The Ultimate Guide To HARD-HITTING HARMONICS On Guitar

A single note can be played in many different ways if you're playing it on the guitar. You can pick a note, hammer-on or pull-off to it from a different note, tap it, bend up to it, or slide into it. Each note has an opportunity to be played with flare by using a variety of tasteful tricks. We can give the note some vibrato, we can hit some notes harder than others, and we can also use something called harmonics. Harmonics can be really useful to guitarists because they can highlight pretty much any note you want by giving it a sparkling, high-pitched ringing sound. This neat little trick can be executed in multiple different ways, and I'll cover some of the most fun and essential types of harmonics in this lesson. Grab your axe and get ready to learn one of the coolest guitar effects that can be played.

Natural Harmonics

Let's begin with natural harmonics as they tend to be the easiest of these tricks to achieve. Natural harmonics will also set the foundation for all other harmonics in this lesson. It's important to understand that you'll have the most success in playing natural harmonics at frets 5, 7, and 12. Get started by taking note of the padded portion of the fingertip of the middle finger on your fretting hand. Use that part of your fingertip to apply gentle pressure just above the fret wire of the 5th fret of the G string.

When you pluck that note, you should clearly get a shimmering high-pitched noise that almost sounds like a bell. If you apply too much pressure, it will sound as if you're just playing a regular note. If you don't apply enough pressure, it could sound like you're just playing the open string. This effect can be achieved on any string. In addition to frets 5, 7, and 12, some natural harmonics can also be achieved at fret 4, but that spot is more difficult as your accuracy will have to be superb.

To give yourself more options on the fretboard, the same concept can be applied to tapping harmonics. This more advanced technique frees up the limited positioning of natural harmonics, plus it looks super cool when you pull it off. Instead of using the fretting hand, tapping harmonics require the effect to be achieved primarily with the picking hand.

Pinch Harmonics

Unless you’re tapping, natural harmonics by themselves are typically pretty limited as to how many can actually be played across the fretboard. Fortunately, there’s another workaround to that with pinch harmonics. With pinch harmonics, it usually doesn't matter where on the fretboard you are trying to add shine to a note as this effect can be achieved almost anywhere on the neck of your guitar.

Similar to natural harmonics, pinch harmonics require a gentle graze of a guitar string.  However, with pinch harmonics, achieving the effect requires more emphasis on the picking hand than it does on the fretting hand.  Start by playing any note on the fretboard, such as the 5th fret of the G string, as you normally would.  From there, take the side of the thumb of your picking hand that is closest to the body of your guitar and gently tap the string you just plucked.  Again, you have to use the perfect amount of pressure to achieve this. To help sustain a pinch harmonic, try giving the note some vibrato with your fretting hand.  

Adding The Whammy Bar

Adding vibrato to pinch harmonics can really make them squeal, but what if you want to add some vibrato to natural harmonics?  Well, with a whammy bar, you can.

First, execute a natural harmonic as described at the start of this lesson.  From there, all you need to do is grab your whammy bar and give it as much or as little expression as you'd like.  By combining natural harmonics with the whammy bar, all sorts of effects such as dive bombs and flutters can be achieved.  Feel free to check out one of my previous lessons on whammy bar tricks, then apply those concepts with the harmonics taught in this lesson.

As an alternative method, you don't necessarily even need to pick a note to get a natural harmonic whammy bar effect.  All you need to do is execute a pull-off by flicking the string with the index finger of your fretting hand, then immediately slap a natural harmonic with the ring finger of that same hand.  As this occurs, use your whammy bar to your heart's delight.

Conclusion

The ability to add a sparkling ringing sensation to the notes you play is now in your hands. Every major method for achieving hard-hitting harmonics has been covered in this lesson to ensure that you'll be able to play guitar with more head-turning flare. Natural harmonics can be played by picking, tapping, or going crazy with your whammy bar. Pinch harmonics can also be played with more of the work coming from the picking hand. Most people tend to find the pinch harmonics to be more challenging, so don't get discouraged if you can't pull them off right away. It can take a while to pull them off every single time, so stick in and stay consistent with practicing them. Once you've mastered all these different types of harmonics, you'll find yourself having way more fun with shredding your axe.

Watch the full lesson here: The Ultimate Guide To HARD-HITTING HARMONICS On Guitar