Strings Medium
Pinch Harmonics – What Are They? by Andrew
Pinch harmonics or squeals as they are often called, are definitely one of my favorite techniques. Not only do they sound cool but they can really help make your riff or solo sound just that much better. They aren’t hard to do, but they do require practice. Here’s the good news though, after a bit of practice you should have no trouble being able to sprinkle them into your playing at ease. This technique lends itself well to hard rock and metal.
Many notable guitarists such as the late Dimebag Darrell were masters of the pinch harmonic and he continually pushed the envelope with his well known horse whinnying squeals, although this technique is not a true pinch harmonic, it is still a type of harmonic.
Zakk Wylde is another example of someone who has mastered the art of pinch harmonics and uses them extensively in his playing. So if you have ever been listening to a song and suddenly heard a high pitched “squealing sound” but had no idea how it was done, then keep reading because I will break it down and show you exactly how it’s done.
Are Pinch Harmonics Hard?
First off, this technique doesn’t work well on acoustic guitars or clean sounding electrics for that matter. At least none that I know of, unless it’s an acoustic electric or the acoustic guitar has pickups and it has some form of distortion. If you don’t have an amp or special Effect Pedal that has distortion you’re not going to hear that signature squeal from the pinch harmonic.
Now, you actually will get a pinch harmonic no matter what guitar you play, you simply won’t hear it like you will with a distorted electric guitar. I just sat down and played a few on my acoustic and all You Can hear is an awkward funny sounding little chime. It isn’t any louder then any other note, and chances are if you are playing an acoustic guitar you probably play with a light or medium pick which definitely aren’t as good as a heavy pick to make this work anyway.
So anyway, here we go. If you take a look at the picture, you will probably notice how little of the pick I actually having sticking out under my thumb. This is an important part of the technique so you will have to get used to holding your pick like this if you intend to start incorporating pinch harmonics into your playing.
While you won’t always have to choke up on the pick this much all the time, especially if you switch to say strumming after performing a pinch harmonic, you will need to be able to bring the pick back to this position quickly and proficiently. It becomes second nature after awhile. And as stated above, you really want to be using a heavy pick. I’m not saying a lighter pick won’t work, I’m just saying a heavy pick works the best for this technique. And if you are interested in learning about pinch harmonics, you will most likely be using a heavy pick in the first place.
Now that we have those two things out of the way with, we can get to the fun part. It’s a pretty cool feeling when you hit your first squeal! It might not ring out for very long and that’s typical so don’t worry about it. All we want for now is to get a feel for how it’s done. After all, this technique relies quite a lot on feel. Eventually you will want to get those squeals to ring out loudly while at the same time giving it some good vibrato with your fret hand.
Keep in mind that this technique can only be performed using a down-stroke. If you manage to do it with an upstroke, please let me know because I will be truly amazed. Hopefully all this hasn’t been too confusing up until now. It really isn’t that hard of a technique once you understand the basics.
So How Do You Actually Do A Pinch Harmonic?
With pick in hand (just a little bit showing) we are going to start on the G string because that is an easy string to get a pinch harmonic from. As you move around especially to the lower strings you might need to modify your technique slightly to get them to ring out. After you experiment on different strings and hitting different node points with your picking hand you’ll know what I’m talking about. The high E string is the hardest to get squeals from in my opinion.
Choose whatever note you want on the D or the G string to get started, and it might be easier to pick something like the 9th fret because it isn’t too high or too low on the fretboard. If you use your ring finger to fret the note you can use your middle finger and your index finger to give additional strength to your ring finger when you bend that note.
Now this is where the the motion of the technique comes into play. If you don’t do this right you aren’t going to hear any squeals coming from the amplifier. The reason we have so little of the pick sticking out is because we need to have the fleshy part of our thumb make contact with the string directly after the pick strikes the string. It’s one fluid motion and it will probably feel like you touched them at the same time regardless.
These two things in conjunction with each other cause the harmonic. If you fret a note then you are essentially playing an artificial harmonic. That’s why pinch harmonics are also known as artificial harmonics.
As the fretting finger moves from note to note, it changes the node placement in the picking area. The harmonic will be higher when the note is fretted higher and the pick is closer to the bridge. It’s important to know that pinch harmonics can’t be done everywhere in the picking area over the pickups, it only feels that way because there are more node points to hit. This is why there are many possible harmonics to choose from in the small space between the bridge and the start of the fret board.
Play around with them and you will see where you need to pick in order to get a certain harmonic to ring out. Don’t worry if it takes you awhile to get one to ring out, sometimes it could be that you don’t have enough gain or distortion from your amplifier, or it could be something simple like adjusting the angle of attack with your pick.
I Guess This Pinch Harmonic Thing Isn’t So Hard After All
Once you hear your first squeal you’ll know you are on the right track and then it’s just a matter of tweaking your form until you are consistently getting the harmonics you want.
So remember to keep just a little bit of the pick showing, and crank up that distortion to really hear those pinch harmonics come alive. When you strike the string with your pick, you are going to touch the string with the side of your thumb in the same fluid down-stroke.
You will have to try different node placements with your pick in the picking area depending on what note your fretting hand is hitting. Eventually they just happen and you don’t even really have to think about them. Just sprinkle them in here and there especially with some good old vibrato and you should be good to go.
About the Author
Thanks for checking out this article, you can find the full article here: Pinch Harmonics
In addition, you can find other great articles about guitar harmonics by clicking here: Guitar Harmonics
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January 30, 2012 3:15 pm 
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