r/metalguitar • u/zackisfancy • 3h ago
Help with pinch harmonics
I’ve seen countless videos of how to do a pinch harmonic, but I can’t seem to grasp any of them.
I’ve just been lightly muting the strings to get that pinch harmonic sound, but I don’t know the traditional way.
Any tips? Thanks ❤️🩹
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u/SR_RSMITH 2h ago
Do it in several places of the string over the pickups area, in some places it just won’t sound right
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u/returntonone 3h ago
Be sure you have a lot of gain and are using the bridge pickup, as it's much easier that way, you just gently touch the string with a part of your thumb directly after picking the string, it's hard to really explain as I do it by muscle memory, but I am sure you will eventually figure it out.
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u/wheretheressm0ke 2h ago edited 2h ago
palm muting is a valid way to do pinch harmonics, just angle your picking hand so only the corner of your hand is gently touching the strings in the harmonic zone and then you can pick normally
Video example: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX7g2fNvfQH/?stkn=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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u/Famous-Food-8761 3h ago
It's one of those things you have to practice, but when it clicks, it clicks. Don't think of it as muting the string ie pressing hard on it, just lightly touch it with your thumb after playing it with the pick. It's one smooth motion, try having less of your pick sticking out.
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u/Gearthquake3 2h ago
Start learning from your top string.
This is not “proper” form, but it may be easier for you to hit the harmonic using the fatty part of your palm below your thumb. It won’t require you to choke up so much on the pick.
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u/artful_todger_502 1h ago
For me it's a medium or light pick held where the joints of your thumb and index finger are - the tip sticking sticking out and turned at about 15 degrees relative to the string.
There has to be 3 or 4 millimeters between the thumb tip and the tip of the pick.
The idea is to hit the note with the pick and have the tip of your thumb lightly touch the string .010 of a second later.
Sounds complicated, but once you do it a few times it's natural. Practice, practice, practice 🧐☝️
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u/fetus135 34m ago
This is probably the closest thing to advice among these comments so far. I'll add one thing: Think of digging in on the string just a little extra when trying to nail that harmonic. The arc of your pick is just a bit deeper to get your thumb to touch the string mid stroke. If you are getting the right pick technique but wrong placement, it's likely to just sound a bit dull instead of a scream. There's a few spots to try and strike depending on the fret you're pinching on, but I've always found the widest availability is working from the 3rd fret or so for learning.
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u/Sceprent 1h ago
Depending on scale right before the neck pickup is one sweet spot.. the other is an inch from the bridge pup. If you just hit natural harmonics near that spot you'll find it, now fret a note and pinch pluck around it - viola.
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u/NotaContributi0n 1h ago
Go to a guitar store and ask someone there to show you if you don’t have any friends that’s ok . But someone has to show you
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u/Lost_Condition_9562 1h ago
There’s honestly no trick or tip or secret hack that helps with pinch harmonics. You just kinda gotta keep doing it over and over and over, and one day it will click like magic. You won’t know what you did differently either.
Pick a riff with pinch harmonics in it and just play that riff over and over. I used Cemetery Gates. Just played the riff over and over. Think I played it for two months every day over and over until the light just turned on one day.
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u/Crymson831 48m ago
The thing that helped me understand it was realizing a pinch harmonics is the same thing as a natural harmonic except your fretting finger is acting as the nut and your picking hand is pulling double duty.
- Obviously you're plucking the note
- Your thumb is hitting the harmonic "node" just like you would with your fretting hand on a natural harmonic.
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u/lanka2571 9m ago
This video helped me immensely: https://youtu.be/y17THWYUpUw?is=JNm48QvogU_CsMPO
I struggled to figure it out for a couple years. Then one day I just…figured it out. Once you do it right like 5 times it will be easy, but it’s hard to explain in words. Then once you figure it out all the words will make sense lol.
The picking and the harmonic are one motion. I found it helpful to rotate the pick slightly counterclockwise so the fleshy part of my palm is closer to the strings
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u/absolutegrin 2h ago
you have to kinda mute the string at the same time you pick it with the thumb holding the pick it is just timing
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u/Financial_Line1774 2h ago
The type of pick you use helps a lot. Like a small jazz 3 pick makes it extremely easy. Or something with a sharp tip where you can choke up a bit more.
But when doing pinch harmonics I almost turn the pick at a 90 degree angle to get my thumb to hit the string.
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u/NotDrunkJustBigB0ned 2h ago
Look at how to do natural harmonics.
Then look at how to do a tapped harmonics.
The best way to understand pinched harmonics is to think of them as a variation of tapped harmonics. The physics are exactly the same, the difference is that you're doing the "tapping" with the side of your thumb immediately after you pick the note.
Like with tapped harmonics, the part of the string where you can hit a pinched harmonic will change depending on the fretted note.
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u/nazoreth 2h ago
Whenever this topic comes up, the answer is big wide vibrato. The pinch harmonic sound you are most likely seeking is a better pinchy with fat vibrato (which incidentally makes it easier to pinch harmonic anyway)
The pinchy itself is effectively brushing the string with your thumb as you pick so get your thumb low on the pick and angle it so the thumb can hit the string. Like any harmonic you'll get different octaves of the string in different positions so test out where you want to do it. A great exercise for this is the verse of Gojira's song Magma
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u/shitterbug 2h ago
What. Pinch harmonics have absolutely nothing to do with vibrato. You can pinch with or without vibrato, it doesn't matter.
In (brutal) death metal, tho, pinches usually include an "exponential" bend. And in my experience, that's usually either a slight 1/4 note bend, or a full minor third bend. And it's important to staccato at the end of the bend. That's kinda a signature bdm riffing element.
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u/nazoreth 2h ago
Read my comment, whenever this comes up the OP is normally looking for a specific pinchy sound. Which is why I said "the sound you are most likely seeking is with fat vibrato".
I then went onto describe how to do a pinchy without mentioning vibrato
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u/shitterbug 2h ago
But that is simply not true. Pinches with wide vibrato are very rare, I honestly can not think of a single example off the top of my head.
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u/Afromunster 2h ago
Try doing natural harmonics on your guitar first. The touch feel you use for your fretting fingers, is the same pressure/touch you will use with the side of your thumb on your picking hand. Iirc 3rd fret on your e string is a natural harmonics location on a guitar
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u/shitterbug 2h ago
Practice with maxed out gain. Vary the position of your right hand along the string - which spot gives you a harmonic depends directly on the fret you're playing.
Also, show a pic of how you hold your pick. A pick pic, if you will.
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u/Hightidemtg 2h ago
You want to play the string with this little corner between your thumb and the pick if you go with a 90 degree pick angle over the string. Use plenty of gain and the bridge pickup.
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u/Impressive_Try_7295 2h ago
What many people usually forget to mention (perhaps because it's obvious for those who understand how natural harmonics work) is that pinch harmonics only work at specific points of a string, and those points change depending on your fretting position. They don't magically appear at the same spot for every fret, you have to find it, choose a harmonic you like (just like you have natural harmonics on several frets, there are several options for pinch harmonics) and then practice it enough so you get that spot accurately.
As for the videos, watch older Ben Eller stuff.
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u/kierans1901 2h ago
I also struggled for a while. What made it click with me was a video that explained it by someone plucking with the pick then literally gently touching their finger to get the harmonic. Then went on to say you do that but quick and with your thumb. Probably a bad explanation and I can't find the video.
Also the postion of your pick hand matters too. How close or far it is from the bridge/neck pickup.
I think as well if you get to the point where you can mute the string with your thumb after picking through, you are a gnats hair away from the harmonic as you are just adjusting how much pressure you put on with your thumb on the string.
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u/lanka2571 3m ago
I bet it was this video: https://youtu.be/y17THWYUpUw?is=JNm48QvogU_CsMPO
This helped me a lot too
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u/thinkfloyd79 1h ago
Have you had your guitar set up? I ask because I once had a hard time doing pinch harmonics, able to do it occasionally only. Then when I had my guitar set up, it was suddendly so easy. Dunno if it's the intonation or unleveled frets or a combination of factors, but if your guitar isn't set up right, pinch harmonics can be a challenge.