Videos like this one are why Darrell's Guitar Channel is my favorite, absolutely fantastic lessons like these! I consider him as much of a teacher as the one I study with on a weekly basis.
@@jamesstewart3941 try increasing your gain and they work better on neck pick up, with tone knob at max treble setting. Also, if you have a wah pedal, open it up 😁👍
Darrell... I have been playing self-taught guitar for 15 years... I always tried to do those "touch/tapped" harmonics to play Deep Purple's Sometimes I feel like screaming and I thought my pickups just sucked because I could never make them sound the same... I didn't know you had to pluck the string at the same time as your index hovers over the note 12 frets above the fretting hand... nobody had explained this as good as you... thank you!
What a great lesson. I have been baffled by how you you play artificial harmonics. As old and experienced as I am, I never considered using my thumb to play behind the harmonic note! Embarrassing? Yes, but it proved you are never to old to learn. Thanks so much Darrell. kevin
If you don't have any thumbnail you can change how you're holding the pick so your thumb extends out to tap the note and the pick sits near the base of your thumb
I’ve been playing guitar for 35 years, and I know (and do) all of these harmonics, but it’s great to see someone teaching these techniques. Not to mention this guy is an awesome teacher/youtuber. But the great thing is that even someone like me can pick up on other people’s styles and techniques. I learned a different way to do pinch harmonics! I pinch from my index, as Darrell rolls to his thumb. I’m going to give this technique a try. You’re never to old to learn, and you will never be so good that you can’t pick stuff up from even “beginners”. Great video!
'Roll into it' on Pinched Harmonics helped me a great deal, Ive literally been trying harmonics for years, and no one has ever mentioned that you need to 'roll into it' with your thumb, such great advice, thanks very much
Darrell's explanation of creating harmonics is the simplest I've ever encountered. I've never quite been able to make harmonics sound good. Until now. Thank you!
For those artificial harmonics (also works for naturals) as a classical player, I can say that there is a trick to make them sound much louder and it works on any type of guitar. As soon as you hit the string with you thumb (or pick) do a quick pull-off kind of move and move away your finger from the fret.
I'm so thankful for this lesson! I tried to play artificial and pinched harmonics my whole life and couldn't find out how to do it correctly. Big thumbs up from Germany!
Thanks Darrell. Nice video for combining all the different harmonic types which can be played on a guitar. If I may be so bold, I would like to add a couple of things which might be confusing for less experienced players. First, when he mentions "floating" over the string, you do have to actually lightly touch the string with your finger; it's just that you're not "fretting" the string by pressing it down until it touches the frets. Also, once the string is picked, plucked, or tapped, you must remove your finger(s) from the strings quickly, other wise you will mute the harmonic and it won't ring out and sustain.
I’ve said it before. Darrell has a natural ability of explaining things that is so easy to understand and follow. Darrell thank you again for this amazing tutorial. Keep up the great work and may you prosper 👍
I am so glad you did this, I can do natural because of you pointing out to do it over the fret, that’s what I was doing wrong, so thanks Darrell! It’s cool to see you using your custom t shaped guitar for the video too!
I saw on a video a guy performing artificial and I didnt know what was it. Now thanks to you i got it. Always thought that pinched and artificial were quite the same, I was totally wrong. thanks for this video lesson, really needed it ❤
Darrell, I wanted to thank you for the pinch harmonics tip. I've played guitar for 18 years but only over the past 2 years started to focus on becoming more technically better. I can now hit pinches more frequently after watching this video a single time. I really appreciate your work.
the key to harmonics is that you're cutting the string down into different frequencies. That is why there are dots on the fretboard, because the strings break down at those points and produce those different frequencies. When you cut the string in half, like a natural harmonic on the 12th fret, it produces the same note at a different frequency and tone, making it sound cool. So when you do artificial and are outlining the chord, you're just cutting the string in half at different points because you've functionally moved the nut up say two frets like on the Am chord. It helps with tapped harmonics too, if you're playing an Am pentatonic scale and want to do a tapped harmonic, use the 17th and 19th fret markers. At those frets it cuts the string in half (5th fret + 12 frets = 17th fret)
Awesome video!! I have been butchering the guitar for 30 some years and a couple of years ago I decided I was better at working on the gear than playing the guitar itself (I work on tube amps) This actually makes me want to start playing again!! Thanks!!
I used to see Lenny Breau play here in Maine. Maybe 10-12 times. Got fairly friendly with him and he'd sit with us at the table during breaks. He was playing his 7 string and one time put it in my lap. Showed me how to play artificial harmonics right there. Pretty cool. Listen to him. He knew a thing or two about them. Absolutely awesome player who made it look so simple. Love your vids.
I came to learn pinch harmonics so I could play 4 words to choke upon by BFMV, decided to watch the whole video and had a blast learning and playing these, thanks a lot, really helped me out
Darrell you are very creative even in your videos, presentations and just very helpful for guitarists, guitar teachers. Brilliant and superb. I am your fan boss!
Pinched harmonics and natural harmonics is probably one of the very first cool tricks a metal head learns how to do on guitar. Dime Bag does this amazing hammer on type of "harmonic squeal", while "climbing" on his tremolo. I have yet to perfect this method, but Natural and Pinched, I can do in my sleep.
This is THE best video I’ve watched. It explained everything so well. I just couldn’t get the pinch and this video basically spelled it out for me and now I got it THANKS
I pulled up to make a delivery a couple of days ago. As i got out of my truck i thought to myself i need to look up some lessons on harmonics. And there you were in my feed, killin it as usual. Thanks for lessons and upgrade videos. I want to put P-rails in my ibanez artcore with push pull pots. Need to measure f holes and new pots. This is your fault. Thanks again.
for a million years i tried to play tapped, sometimes i got it, sometimes not, and didn't know you were supposed to tap 12 frets up. your video is so useful for this technique, and would have been so useful then.
Absolutely phenomenal lesson on harmonics. One of the absolute best for learning these techniques. I'm still new to guitar (6 months ~1-2 hours a day and I finally consider myself a beginner! Lol) and trying to piece together lesson material on these techniques can be trying. In this day and age, everyone wants to post a RU-vid video; even if they haven't a clue on what they are doing. Sorting the 'wheat' from the 'chaff' could be a full time job in itself! As always though, this is excellent content. Keep up the great work Darrell! ✌🏼
The string action in your electric guitar is just so lovely, it's so low and I really like it, how did you managed to get that action without a string buzz?
Probably not light enough contact with the side of thumb. In this demo Darrell very briefly contacts the string during a rolling action. We mostly just see the part where he has cleared the string and the harmonic is ringing out. Then he manages to bend the note/harmonic up 😎.
@@Newnodrogbob Maybe....but it doesn't mean I can do it reliably! I like the sound (in moderation), so will continue to practice it; hopefully it will come good in time 😏.
@@altoverde1845 thanks! I’ve found it easier with really thick or stiff picks, too. I find it really hard with the medium thickness celluloid picks that I generally use
Great tutorial!! Loved how you explained and simplified things, great camera angles for nice and close views especially when showing pinched harmonics and touching the string with the side of your thumb. Many thanks! Will have to check out your other videos as well!
Im happy that i figure out that natural and artificial harmonics while im on a journey playing guitar. But this video gives me more knowledge about those and other harmonics style, thx sir
Wow, I was just playing guitar and I was tapping on the strings like a novice, accomplished nothing and then I go check my subs on RU-vid. And I see the top one is my dude over here showing hows it’s done. Hallelujah!
Wow! I haven’t started learning guitar yet but hope to start in the next few months, I love harmonics though so had to check this video out and it’s a straight sub from me. Il definitely be checking more out when I get my guitar 🔥🖤
1. This is the first video I've seen that explains these, and I found it very informative. I never understood how these were done. 2. From day one I just didnt like that custom dbg t-style guitar, but in this video it looks and sounds great. Funny how that goes. 👍
when you showed how to do the artificial harmonic, i was like "huh, the thumb is supposed to be BEHIND the index??" it was like watching a magic trick:D *feeling pretty stupid for not have figuring that out before now* hehe
Awesome content. Thank you very much. I knew about natural and pinched harmonics but hadn't heard of artificial harmonics when I think about it theoretically though it makes perfect sense.
It would be worth explaining to people what the technique essentially consists of, which is about damping the lower harmonic(s), so that the higher harmonics stand out. A basic sound wave is a sine wave, which has only one frequency. But when we excite the string of a real guitar, the vibration of the string contains a superposition of several frequencies, with different sound volume or amplitude. Usually, the frequency that stands out the most is the fundamental frequency, which is the lowest frequency (lowest pitch). This vibration mode manifests at its highest amplitude at half the length of the string (about where the 12th fret is), with nodes (static points of no vibration) only where the strings are fixed (i.e. saddle and nut). But in that same length of string, standing waves of the higher harmonics also coexist. They are there, despite being less visible and less audible. So, if frequency f is the fundamental frequency (also called 1st harmonic), f2=2*f is its 2nd harmonic, f3=3*f is its 3rd harmonic, f4=4*f is its 4th harmonic, and so on. The higher the harmonic, the higher the octave. Harmonics are the same notes, but in different octaves. These frequencies will have maximum amplitude points at multiple locations (equally spaced) along the string. The higher the harmonic, the higher the number of locations where the amplitude reaches its maximum. For example, the 2nd harmonic has a maximum on the 5th fret (about 1/4 the length of the string) and another one near the neck pickup, about where a 24th fret would be. It also has a node (zero amplitude) at half the string length (12th fret). That is why when we hover the finger over the 12th fret and hit the string, we let the 2nd harmonic stand out. By doing that, we are damping the fundamental frequency, which has maximum amplitude at that location, while not affecting the 2nd harmonic, because it has a node there. The same effect explains why when we hover the finger over the 5th fret and hit the string, we are letting the 3rd harmonic stand out. By doing that, we damp the 2nd harmonic, because it has maximum amplitude there, we don't affect the 3rd mode, because it has a node there, and we partially damp the 1st harmonic (fundamental frequency), because that is not the location of a 1st harmonic node and thus the string still vibrates with that frequency at that location. So we can damp it. Playing the string at a hypothetical 24th fret would produce the same frequency or pitch as playing the 3rd natural harmonic on the 5th fret. So, the whole idea about playing higher harmonics is about finding the locations where you can damp the vibration of the lower harmonics. In other words, you have to find the location of a suitable node of the harmonic that you want to stand out, so that you can damp the others without affecting it. Now you can imagine that, since the string actually vibrates in a superposition of many frequencies, there are special points along the string where one can damp certain groups of harmonics with one single touch, while letting other harmonics stand out. That is the art of the pinch harmonics. The artificial harmonics are not really artificial per se. They are natural harmonics of the fretted string. It is equivalent to making the guitar neck shorter. When you fret a string and play it, you are changing the length of the string (the length that is free to vibrate), and therefore you are changing the fundamental frequency and all its related harmonics. You changed the note. As a consequence, the positions where you can damp harmonics will change in relation to the length of the string. I hope this helps clarify "why", in addition to the video's answer to "how".
@@anthonyjohnny1470 Except that I said that harmonics are only multiplies of the fundamental frequency. That's not true. The string vibration also contains 5ths, 3rds, etc.