pinch harmonics help

[MetalGuitar]

Im trying to get pinch harmonics down and i was wondering if it works better when u pick the string or use your fingers. I was also wondering if its better to hit it hard or soft.
Thank you

[austin99]

pinch harmonics are created by chocking up on the pick and playing with the fleshy part of your thumb when you pick the note, its totally in your picking style. They are really easy once you know how to do them.

where you pick the note changes the harmonic, there are sweet spots and you just have to find them. You can change the tone by the location that you pick.

Another way to create them I have found is to pick with the back of my fingers using the finger nail, I have played fingerstyle along time and that is a really easy way to get pinch harmonics.

[mike-o]

Basically, just choke up on your pick so that when you strum, your pick hits the string then your thumb does immediately after.

Also, you get a more hardcore squeal sound the closer you are to your neck pickup.

[MetalGuitar]

is there any particular fret or string where its easiest?

[MetalGuitar]

ok. thanks guys! that helps

[Forlorn Hope]

is there any particular fret or string where its easiest?
Personally, I find the easiest being around the 7th or the 9th fret on the third string.

[austin99]

B G and D strings are where I usually play them, they are from the 3rd fret to the 10th fret is where I find them. its kind of a search and find for each pinch harmonic the sweet spots vary from note to note, I have found some above the 12th fret but those tend to be hard to really play live and don't sound any different above the 12th fret.

[Trigger_003]

Some guy did a lesson on this, with pics to show those sweet spots, how to hold the pick, etc.
http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=414543

Austin basically covered it, but having the actual pics there will help to give you an idea.

[Hutch306]

Another way to create them I have found is to pick with the back of my fingers using the finger nail, I have played fingerstyle along time and that is a really easy way to get pinch harmonics.

Please expand on this. Are you using the back of the nail on your fretting hand, or your picking hand?

[MetalGuitar]

does reverb change anything?

[judge_gideon]

String Physics
In order to fully understand what is happening with pinch harmonics, you have to think in terms of the physical properties of the string vibrating.

Each harmonic is a basic part of a waveform - and the best way to say this is that each wave has a frequency, and a harmonic is a whole number value of repetitious sinusoidal patterns which are found in that wave.

I found this to be true when I tried mapping out all the harmonics on the neck. Many of them are repetitious and not simply found in one particular place. I began to make crude measurements with an inch ruler, and found them to be in predictable locations.

My first observation was that the "loudest" and also lowest pitch harmonic on the neck was at the 12th fret - and this is the very center of the string - Divided into 2 halves.

Then, the next strongest, and next higher pitch is the neck divided into thirds. If you fold the string into thirds, you have 2 bends - those 2 locations are where the next harmonics live.

It turns out that it's a pattern of increasing integers and string divisions. This is because of "sinusoidal" patterns in the original frequency. Technically, this original frequency is called the "first harmonic". Just playing an open string is considered a harmonic, but additional harmonics are found by placing your finger at any of these sinusoidal nodes....and this results in the next harmonic frequency to ring out.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
There's no text example to demonstrate this, so I created an image:
http://gregapel.com/images/harmonics.jpg

The diagram shows harmonics on an open string.

If any of you don't yet know, harmonic overtones on an open string can be sounded by picking the string with your right hand, and holding your left hand finger gently touching the string over one of the nodal points explained in the diagram (not fretting or pressing down, but lightly touching).

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, What About Pinch Harmonics?
There is no difference with pinch harmonics. Instead of using two hands to sound the harmonic overtone, you use one hand - the pick hand. This frees your left hand up to change the pitch of the string by fretting new notes. Instead of simply playing open string harmonics, you are now free to explore them on fretted notes as well.

The same pattern of halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, ad infinitum continues with pinch harmonics. But, since the string length changed as you fretted a new note, then the location of harmonic overtones change. The pattern is the same, but it gets "scrunched".

Let's say you're fretting the 15th fret on your G string. The harmonic overtones begin with the second - which is directly in the middle between your fretted note and the bridge saddle. (it happens to be off the fretboard)

Then, the third is found by chopping that distance into three. The fourth harmonic chops it into four, etc. etc.

After you experiment with it, you'll find them by force of habit, just like the rest of guitar patterns.

[Hutch306]

Alright, you are pretty good at completely breaking stuff down, gideon, so please break down HOW to do a pinch harmonic. I simply cannot produce them on my guitar. I'm using a rather cheap guitar and a cheap amp, which doesn't help my cause, but still, I cannot produce the sound of a pinch harmonic. Please tell me what to do with my right hand (picking hand). I have read numerous sites telling me how, and none of them seem to help.

[Kirk's Puppet]

*Reads no post above*

Contrary to popular belief, you do not hold your pick differently when you alternate pick and when you pinch harmonic. You play the note and scrape your thumb against the string when you pinch, you don't choke or whatever.