PINCH HARMONICS!!! (And how to do them)

Pinch harmonics are certainly one of the more difficult techniques of the electric guitar, but also one of the most rewarding. If you're going absolutely insane trying to learn these (as I once did), this article should shed some light and hopefully get you to the point where playing a pinch harmonic has become just a natural part of your playing style you can do in your sleep.

A semi-brief history (feel free to skip this): In my very early days of playing, being self-taught, I never understood how the rock guitarists (specifically Steve Vai and Zakk Wylde, for me) hit these incredibly clear, piercing, intense high notes in the middle of a solo (and occasionally in other places). At first I thought it was a simple quick switch to a higher octave, but then I soon realized, "Hey, I don't think my guitar goes that high!" A good friend and fellow guitarist then explained to me that this sound was known as a "pinch harmonic," a difficult technique to master that was widely used amongst the world of rock and metal solos. Of course, at the time, he had no idea how to do them either. But at least I knew what they were now! So after trying endlessly to get some halfway decent explaination on how to do them online and through books, I gave up and decided to learn the way I, and most of us, learn best - observation! I went out and bought Ozzy's Live at Budokan DVD concert and studied it. I would find close-up shots of Zakk doing then and do a A > B repeat over and over. The first thing I realized: it doesn't really look much different. But none-the-less, I kept at it, and after a lot of hard work and experimenting, I finally finally...gave up! Then wouldn't you know it, the next morning I tried it again and all of a sudden I could do them. Weird how some things work out, but for some reason, with guitar, sometimes I had to just "sleep on it."

Definition: What is a pinch harmonic (if you still haven't quite gotten it)? A pinch harmonic is essentially, well...a harmonic (if you don't know what those are, please take a peek at what they are and come back, this article will be long enough). The difference is, that instead of a traditional guitar harmonic, you're actually pressing down on the fret with your fretting hand as normal, and your producing the sound from your picking hand. When done correctly, your fretting hand will function as normal, but because of this specific way you pick the string, it will generate a higher note than the note fretted and create a very fun noise to play with. This note may almost be inaudible when played on a clean amplifier, but truly shows when you use a lot of gain and have good pick-ups (humbuckers are best, I'm very antisinglecoil). When you have these two things and do it correctly, it should come out as clear as day. Summary: a pinch harmonic is a way of picking a note that raises its pitch by a couple octaves or so.

The pitch of the note will vary depending on where the pinch harmonic is made. For example, if you're using a Stratocaster, playing a pinch harmonic directly over the middle pickup will produce a note exactly two octaves higher. This placement is all proportional. Therefore, if you wanted to play a pinch harmonic on say 2nd fret, the two-octave pinch harmonic would be just a TINY bit below the middle pickup (closer to the bridge). Before I tell you how to do these, the best way I can have you understand what you're trying to accomplish is by actually seeing yourself do it first, but in slow-motion. Turn on your amp, plug it in, all that fun stuff. Make sure you have a good amount of gain and switch the pickup toggle to the bridge setting if possible (bridge pickups accent harmonics better). Now play 2nd fret on the G string, let it ring for a second, then very lightly with your fingertip of your picking hand (while still holding the note with your fretting hand, leave that where it is), touch around the area you picked. The idea is to find the harmonic placement and get the note to raise two octaves just from simply touching it. If you have a Strat, you can touch right around the middle pickup as I mentioned. If you push too hard or leave your finger on the string, it won't work. It has to be a very light touch or flick with the skin of your finger. If you did it wrong, the note will obviously stop from you touching the string, so just keep repeating this until you finally get a somewhat clear, high-pitched note. Once you figure out how to do this, and you've located where to touch the string (usually right in the middle between the end of the fretboard and the bridge, or where a middle pickup "would" be), you should be able to do this consistently. Have a little fun with it. Pluck the string, make it the harmonic, then try bending it, shaking it, etc. Try different strings and different frets! So now you should have a better idea conceptually of what has to be done here. The idea is to get you to do this exact same process, but it one single, quick motion of a pick. Doesn't sound easy, does it? Well actually its not that bad. So finally...

HOW TO DO IT: One important key to this, especially when learning how to do this, is to hold the pick correctly. Make a circle with your index finger and thumb (almost as if you were making a fist, but loosen up a little bit). Now your thumb and your index finger should be touching where both the joints are (so the last joint of your index finger should be touching/behind the thumb joint). This is how your form should be when holding the pick. Now hold the pick keeping the two joints aligned with each other and also aligning the center of the pick with the center of your joints. Let only about a 1/4 inch of the pick (so not much) stick out for picking purposes, the rest should be gripped. You don't want to expose too much of the pick (I'll show you why later). This will make harmonics easiest for you. Certainly once you get comfortable with them you can change it to however you'd like, but just for now, we'll keep this form.

Place your finger on 2nd fret of the G string again as if you were playing a regular note. Now here's the mission: you have to pick the string and almost simoultaneously skim the string with the joint of your thumb to do what you did earlier, but in one quick motion! NOTE: This is NOT two steps or two motions - even though they are essentially two things (that happen a millisecond after one another), this needs to be one quick sweeping motion - just keep that in mind. As I said earlier, if you were to watch someone do them, it would not look much different than a normal pluck.

So place your pick on the G string exactly where you found the harmonic before (you may want to just double check this before starting or it will could drive you insane). Add a little bit of pressure on the string. Now pick the note bringing your thumb across the string and trying to lightly skim the string. Looking at how I can comfortable do it now, the only real difference between my normal picks and pick harmonic is that I really just position my hand a little (a LITTLE) bit closer to the body of the guitar so my pick is a little bit deeper in the strings before I pick it. You want to make a sweeping/pivoting motion, as though your wrist is attached to the bridge of the guitar. You also want to try to make sure that the joint of your thumb is about the same level as the string (makes sense right?). This is also why you don't want to have much of the pick exposed. If there's too much exposed, you either won't be able to pick it, or your thumb will be too far away from the string to skim it. One other you can try (that I don't personally do, but have seen others do it well and can help you learn) is slightly turning your thumb up after you pluck (so your pick would be more of a twist motion than a pivot, where you start off normally but then rather twist your wrist back so your knuckles are facing more towards you by the end of the motion). Another thing you can try is resting tip of your thumb on the string lightly before you pluck (maybe in between your thumb joint the and very tip), so you can try to align yourself correctly before plucking to try to skim it correctly.
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