Pinch Harmonics on Guitar Made Simple

What if I told you that pinch harmonics aren't about having a magic touch at all?

I've been teaching guitar for over a decade, and pinch harmonics are one of the things students get stuck on the most.

The part that often gets left out of the discusssion is that… Harmonics are just physics. When a string vibrates, that vibration produces the pitch. Stop the string from vibrating at exactly the halfway point and the frequency doubles. This trick has a name, and it's a lot older than the electric guitar: it was discovered by Pythagoras (as in… the old greek mathemetician)

Three kinds of harmonics, one underlying idea

The video builds through harmonics in three stages:

• Natural harmonics: the ones you get by gently touching an open string at specific points (the 12th fret is the easiest to find, and it's why your guitar has a double dot there)

• Artificial harmonics: the same trick played one-handed, even over a fretted chord, by reaching your picking hand forward to fret and pick the harmonic at once

• Pinch harmonics: the squeal you hear in metal solos, which is really just an artificial harmonic played backwards with your picking hand

Why the usual explanation confuses people

Most guitarists are taught to change their pick grip and flick their hand back like they're throttling a Vespa, just barely grazing the string with the edge of their thumb. If that clicks for you, great. It never did for me.

Years ago, a guy at a local music shop showed me a different way. Using your ring finger instead of your thumb, reaching backward instead of changing your grip. It's the version I've used to help hundreds of students finally get a consistent squeal instead of a flub.