“Destruction Overdrive” by Black Label Society – Zakk Wylde uses these right out-of-the-gate, as a percussion accent between rhythms.“La Grange” by ZZ Top – Billy Gibbons: On the outro Billy not only uses some tasty clean-versions of these, but a big portion of the outro-solo continues to use these for its melody lines.The Pinch Harmonics are almost used in a percussive manner on breaks between choruses and verses. “Outta Love Again” by Van Halen – Eddie Van Halen uses these for a very cool vibe in the song.But over the years, hundreds of guitarists have used them since the 70’s, and probably even before. In metal music, these type of harmonics are usually used as a chord or solo accent note. Pinch Harmonics are one of Zakk Wylde’s favorite riffs (clearly). Mark Wahlberg argues with his guitarist (Timothy Olyphant) in Rock Star about Pinch Harmonics – Hilarious! Some harmonics are easier to achieve than others. There are dozens you can discover in different places on the neck on every string. Keep your pick above the pick-up area of your guitar until you find the particular harmonic you’re after. You need to experiment with this technique by moving in small increments in both directions (toward your tuners, then towards your bridge). and finally the tip of your thumb lightly hits the string as the stroke moves away and leaves you with the harmonic.Your index finger barely touches the string.This is how it’s played: Picking downward on the string. You can see how the pick is just slightly protruding past the fingers. This diagram below shows how your picking hand would look from a side view.Ĭompared to how you would normally hold a pick, your fingers are almost completely covering it. This is how it looks: You choke up on the pick like a baseball player would his bat. This is just one approach of many that will allow you to access this technique and add some spice to your leads and/or rhythms. This technique is easy to describe but takes some practice to control and execute properly.įirst off, as you know, there are harmonics all over the fretboard on each string. I used to call these harmonic-squeaks back in the 1990’s, but over the years they have become more commonly known as “Pinch Harmonics” (or “harmonic squeals” or “that kooky crazy noise you make on that daffy guitar of yours”). It will only take you a few minutes to figure it out, however the advanced part of the technique lies in being able to add a harmonic pinch on the exact note at the precise moment in the song that you are aiming for, without it getting buried in the mix. Look at the tips below to master this “simple to explain, but not simple to master” technique.
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