Call ’em what you want, these are just fun. If you’ve ever wanted to sound more like Billy Gibbons and less like Muddy Waters then you’ll want to do this one…
One note on the tone: overdrive is your friend. The more you have the easier it will be, so you’ll hear I’ve got a little extra gain on my tone in this video compared to most.
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42 replies to "How To Do Pinch Harmonics"
Excellent explanation Griff.
Thanks for sharing your incredible knowledge in a practical and down to earth way.
The pinch harmonics have always been hit or miss for me, and now I know why.
Your courses are really well done, and the free tutelage which you offer is wonderful as well.
Thanks again!
Great job no one else ever taught this so well thanks
Griff, one of the best explanation/lessons on pinch harmonics on the internet! Not many point that what you are doing is dividing the length of the whole string into equal divisions of length. This sets up certain wavelengths of vibration across the whole string, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 divisions etc of the whole length. The length of these waves (really the 1/2 length of the wave or division) is what governs the frequency of propagation or pitch in Hertz. Also basically is what the Fret does when you push the string down although it is just 1 length of vibration from bridge to where you’re Fretting.
Or, as BFG called them… “The Squank”!
Great video lesson Griff!
All I
Can say is Roy Buchanan and Nils Lofgren.
Of course Nils uses the thumb pick (golden gate) and does insane “bouncing “ harmonics. He is the harmonic Master among other amazements!
Keep the great lessons coming. Been learning from
them for years
Howie K
prevalent in “The Red Barchetta”
This for me was one of those “Of course!” moments that never becomes clear until explained by somebody who knows what he’s talking about and can reduce it to physical fundamentals I already know.
A pinch harmonic is essentially the same as any other – it just uses the picking thumb to touch the string instead of some other finger, i.e., it is a more compact method of doing the same thing.
Check out The Band’s King Harvest Has Surely Come. Robbie does some sweet pinch harmonics.
The 5th 7th and twelve frets are best for sure .I taught myself this a long time ago .. It`s great for intros . I have done it clean mostly and get a squeal . It`s mainly in the way you hold the pick . Are You going to do a video on tapping because that`s really cool. I saw in this one You did a little bit on that. Using two positions and tapping is a big wow in any crowd .
Its interesting to me that nobody has mentioned the most iconic use of a pinch
harmonic in a song… It is the 2nd or final solo of Pink Floyd’s
Comfortably Numb.. right after the band goes to the D major chord..
David fingers the 7th fret note D on the 3rd or G string…
now what most people teaching this solo forget the most important thing..
If you read my other posts replies… his picking hand is over the
middle pu on a strat, his guitar is set for the bridge pup.
So when he hits the note… he is sounding a D note above the octave he is fretting
with his left( fretting hand).
I read in a interview with Dave many years ago… it was done by accident…
and he decided to keep it and then figured out how he could replicate anytime he wanted to do it… Which might be a reason if you look at photos of David live
you see him looking at his picking hand as compared to his fretting hand…
probably for this very reason.
I can’t speak for others, but to myself.. that accident is what makes the 2nd
solo sound more agressive than the 1st solo of the song.
THE BEGINING OF ROUND ABOUT BY “YES” USES THE 12TH FRET .
I HAVE BEEN USING WHAT I CALL WAMMY SQUELS FOR AGES.
I CAN GET THEM TO WORK ON MY ACOUSTIC. NOT IN ANY WAY BETTER THAN A STOMP BOX SUSTAINER AND SOME GOOD FUZZ FACE AND AMP OVER DRIVE.
I DO REMEBER THIS FROM YEARS AGO. THAT’S HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN WITH YOU GRIFF. THANKS
I’ve always called that chicken picking 😎
This is kinda off subject, but, is practicing with a pick on an acoustic or nylon string guitar helpful to learning to use a pick on an electric guitar?? Any comments
Griff I use a PRS SC and I hit a lot of the harmonics but needed a little help and this lesson just cleared it up for keep it up you are truly a great teacher.I also have all you r videos and they are geat
As Joseph Thompson says about Roy Buchanan, his Sweet Dreams was fantastic in the early 70’s
Hey guys, don’t underestimate Griff… I’ll bet he’s heard of 99.9% of the great guitarists, including my personal favorite with pinch harmonics, Roy Buchanan… Check out “The Atlantic Sessions: Guitar On Fire”
Good lesson, Grif. Pinch harmonics are always easier to do on a Gibson guitar. I guess it’s the humbuckers
Actually the pich harmonics has nothing to do with
single coil vs humbuckers or between different brands of guitars.
but the real hack has to do with 2 things.
1) use the bridge pu… it does not matter is it is a
strat or LP type guitar.
2) where your picking hand is- this is the key component to achieving the pinch harmonic…
watch the video from 4:00 onwards… pay attention when Griff
shows you the harmonic at the 24th fret…then after that he begins for a second to move his finger closer to the bridge.
aprox 1/2 between both pups is the sweet spot… it is easier to find on a strat guitar because it is above the middle pu..
That is the octave of the note you have fingered with your left hand. if you start to move your picking hand closer to the bridge. you will find 2 other pitches that are higher.. those other pitches are the Maj 3rd then the highest is the perfect 5th
oops I forgot another important thing…
Practice finding these sweet spots by doing this
without your guitar plugged into a amp…
Play your electric guitar acoustically… that is until
you have learned to find the sweet spots. once you find these
sweet spots… make a note mentally where they are so in the
future you can do the pich harmonic thing anytime.
now for the how to find the sweet spots on a LP or 2
humbucker style guitar.. start with placing your picking hand
between both pups … and dont forget if you use a amp make
sure you use the bridge pu….
then move your hand towards
either the bridge or neck pu.. trust me you will hear when you find the harmonic….
The only difficult thing is you have to visually remember where the sweet spot is .
What I have also found is I simply just pick in that area
of the guitar all of the time.. so when you decide to do a pinch harmonic it is all right under you fingers so to speak.
The one I’ve been waiting for !!!!!!!!!!
I really like the over the shoulder view
Hey Griff,
Awsome lesson, I have heard guitarists doing this but could never work out what they were doing until now..I can’t wait to try it on one of my guitars probably tomorrow Sat as it is a bit later now.. As you are only touching the strings lightly on the 7th or 5th Frets I suppose the Key doesn’t matter as they are only pinch harmonics for a sound effect..
Thanks..
Michael-Sydney-Australia 29 April 2017
Hey there Griff,
Thanks for explaining harmonics and how it all works.. Sometimes when I’m playing I tend to do the pinch thing and I was never sure where it was all coming from… Lol. Now I can practice with some knowledge…thank you..
Nice one as usual Griff. However- cannot believe that you did ten minutes on pinch harmonics without mentioning Rory Gallagher. Hell, I can’t believe you have an entire catalogue of BGU courses that appear not mention Rory Gallagher…
This is NOT a criticism- but it may be a gap in your knowledge. ‘Live in Europe’ might be a good album to start with; if you can find (from where you are) the 50min OGWT thing on YouTube then dive straight in at the 14:00 mark for one of the best slide outings you’ll ever come across.
There’s life beyond SRV y’know…
Stage Struck is even better – though Live in Europe was my first album. Bought it at a Rory concert in 1972.
Wow! First time I’ve seen someone mention ole Rory Gallagher for a long long time. He sure loved his fans and played his heart out every show.
Oh, one step closer to sound like Billy Gibbons. Thanks. WE need more Billy tricks or techniques.
Bravo!! I’ve been around long enough to have heard all the aforementioned players live and I was reading and thinking that Billy Gibbons was the first player that seemed to have mastered harmonics and constantly uses them. Odd that he wasn’t mentioned in the comments until you mentioned him. Just my opinion, but he has absolute mastery of this style. Alan Wilson and Henry Vestine used them frequently also, but I have trouble even finding some of the harmonics that Gibbons plays. Just my 2 cents.
Beautiful….sounds like Pink Floyd ! I’ll try to practice it.
Great lesson, had to smile as I watched you do what we all do and adjust to get it right, going slow doesn’t necessarily help you but certainly does us. Keep it coming. Gotta to go as I’m off to Rock!
So is this what Jimi Hendrix is doing when he plays his version of “Star Spangled banner?”
Oh yea. To the extreme!
Griff, as always a great lesson. I AM a purchaser of some of your material and I can say to everyone…it’s very good. My last purchase was the Music Theory……this was good for me. Whilst I’ve been playing for a while..self taught…I needed some theory to progress..and this was just the ticket..!!
Great explanation and lesson on a creating an interesting sound on the guitar.
Pinching, tapping, and shredding are probably techniques that won’t find their way into my playing.
I have a hard enough time with the basics! But it’s always cool to learn how they’re done!
Cheers Griff
For the lesson another tool for the box
😎🎶
Hey Griff. Another excellent lesson as usual.I have never bought any of your packages, primarily because I’m cheap 😉 and because I’m not a blues player. I play “praise and worship” music at church and 60’s and 70’s rock and folk around campfires.
The main reason I’ve been a faithful follower of your blog is that you explain theory in a way that I can understand. I had very little music theory taught to me in school and my guitar playing was all self-taught and consisyed mainly of learning all the basic open chords in standard tuning and applying them to songs I already knew all the lyrics to.
Being a history fan, I always considered blues to be the root of rock along with folk [“white blues” ;)] and therefore of most popular music. So when I stumbled upon your site one day when I had pretty much mastered beginner’s guitar and was looking at how to advance to the next level, I considered it a Godsend. Through watching your online videos and recently some Steve Stine who I found out about from you, I have progressed rapidly through intermediate and am now learning to play by ear and bar chords.
The church where I started playing about a year ago, insisted that I play by ear and uses mainly flat chords. Between you and them, I am starting to understand the whole neck of my guitar.
I really can’t thank you enough for helping me to understand music theory and progress rapidly in my learning. All of the little “tricks” you teach and your insistence that guitar should be fun and not overwhelming are so encouraging. When I’m faced with playing a song onstage thatIve
Griff, thanks, so much. I’ve often found the use of harmonics interesting, but, was only capable of using the basic harmonics. This helped a lot. Thanks again.
Never heard or played before, your “little chord” theory has been very helpful. I just bar the middle strings and move up and down the neck by ear and most of the time I can play something that supports what the band is doing. Thanks Griff, you’re a real blessing to all of us guitar players. Dave
First, just an awesome and simple harmonics review. Second, crystal clear explanation & demo of pinches. Another sweet leasson!
Griff thanks for this excellent lesson as using pinch harmonics keeps the audience ‘awake’!
Griff, I came back on Saturday, April 2/16 and downloaded this video with ease~! I don’t know if you did anything to make this easier, or it happened that things were better on my end~?! I d/l most of your lessons as an mp3 and playback using VLC. Thanks 4 all of your free lessons, Griff~! This lesson – priceless~!! I appreciate you. JimJ 4/2/16
Griff, this has been one of the slowest downloads that I have ever experienced coming from you. At 75mb it isn’t very big, and yet as the download goes forward, the time keeps increasing until the download fails.
Six times so far… I am a big fan of BGU and a customer. I wanted to give you this heads-up. I hope you can get things rolling with this lesson as I am a big ZZTop fan. And thanks in advance for the in-depth Harmonics info. A great way to introduce the “pinch” side of the lesson.
JimJ
3/31/2016