down a note, and picking it while touching the harmonic interval at the same time (all on the same string). I've seen classical guitarists use it and I've gotten decent at it myself.


So there are naturally occuring harmonics on frets 5, 7, 12 and so forth. Take string 6 (E). Want to shift a harmonic so it now plays on the 14th fret? Simple. With your fretting hand, hold down F# on fret 2 of the low E string. Simultaneously, you must now use your picking hand to pluck the note (I use my thumb) and produce a harmonic on the 14th fret (I use my index finger). Is this making sense? When you've got this technique down, you can create artificial harmonics in any area over the fretboard and do some wacky stuff.

Hope this helps...

Let me know if you need more explaining...


:)

Matt

Btw, what the majority of you guys are talking about is called pinched harmonics I believe, which is something completely different.

I agree with finger cruncher.

Just take the fret you are on, move up twelve frets, and tap on the fret wire itself. You'll get a nice little ring out of it. Michael Angelo does this a lot. Its really cool to do whilst using power chords, tapping them arpeggio style.

Thats a Tap Harmonic numbnuts.

Originally posted by Q12321
Thats a Tap Harmonic numbnuts.

You're cool.

...

Anyways, artificial harmonics are when you fret a note and hover a finger from your picking hand at the position 12 (or 5, or whatever) frets above the fretted note. Then, use another finger from your picking hand (c'mon, you've got 4 others to choose from!) and pick the string.

I first saw this technique called for on a (non-electric) tab for Fur Elise.

Originally posted by Q12321
Thats a Tap Harmonic numbnuts.

Your mom.

..you can pretty much do AHs on any fret, depending on where you place the finger (from the pickinghand). I guess it helps having like three mics. I have three and that does it for me atleast. I always do AHs hehe. I also find it much more comfortable and better (for me) to use like the ringfinger instead of the thumb. I, easily, get a better harmonic out of it. But then again, that's just for me.

Thankx for the advise. so to do AH you have to be on the 12th fret? is this with your fretting hand or what? I guess im kinda lost with this concept? Its ok though i might be able to figure it out now. thankx again

No, Spacko, artificial harmonics can be done on any fret and any string. Read my previous post and iamthe_eggman's post. We're both talking about the same thing. That is what artificial harmonics are. It's really hard to explain it any better without some sort of visual aid. I suggest that you master other techniques before you tackle artificial harmonics. They're not super hard, but it helps if you have a solid grasp of other techniques and fretboard dexterity.

What other techniques would u suggest? Im pretty comfortable with playing. I've been playing roughly 3 or 4 years. Would you u suggest i take lessons? cause i can read basic music and stuff. Also what is the best way to pick out a good teacher? Thankx alot

Try this link:

http://tinyurl.com/35ls7

I wrote it a quite awhile ago but there's about 9 pages with mp3's showing the difference between things like natural, artificial, pinch and tap harmonics.