The blood eagle is cool if you reshaped the eagle beak and rounded it off proper. I guess they would then call that an explorer.
Pinch Harmonics (Poll)
- Thread starter LLL
- Start date
The blood eagle is cool if you reshaped the eagle beak and rounded it off proper. I guess they would then call that an explorer.
LLL
New member
Yep, I use the nail. I cut it a certain way too.
PFDarkside
of the Forum
Does anyone have a photo of how to do it with a finger? I think I learned the Billy/Zakk technique and never tried anything else.
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
LLL, based on the information, something to consider -
There are infinite ways to do the same thing on a guitar...that said;
* I have always considered a "pinch" harmonic to be because you "pinch" your thumb and finger together when digging the thumb into the string after the pick. I have never heard this called anything else - as apparently have not 50 other players
* I have heard of 'touch' harmonics that touching and playing the string over the harmonic node. I have seen players do this with both their left and right hands.
* There are also 'tap' harmonics - tapping on the fret 12 higher a fretted lower string. See EVH for a crap ton of examples.
Had you asked about 'touch' harmonics I suspect you'd have got answers about all sorts of answers like index finger, middle finger etc...
Are you sure, and just asking here, that you are not talking about those? And we are all talking about the classic pinch definition? So while I'm sure you can do it that way, just asking. And how did you develop this approach then? Just figured it out or did you see someone do it?
There are infinite ways to do the same thing on a guitar...that said;
* I have always considered a "pinch" harmonic to be because you "pinch" your thumb and finger together when digging the thumb into the string after the pick. I have never heard this called anything else - as apparently have not 50 other players
* I have heard of 'touch' harmonics that touching and playing the string over the harmonic node. I have seen players do this with both their left and right hands.
* There are also 'tap' harmonics - tapping on the fret 12 higher a fretted lower string. See EVH for a crap ton of examples.
Had you asked about 'touch' harmonics I suspect you'd have got answers about all sorts of answers like index finger, middle finger etc...
Are you sure, and just asking here, that you are not talking about those? And we are all talking about the classic pinch definition? So while I'm sure you can do it that way, just asking. And how did you develop this approach then? Just figured it out or did you see someone do it?
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
A friend, describing my style a long time ago said "You do a lot of the little squeelies"
And he was right. I did use them a lot. It was "my thing"
And then Zak Wylde came a long and ruined it....damn him!
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
It's still a pinch harmonic . . . just a different angle to get it. With thumb pinch harmonics I rotate my right hand clockwise after picking to brush the string with my thumb. With index finger pinch harmonics I rotate my right hand counter clockwise and brush the string with my fingernail.
Cynical
Active member
Side of the thumb for me.
My friend who taught me how to play has the weirdest technique I've ever seen; he uses the blade of his hand for them! He lightly rests the blade of his hand on the strings, as though he was palm muting but with much less force, and then gives the string he wants the pinch on a hard up-pick.
My friend who taught me how to play has the weirdest technique I've ever seen; he uses the blade of his hand for them! He lightly rests the blade of his hand on the strings, as though he was palm muting but with much less force, and then gives the string he wants the pinch on a hard up-pick.
LLL
New member
Not tapping harmonics, etc... and some of the poll answers were a joke.
How to get a pinch harmonic with your index finger?
Let's assume I'm sitting down with a guitar; ready to pick. If you're looking down at my (left, because I'm a lefty) pick hand, you're viewing the side of the hand.
You will see my thumb crossed over the index finger; touching the side of the index finger... together they form an approximately equidistant "X"
In between is the pick tip.
So, I make a pretty even "X" with my thumb and index finger; with pick in the middle.
All three (index finger, pick tip and thumb) are approximately equidistant as far a length (pick tip is sticking out a little longer).
So, looking down, we have 3 pick hand "points" of which to strike a string, from L to R, is index finger, pick tip, then thumb.
That being said, I could use my thumb for a pinch harmonic, but I could also use my index finger as well (and I do).
The fingernail on my index finger is specially cut to help facilitate better pinch harmonics; it's just like having two... picks at the same time (reminds me of Office Space quote...).
The index finger nail and pick hit ("pinch") the string at the same time.
It's the way I learned in the 80's; felt comfortable to me.
How to get a pinch harmonic with your index finger?
Let's assume I'm sitting down with a guitar; ready to pick. If you're looking down at my (left, because I'm a lefty) pick hand, you're viewing the side of the hand.
You will see my thumb crossed over the index finger; touching the side of the index finger... together they form an approximately equidistant "X"
In between is the pick tip.
So, I make a pretty even "X" with my thumb and index finger; with pick in the middle.
All three (index finger, pick tip and thumb) are approximately equidistant as far a length (pick tip is sticking out a little longer).
So, looking down, we have 3 pick hand "points" of which to strike a string, from L to R, is index finger, pick tip, then thumb.
That being said, I could use my thumb for a pinch harmonic, but I could also use my index finger as well (and I do).
The fingernail on my index finger is specially cut to help facilitate better pinch harmonics; it's just like having two... picks at the same time (reminds me of Office Space quote...).
The index finger nail and pick hit ("pinch") the string at the same time.
It's the way I learned in the 80's; felt comfortable to me.
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playas
Well-known member
Beyond natural harmonics I'm lost, especially regarding the names, but I never did figure out how to do pinch harmonics.
I do some where I tap the string lightly over the fret...others where I (usually bending at the same time) kind of hit the string sideways with the edge of the plectrum over certain nodes beyond the 2nd octave where the 24th fret would be.
Always interested to learn new skills so I'll have to try and follow some of these explanations to see what I can achieve.
I do some where I tap the string lightly over the fret...others where I (usually bending at the same time) kind of hit the string sideways with the edge of the plectrum over certain nodes beyond the 2nd octave where the 24th fret would be.
Always interested to learn new skills so I'll have to try and follow some of these explanations to see what I can achieve.
Gtrjunior
New member
Haha!
Gtrjunior
New member
Yeah that thing Satriani does is very cool.
PFDarkside
of the Forum
SlyFoxx
Glossless
That's pretty much how I hold the pick too. Just a tiny bit of the end past the thumb and index though I don't curl my index finger quite so much. I get harmonics upstroke as well as down. I also tend to angle the pick attack at about 33 degrees when going for the harmonics. Thinking back it was probably Billy G and the Eliminator album that set me on the path of squeal.
Thinking about it, it probably has something to do with the way I hold my pick. I can get harmonics to ring on either the up or down stroke. For me it's more about where I play along the length of the string.
Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
This is the way I hold the pick, too, but my pick is a bit pointier (looks like). I use Jazz III shape, but not actual Jazz IIIs, but made of tortex.
NegativeEase
New member
Even when I play without a pick, unless I'm playing classical, I tend to hold the same position.
Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
me too with the thumb and index -my other 3 fingas are all over the place pluckin'
It's the George Lynch/Brian May style of holding a plectrum that I cant do -less control for me
