Metal Guitarist Forums banner

Need help with pick harmonics and why I think You Give Love a Bad Name is amazing

6K views 33 replies 17 participants last post by  frankcastle 
#1 ·
Okay so I'm really struggling with how to do pick harmonics. Some how my pick and thumb are supposed to touch the string but I just don't get it.

Are there videos or tips that you guys can please recommend?

For a novice guitar player this Bon Jovi song is a great considilation of a number of skills..... pick harmonic in the opening riff, single note riff, power chords, octave chords, bends, hammer on pull off/natural harmonic/whammy bar solo.

I'm not a big fan of the song per se but that's a lot of skills packed in one song. Plus learning a song you know well helps because you know when it sounds off.
 
#2 ·
I think even video of the technique would fail to really convey how it's done. It's a bit of a tacit thing, rather than something that can be described. You're right that the thumb should touch the string. If you were to watch an extreme slow mo video of it, the thumb would touch the string just as the pick leaves it. But, like I said, I don't think it can be described in a meaningful way to someone who can't already do it. But it's not very difficult. You just need to experiment. Just keep at it, experimenting away, and honing in on it. As you go, you should notice you're getting the sound, or closer to the sound, and just try to replicate and refine what it is that's going on when you're getting the harmonic.

Once you're cracking it, try picking at different points along the string. The harmonic you'll produce will be dependent on where you pick and which fret you're holding. Don't worry about what notes they are or anything, just be aware that some pop out easier than others, so trying out different places to pick might help speed things up. Nothing wild. Just try picking a cm or two further along the string.

Also, don't have too much of the pick sticking out from between your thumb and forefinger. If there's too much pick sticking out, it'll be difficult to get your thumb into contact with the string.
 
#5 ·
But, like I said, I don't think it can be described in a meaningful way to someone who can't already do it. But it's not very difficult. You just need to experiment. Just keep at it, experimenting away, and honing in on it.
agreed. its one of those things i chased for a while and didnt get... then you suddenly have an 'a-ha' moment, and you can do them, lol.
 
#3 ·
i actually do it with my ring finger which I have been told is ultra weird but its how I learned to do it. You could try my way where I actually pick the string while pinching it between my ring fingertip and the pick.

It works for me, it might work for you.
 
#11 ·
Hmmm....I also use my ring finger, but not the tip, I use the knuckle closest to the tip.

I used to palm my whammy bar while playing (trying to rip off Gilmour, I had a shorted bar on my Strat, makes it easy to cup in your hand so you can still play and won't have to reach for it at the end of a phrase) and with my knuckles curved in, towards the strings, eventually my ring finger knuckle hit one and made a pinch harmonic. I was quite delighted because I could NEVER figure out how to get that sound before that.

I ended up working it into my playing style and now switch between using my thumb and using the ring finger knuckle. I can nail a pinch 85% of the time with my thumb, but with my knuckle I can get them about 98% of the time, so if I realize that I might not be in the best position to use my thumb or if my pick is slipping, then I'll go to the knuckle because it's pretty much a sure bet. A few times in my life I got something cool working by nailing on the same note and going between the two techniques to get different pitches.

If you hold your pick like you're going to play, curl your fingers inward. I dunno if it works out for you the same way it does for me, but my ring finger knuckle is almost perfectly aligned with the tip of my pick. I should probably add that I UP-pick nearly every note I play. I almost ALWAYS start on an upstroke....my uncle told me for years that it would screw me over but because of that, I've gotten around a lot of issues I see other players have regarding alternate picking and moving from string to string...but also because with this pinch harmonic technique, I find it easier to snag the string on my knuckle on an upstroke....probably because the actual spot the string hits is closer to the edge of my knuckle rather than the middle.

I'd take some time and dig on Eric Johnson's Total Electric Guitar. He goes over a few harmonic techniques that might help along because the touch to get them is pretty much the same, there's just different ways of getting there. There's a whole section on right hand technique that entirely shaped the way I play now and back when I first watched it 20 years ago, it really changed things quickly for me. I had only been playing 2 years and had no dynamics in my playing and was just starting to understand what "sloppy" meant, that video fixed those issues quick.
 
#4 ·
watch Ben Eller's this is why your pinch harmonics suck video on youtube. I think it will help the most. It's really a practice and feel thing though. As a bass player, I just learned to them last year, I'm bad at them, but I can pull off really good ones from time to time, it just takes a LOT of wanking.

 
#7 ·
It's scientifically simple. Two things need to happen in a quick succession:
1. Picking
2. Hitting a harmonic node without choking the string

With an open string, you have harmonic nodes at the 24th, 36th, 48th and so on imaginary fret locations. When you fret on the first fret, it's the 25th, 37th, 49th and so on.

The above nodes are just the octave nodes. To give you even more choice, you can get a ruler, and measure starting at the bridge. There's one on 1/2 of the string, 1/3rd of the string, 1/4th of the string, 1/5th of the string, 1/6th of the string and so on.
 
#8 ·
I stumbled across them. I thought it sounded cool, and I kept trying to "recreate the mistake" until I could do it on command. I turn my pick perpendicular to the strings (I believe Ben mentions that in his video) and dig in.

It's really a "keep trying it until it happens on command" type of thing, I think. Good luck!
 
#21 ·
Wait you mean it's not already under your pillow? :)

So far it's going terribly..... lol

The best so far is I pick, then touch the string with my thumb. The original strummed sound is gone and I get a faint ring in the distance. Two problems the ring is faint and it sounds like two notes.... the strum then the ring.

Am I picking too hard?
 
#19 ·
Use a stubby little Jazz III pick and choke up pretty far on it so your thumb very, very lightly brushes the string with each downpick. Pluck at different places along the string and you'll get different flavors and eventually hit pinch harmonic locations.
 
#20 ·
I think the guys touched on most of it but I would point out that any way you do it, do it with strength and you will get there. I always told people to play through the string when they asked me how I did it.....make that string your bitch. Also, if you are consciously thinking about each part of where to touch and how hard to do it, it makes it harder to do.
 
#22 ·
Also, turn the pick at an angle not flat to the string and begin with the pick already resting against the string you are going to pinch, instead of beginning with it above.. Pluck quick and the edge of your thumb should hit...if not try more pick angle. Also do it where the middle pickup would be and don't dare learn learn it with those horrible Zakk Wylde albums or Sambora go out and buy ZZ Top's greatest hits instead.
 
#24 ·
I struggle getting pinches on command, but I'm getting better. I choke up on the pick, and as soon as I pick the string, I allow the flesh/side of my thumb to quickly contact the string for a split second. It is much easier depending on the position which I pick the string relative to the pickups. Somewhere between the bridge and neck pickup, but closer to the neck, is a sweet spot on my LP. It also seems that the more aggressive I play, the more harmonics I get accidentally, since I have a tendency to choke way up on my pick. That vid from Ben Eller is a good one.
 
#30 ·
One thing I found helpful when I was learning how to do pinch harmonics was to rotate the pick so you're using one of the more rounded "shoulders" of the pick instead of the tip.

This, along with choking up on the pick a bit, and finding the "sweet spot" where there are loads of harmonics, makes it much easier. I can get loads of pinch harmonics. I find it's easier on lower frets, because the longer string length means the harmonics are spread out a little more.
 
#32 ·
Took my JP60 in to show my teacher today. The concept we were working on today was the rhythm to Big Bad Moon by Joe Satriani.

A sub lesson was the idea of simple one note fills.

I don't know if it was the string, the guitar or what but I was getting sloppy harmonics from the g string!

Still not reliable and need to work bends/vibrato into it but it's a start.
 
#34 ·
The diminished run at the end of the solo in that track rules. It's a very common lick in metal, but sounds really fresh in a blues rock setting like that track.

It can seem like the guitar equivalent of a tongue twister, but it's worth drilling on.

Were you getting problems on all frets on the G, or just one or two?
Previous attempts at PH were made largely on the A or B string, can't remember which RR Ozzy song it was we were working on.

My teacher has a slightly different approach each week he pulls out a song that he thinks I would like that highlights common rock principles. His philosophy is that when learning to speak a baby doesn't recite speeches but instead learns words and phrases until it can consolidate those skills. Plus he just feels it keeps things more fresh and fun. I'm sure it's not for everyone but I like his approach.

We work mainly on main riffs, verses, chorus. Most solos are still a bit too fast for me. Although we did try Detroit Rock City which is do able for me.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top