artificial harmonics???

[steve]

what are artificial harmonics??? (I new what they were but I forgot)

[Andrew]

This is just when you play a fretted note and touch a harmonic with your right hand. If it is on tab it will usually say something like AH 14. this means you touch the harmonic at the 14th fret. If it doesnt say the number, you have to guess (it is sometimes off the fretboard).

[mjamer]

Andrew are you sure? I didn't think I could answer it well enough, but now I have to ask. I thought an artificial harmonic was when you pick the string and it [the string] hits your thumb as it comes off the pick making that high pitched scream sound. That's what I was shown... though my explaining sucks.


If that's wrong, I'm totally lost on what an AH is.. hehehe.

I think what you're describing (touching the harmonic at the fret) is called a natural harmonic (like you have at frets 5, 7, 12, 19...).

mjamer

[steve]

accually (no offence) I think you're both wrong, mjamer, you were right about the natural harmonic but you were describing a pinch harmonic not a artificial harmonic......

[mjamer]

actually they're both artifical harmonics, the method of fretting with the left hand, then touching the harmonic with the right is an artifical harmonic, sometimes called a "tap" harmonic. You were right in the slang name for what I described, a "pinch" harmonic, it too though is still an artificial harmonic.

I guess they all have their own slangs.. I think I'll make up my own.. call it the "squeal pick" technique heheh

Anyway after researching the artificial harmonics, those are the 2 ways. To acheive them, the pick method, or pinch. Or as Andrew sorta got out, fret and touch with your right hand. You know how you have natural on frets 5 and 7, if you fret the string on the first fret with your left hand.. those harmonics can now be touched with your right hand at frets 6 and 8.


I hope that helps clear it up =)

mjamer

[cyberfret]

Sounds like you have it under control here :) But had this in my archive of answers to common question and thought I would post it if shines some more light on the subject.

There are 4 different ways that you can produce artificial harmonics.

1. Take your right hand....hold your pick with your thumb and 2nd finger. Take the index finger of your right hand and touch the string right above the 13th fret bar. while lightly touching the string with your right hand index finger, pick the string. You will hear the harmonic. This is a little tricky at first. Classical guitar players will touch the node of the string (the point where the harmonic can be produced) with their right hand index finger, and then pluck the string with their thumb, or 3rd finger. After doing this at the 13th fret, you could experiment with the 8th, 6th and 5th. You could also play a note on the 2nd fret with your right hand....then the harmonics would be at the 4th, 9th, 7th, and 6th. Once you get the idea, you can start experimenting with the harmonics that are produce from different notes that you fret with your left hand.

2. Touch Harmonics. Do the same as above, but pick the string, then touch the node with your right hand index or 2nd finger. In this case you will hear the note your are fretting first, then the harmonic after you touch the node.

3. Tap Harmonics. Here you are hitting (or tapping) the string at the point of the node with the tip of your right hand index or 2nd finger. The harmonic is produced by the force of your finger hitting the string.

4. Pinch Harmonics are the last type of artificial harmonics. You can check out a lesson on these here
http://www.cyberfret.com/techniques/harmonics/pinch/

Have fun

--Shawn

[Andrew]

Actually, you can play artificial harmonics five ways. The four ways shawn described and eg play a note at the 2nd fret while touching the string above the 4th fret with your left hand. You can also play Natural harmonics in these five ways. For the way I just described, you would play an open string, then touch with your left hand at, for example, the 5th fret. The terms Natural Harmonics and Artificial harmonics simply describe whether the note is fretted or an open string is played. So, mjamer, a pinch harmonic can be an artificial harmonic, but not always. It can be a natural harmonic.

[cyberfret]

Very true Andrew :)

--Shawn

[mjamer]

So, mjamer, a pinch harmonic can be an artificial harmonic, but not always. It can be a natural harmonic.

I have to bite, even though this is a semantical discussion.

Even if you are lightly touching above a fret where a natural harmonic would be played, yet you have the string come off the pick then your thumb/index making the squeal.. it's still artificial.

I think natural harmonics are those places along the string specific to the harmonic overtone series. If you play the natural harmonic at the 12th fret of the 6th string, you have an E an octave higher than if you played the string open. If you added pinch harmonic techniques to that same harmonic, you're not natural anymore since that pinch you did changed the vibrating pattern of the string again. Make sense?

That being said, I reckon that'd mean that anything not natural, is artificial? hehe.

shawn if i'm off in left field (again).. smack me down =)

mjamer

[cyberfret]

I play a pinch harmonic using open strings seldom if ever. So 99% of the time a pinch harmonic would be an artificial harmonic. But if you where to derive a pinch harmonic from an open string, it would be a natural harmonic. Any harmonic that has its basis as an open string is a natural harmonic. It is really too confusing to describe all of the ways that you can produce a harmonic when talking about natural harmonics. So the way I draw the line when I teach these, is that if you use your right hand to sound the harmonic (touch the node), I call it an artificial harmonic......even thought it could technically be a natural harmonic if open strings are uses. It just makes the line a little easier to see.

No need for the smack down...haha. We are just splitting hairs with terminology :) You can sound natural harmonics up where the pickups are as well as over different fret bars. They just are not as practical because it is harder to find the precise node point.

--Shawn

[mjamer]

I see, that's cool and makes sense. I didn't think of the pinch harmonic on an open string. I'm still a tad weary of including that in "natural", since you're making the harmonic sound with the pinch. I still get how it can be seen as natural though :).

I like splitting hairs for some reason on some things. In a world with so much uncertainty, a little bit of absolute goes along way (sometimes hehe).

thanks for (again) being your lucid self =)

mjamer