Pinch harmonics

[dave_mc]

That's very well put, roo, i agree 100%. And perhaps pedantry was the wrong choice of words- I'm a stickler for accuracy myself, and I'd be the last person to suggest that accuracy is a bad thing.

I think a better way to phrase what I meant is in relation to your very good point:

"When someone posts 'why can't I get pinch harmonics to work?' it's very difficult to ascertain their problem, or indeed their real question. "

That is exactly the point I was trying to make, except I'm too long winded/not succinct/not articulate enough to get there in one sentence :lol:

My point is that, in a thread like this one, where the threadstarter *has* made clear what the problem is (i.e. not technique- if they can do it on some gear and not others odds are it's not technique-related; they're clearly into that "second stage" you're talking about), having several posts saying, "it's all technique, go and practise more" isn't helpful.

Granted, that didn't really happen here and I'm not sure why it ended up being a debate (probably my fault, sorry :oops: ). It's probably my reaction to other forums where a similar type of thread starts and before you know it there are 15 posts saying, "It's all technique, practise more!", despite it being blindingly obvious that the threadstarter is in the "second stage".

:lol: :drink:

[AndyR]

Dave: Go and practice more
Roo: You need a tele - great pinches on they buggers

:lol:

Most interesting thread, anyhoo :D

[tekbow]

So pinch harmonics comes down to

1) lucking into it and being able to reproduce the technique on any guitar

OR

2) Years of study and practice and being able to reproduce it on any guitar

OR alignment of the planets, there was an awful of pinch squealing going on on the 21st december 2012.

what helps pinch harmonics is

1) lucking into it and being able to reproduce the technique on any guitar

OR

2) Years of study and practice and being able to reproduce it on any guitar

PLUS

certain gear that aids the emphasis of pinch harmonics like PU's, amps, etc.

is it a weird thing, thinking back, that pinches always seem to jump best, for me, out of basswood bodied, floyd type guitars?

I pretty much agree with whats been said though, the technique is the technique, and you need to be able to do it, certain types of gear makes the emphasis of them easier.

[dave_mc]

Dave: Go and practice more
Roo: You need a tele - great pinches on they buggers

:lol:

Most interesting thread, anyhoo :D

:lol:

this thread would have been a lot handier if roo had posted sooner. I sorta knew what I meant but didn't articulate it particularly well. :oops:

actually being able to execute a pinch harmonic (i.e. hit the node and cancel the fundamental to let the harmonic out) is of course all technique.

actually getting something that sounds like what most people think of as a pinch harmonic is a combination of technique and correct gear and settings.

that's what i meant. I wish i'd said that sooner. :lol: Apologies if I annoyed anyone or appeared argumentative. :)

[Roobubba]

 :drink:

:)

Roo

[dave_mc]

:drink: :)

[MDV]

...what happened here?

In closing,

Squiddly squiddly SQQQUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[dave_mc]

:lol: :drink:

[Johnny Mac]

That "it's all about technique" is so BS.

Been also thinking about what the hell happened, since when I first discovered pinch harmonics at late 80's, I had no problem getting them out whenever I wanted what so ever.
And back then I had way more cr@ppy equipment, then these days.

Now I have several decent amps (Transistor and tube) and guitars with BKP pickups (one of the guitars I have used since late 80's) and find it hard to get decent PH's out.
And I don't think that I've mysteriously lost my "technique" during these years.

Originally that guitar that I've had all these years, had Duncan JB in bridge.
At some point I changed it to Dimebucker, and it was horrible.
Then I ordered Miracle Man and the sound was amazing.
Still, the pinch harmonics were almost impossible.

Few days ago I tried my newly acquired Epiphone Les Paul custom, with stock pickups with my gear and strangely PH's flew out like back in the days.

I am going to upgrade that Epi's pickups to BKP, like my other guitars and see what happens after that.

Okey dokey.

No.

As tony says, pinch harmonics are something you do to strings, not something that gear does for you. Its pure technique, everything else is window dressing and colour.

Kids eh  :lol:

[Johnny Mac]

I can do them on any guitar from an old classical with nylon strings that I found in a skip to any of my electrics with various bkps in them.
The more gain from the amp and the higher the output of the pickup, the more pronounced they sound. Your gear can and will if you have the correct technique accentuate this sound. I.E my Koch on the the ultra gain channel, gain above 6 and my Charvel Model 6 with a Miracle Man in the bridge make this technique a piece of piss.
As for the John Sykes vibrato technique with pinch harmonics that Zakk Wylde uses. You need to move the string between the frets your stopping at a semi tone either way. So it's like a bend that goes in both directions. It takes a lot of finger power to achieve this. 9's are a lot easier to get this than heavier gauges but that will start another bunfight involving pedantry so intense as to suggest getting out more and shagging a few birds is in order.
Although I do have some fantastically difficult finger exercises for those of you man enough to want to give this vibrato technique some welly on a set of 13's.

[dave_mc]

I'm good with 9s :lol:

[BigK]

That "it's all about technique" is so BS.

Been also thinking about what the hell happened, since when I first discovered pinch harmonics at late 80's, I had no problem getting them out whenever I wanted what so ever.
And back then I had way more cr@ppy equipment, then these days.

Now I have several decent amps (Transistor and tube) and guitars with BKP pickups (one of the guitars I have used since late 80's) and find it hard to get decent PH's out.
And I don't think that I've mysteriously lost my "technique" during these years.

Originally that guitar that I've had all these years, had Duncan JB in bridge.
At some point I changed it to Dimebucker, and it was horrible.
Then I ordered Miracle Man and the sound was amazing.
Still, the pinch harmonics were almost impossible.

Few days ago I tried my newly acquired Epiphone Les Paul custom, with stock pickups with my gear and strangely PH's flew out like back in the days.

I am going to upgrade that Epi's pickups to BKP, like my other guitars and see what happens after that.

I don't think anyone has touched on it but the setup of the guitar's action and neck relief play a big part as if the strings are being choked/action set too low so you have a bit of string buzz this will kill any chance of getting a decent pinch.

I had this problem when I bought an Ibanez off ebay a few years back. Pinches would fly off my other guitars but I just couldn't pull them off on this RG until my friend played it who picks a lot more aggressively than me played it and is was buzzing/choking all over the place... so I raised the action slightly and hey presto it pinched like a badass even with the cr@ppy v8 pickups!

However I do agree getting them to really wail has a lot to do with amp settings and pickup choice.

[dave_mc]

^ that's a good point about the setup

definitely technique is the main thing- as has been said (ad nauseum, lol), if you don't have the technique it doesn't matter what you're playing through. But even if you have the technique, there are things that can make them not sound right or not jump out properly.