@@tassiegamer4516 well, you can max gain a vox ac30 and a peavey 6505 and get completely different gain structures. so amps do matter, too if you don't have access to a distortion pedal
right hand position is the most important. Ill see people try to squeal over and over without moving the picking hand. Find those places where the pinch hits better, and muscle memorize them
Yep, this and angle of the pick. I play with Fishmann fluences and the the perfect place is like a ½ an inch back from the actual pickup itself. I just pick kinda "down and out" as in angle my hand down to hit with my thumb and away from the neck pickup to add more contact (which tends to give the squeal more attack). Jazz III picks also help A TON
💯...I can get it with no amp..I just grabbed my guitar to be sure and yeah. Squealies with no amp. It's your position on your right hand and a good vibrato/slight bend on fretting hand.
Your tone matters a lot with this technique. Many people have already got it down but don't realize it because they're using a low gain tone and the volume on their guitar is down at like a 3. High volume high gain is the key.
Not really, I do pinch harmonics on my acoustic and they sound pretty good. Just gotta hit the right spot. Edit: having gain will make it easier to find that spot for a beginner.
I'm not super good at them but I used to practice them on acoustic guitars because if you can do it on an acoustic then you can do it with any amount of gain
As someone else has already said, position of picking hand is important. Think of artificial/tapped harmonics. They will only sound at nodal points. You don't have frets to show where the harmonic is so you need to practise judging where those points are for each note
Absolutely! Just by changing the position of your thumb of your picking hand along the string, new pinch sounds are possible. I think one mistake some guitarists make is always pinching at the same spot on every string. Every string has its sweet spot, or several sweet spots.
Roy Buchanan riffs... nice. The extra push from the humbuckers definitely sounded clearer and more like the pinch harmonics were full notes. Neat comparison.
@@geraldfriend256 Man, I envy you! I was born after he died so I never got the chance to see him. Hearing his version of Hey Joe on the "That's what I'm here for" LP pretty much started my musical awakening. Introducing me to blues and more "obscure" musicians.
@@andreboden1437 Roy had a bag of tricks, man. Those two octave pinch harmonics on the treble strings would hurt your feelings. He completely slackened his low E and bent it for two minutes like a maniac .Him and the late great Jeff Beck are my two favorite.
Pinch harmonics sound at a low volume and high frequencies. So if you add more gain, meds or treble they'll ring out more. Also, humbucking pickups will help eliminate some unwanted sounds so that the notes stand out more. But none of that matters if you don't have the technique or don't play the right notes. A huge part of it is right hand placement in relation to the fretted note. Think of it like playing regular harmonics but moving the nut while doing so. Start off by playing an open string with your picking hand pinching on the 12th fret and this should give you an octave above the open note. Move your picking hand to the 5th or 24th and the note will be 2 octaves above the open string. The 7th and and 19th fret will a 5th (1 octave up) above. Now when you start fretting notes you need to move the picking hand up the same number of frets. E.g. if you fret a note on the 5th fret, you can pinch either the 10th, 12th, 17th, 24th or 29th. If you fret the 12th you can pinch the 17th, 19th, 24th, 31st or 36th. Obviously the frets don't go that high, you just have to figure out where they'd be. I hope this explanation helps anyone who took the time to read it.
@@m.taylor7025 No, pinch harmonics follow the same exact principles of natural harmonics. While pinch harmonics are usually played by the pickups there's absolutely no reason they can't be played over the fretboard. Playing octaves and fifths where these more room for error and there's visual markers is a great way to learn the technique. At the same time, understanding the relation of the notes will help unlock every position. Not moving the right hand at all will severely limit the amount of notes that will sound as well as the quality of the notes. Most comments on this video claim that it takes an insane amount of gain to play pinch harmonics yet I can play them without any gain and even on nylon strings. It's all about technique and theory and that's what I was hoping some people could learn from my comment.
For big squeals lots of gain and maybe not a single coil will definitely get you closer. Something that people also don’t tell you is that each guitar and each pickup has a sweet spot for pinch harmonics, so if you’re not getting strong harmonics you can adjust where your pick attacks the string. Different places on the string will also give you different versions of pinch harmonics so there’s a lot to fool around with when it comes to nuance and the ideal sound you’re looking for
from my experience, it's a mixture of having a good metal amp that can actually dish out the high squeals, and having the right positioning on your strumming hand. there's sweet spots for different pitches of pinch harmonics and you need to be able to get them down if you wanna get good :]
@@carpediemarts705 yeah but thats how I play normally (minus compression) I got the gain at 10 all the time. But when I actually practice my technique I play on the clean channel
It’s about amp settings and technique; a good artificial harmonic doesn’t use a pinch, it’s grazing the string with the edge of your thumb. Also more mids and gain will help accentuate a harmonic.
I get screaming harmonics on my stock fender Strat. Mostly about having gain/distortion and generous mid/treble settings. A wah pedal will definitely help make those harmonics scream too
Hand positioning plays a big part, I use the neck pick up on my strat and I usually try to hit the middle pickup or around the area to get a good squeal. (I also have high gain settings as well)
Pinch harmonics can be quite tricky! I’m still trying to figure out how to be consistent with them and I play a lot of metal so it’s important. I know even some of the best metal guitarists in the world struggle with their consistency. This is what I’ve learned, make sure you find the sweet spot on the string, because where you try to hit them is as important as how you hit them. Also pick depth will change how hard they hit. I am cursed with being able to hit them backwards on an upstroke by using middle or pointer fingers but when I do they hit really hard and sound exactly as I want them to. The problem is I have to change the position of my picking hand and how I hold the pick so I have to manage to plan when I want to do them and change up my grip before doing it.
U can get pinch harms from even an accoustic, its all technique , knowledge and precision which comes in time according to the amount of practice u put in
Came here to say exactly this. Actually I found once I gained consistency in being able to do them right, every single time on an acoustic. Since then, I honestly can’t remember the last time I muffed one. What’s that old idiom about the lousy tradesman blaming his tools something, something…..,
scale #1 is where the steel frets are. scale #2 is relative to the fret pressed, and is a fraction of the string, the wide part of a node down near the pickup. move your picking position to find the pinch points.
Settings is where it helps you a lot. The guitar isn’t doing much under distortion, and maybe low on bass, right in the middle on middle tone, and high on the treble. That’s what helps me on my strat.
You also gotta know where on the string to hit it. A lot of people seem to think you can get it anywhere, but it has to be on one of the harmonic nodes of the string, preferably the first one which gives you the octave. A good way to practice is forget the pick and get good at false harmonics first. Which are the same thing just with your finger instead of you picking thumb. The first node always splits the string in half, exactly between the fretted note and the bridge. Your right hand has to follow your left hand up and down for higher or lower notes.
It’s about finding all the sweetspots for me personally, I noticed what pickup i do them on is important, and playing closer to the bottom of my top pickup gives me great squeels
It's in the technique. I started with a metal guitar and got kinda good at pinch harmonics (but only with the bridge pickup). Then I got a single-coiled strat and developed my pinch harmonics further. Nowadays I can play any guitar and get great pinch harmonics every time, regardless of pickup position or coils.
Pinch harmonics are one of my favourite techniques on guitar. I used to find them difficult (me wanting to do play dimebag squeals and THAT riff from slipknot’s duality) What clicked for me was using jazz 3 picks, using a high amount of distortion and boosting the treble
Distortion helps with amplifying the frequencies that pinches do but you gotta get your node points…..on point. Anyone who knows the maths behind natural harmonics should know that pinches are using the side of your thumb to hit a specific point to divide the frequency just like a natural harmonic.
To get the best pinches, I find It’s a mixture of. Hitting the right spot with you’re right hand (just pick a string and pinch everywhere from neck to bridge, until you find the ones you want), a good high gain amp, and a nice guitar with humbuckers (some just naturally have nicer harmonics). I use a Serling majesty 7 string, and a katana mkII 50W, and the pinches sound amazing.
G string, 4th fret. Easiest spot to practice on strats for some reason, practice there until you get the right hand solid. Add more bending and slow down between notes.
It’s all in your technique. How you grip the pick, where you hit the string in relation to the bridge. Amp settings have a lot to do with it, too. Higher gain=more squeal. I play a Strat and Tele with singles and mine can sound pretty damn meaty.
Pickups are important. Humbuckers have higher outputs so making pinch harmonics is easier, especially with active pickups because they are the strongest when it comes to output power. Technique is also very important and a distortion sound is obviously necessary.
It’s been said by others much more concise than me, but my experience has always been the type of compressed distortion (high gain amp/pedal). I did a lot more pitch harmonics when I played a 5150. When I went digital and moved a more hot rodded Marshall sound (like a Friedman) because it was more difficult to do it, it affected my playing in that I did them less. Something like the compression in the distortion is the big thing I believe.
Hi gain, lots of sustain, and yes humbuckers help but I wouldn't say the guitar necessarily has much to do with it. Technique is also highly important. I will say it took me a long time to figure it out, but I never felt more complete as a person than when I finally mastered it.
I personally think the biggest thing about pinch harmonics is your setup, while you do need to know the technique. It just makes it so much nicer. Been practicing pinch harmonics for the first time, i got pretty good but when i got a new Ibenaz it went from pretty good to perfect
As we like to say, the tone (or pinch harmonic) is all on the hands! It’s technique. Signal chain (amount of gain/distortion mainly) can manipulate the sound and embellish it, but hitting that pinch harmonic in the first place is 100% technique. They do seem one of those techniques that for some people they just click while others over think them to oblivion. They’re a bit like golf, the harder you try, the more you think, the harder they’ll be.
Its really both. Each guitar and string combo has a different place where pinch harmonics work. Some may be easier to hit than others but you still need to master the technique to get a good sound out of any guitar.
pinch harmonics just came natural to me, and i worked it out before i could even play enter sandman. but now i can do pinch harmonic cleanly on the neck pickup with tone rolled all of the way down on a clean amp.
It's about finding the sweet spot on whichever guitar you're playing. "Metal" guitars just tend to have bigger sweet spots making it easier. Also I've found using jazz picks makes it easier as well
I think guitar, technique and the tone really brings pinch harmonics up very well. Gain always helps. I myself use very heavy metal distortion, that way pinch harmonics are always pritty easy to get.
Its technique, i can make squeals on a strat, also a high gain amp might help, but i can make pinch harmonics on everything, because i practice them daily, i practice my bends, my accuracy, my feel, my scales and pinch harmonics, just practice them as something of their own
It’s the way you strum if you palm mute alittle with some gain it’ll make it easier to do it when your playing clean I’ve practiced pinch harmonics more than probably any other technique I know and it just takes time and learning where you can hit them/ where it sounds best to hit them your honestly doing good id just say get more comfortable with palm muting and you’ll get better it’s not just for metal it helps with being a more dynamic player
When you the strum angle your thumb holding the pick in a way that the string grazes the side of your thumb... The the amount of squeal high or low depends on both where your fretting AND how close to the neck or bridge your strumming hand is... Yes more gain makes it easier and louder but once the technique is down you can get a nice little squeal on low gain, hell I've even gotten it on acoustic (The volume drops out way low though because of the lack of energy to move the air.)
It’s much more technique, plus your amp settings in some ways, but it also depends where you’re picking to get the harmonics, play around in different places above the pickups and between them, you might see a difference
You have to play with your right hand tring to get it between the end of the neck and the end of the bridge humbucker, you can’t pinch in the same area for every pinch armonic. Getting it mastered you can get them sound cool even without gain at all, but you have to use gain if your traing to play more like a rock or metal way
Actually the issue is that the distance from the note fingered and the pick playing the note(with proper technique) changes depending on what note your playing. If you don't change pick hand position in accordance with the note your trying to squeal then it won't be effective, and you'll need a high gain amp and guitar to compensate.
Technique 100%. All the humbuckers do is pick up more harmonic frequency/amplify it a little more. So while it's true that playing the same pinch harmonic on a humbucker guitar may be easier to pick up/amplify it more than a single coil, at the end of the day you can do pinch harmonics without an amp. If you can make it sound good unplugged, then you know you have the right technique
It's more in the technique, literally, it sounds like I'm stereotyping but I'm serious. It's how you handle projecting a pinch into a song/riff/solo. And how good you are with creating em. And you need more gain/distortion than this, add more gain like a DS1 or a second TS808 if you have one. Shit, even clipping your signal from the amp into the PC would help too I think.
Technique. I can get pinch harmonics (obviously not as loud or powerful as through an amp) from an unplugged electric and an acoustic. Once you get them down they become muscle memory.
My dad, who was never properly trained and hasn't played since at the latest the early 90s picked up my crappy guitar and was able to pick it up and immediately pull off some sick pinch harmonics
I did one or two pinches on a boomer guitar yesterday. That's a LP Junior type with single P90 and it did the thing even if I don't know how to *properly* do it. Anyways Neural DSP Gojira is a good amp sim.
It's like 85% technique, it depends on how you hold the pick and how you pluck the strings in that position. Having distortion and/or a high gain amp makes it a lot easier, but even without those you can get some clean pinch harmonics (e.g. the beginning of smashing pumpkins mayonnaise)
I can pinch harmonic on an upstroke and also strum a whole chord pinched. Its so hard on the upstroke though 😅 my buddy and i do a bet you can't play this thing with each other and my riff could only be played with an upstroked pinch harmonic 😂i win.
It takes a little bit of finesse and feel but Pinch harmonics are 100% technique I can do it on any electric guitar with or without an amp and even an acoustic can work it’s just the way you hold the pick and the right spot on the string and when you get the hang of it it’s not that difficult 🤷♂️ (short pick and let the string lightly touch the thumb at the same time while picking then experiment with the location until you find the right spots, it becomes second nature pretty quickly)
Most important thing Is your technique. 2nd Is the amp/peddal being used (i personaly like to use a tube screamer type pedal). Guitar only needs to be metal if you want it to look metal.
Its technique and many years of practice..I can get it with no amp at all..I just grabbed my guitar to be sure, and yeah, Squealies with no amp. It's the position on your right hand and a good vibrato/slight bend on fretting hand/ middle of the neck are the easiest... with an amp having your guitar in the bridge pickup position helps too.
Make sure to have the tone up to, bc it will muffle out the harmonic, also have guitar volume knob up all the way, me and my buddy didn't realize that issue for a while
Honestly with playing pitches you don’t even need distortion or gain you can play them clean it’s just all down to technique A really good way to get your pinches down is to learn songs that have a bunch of them for instance cemetery gates by pantera (as much as I hate them the guitar is great for learning pinches )
You need to crank your gain up, that's what I think. Pinch harmonics are a much more specific tool when played clean versus with hi gain because I feel you have a much clearer, sharper sound with the gain.
It’s about gain/volume you need either one to achieve it. Metal guitarists like Zakk Wylde and dimebag use it on high gain but Rory Gallagher and Billy gibbons can use it on lower gain amps but they are loud AF
For the squeal, you need a hi gain amp. Then you’ll see a massive difference.
thx homie, big help
It helps but a ton of bands use low/medium gain combined with overdrive to avoid muddiness, djent bands predominantly but afaik Metallica does it too
It just makes it easier and you will never master it
The position where you make the pinch on the string also gives you a higher or lower pinch
@@predatorofthehaters4987 zakk wylde and billy gibons are THE masters of pinch harmonics and use a decent amount of gain.
@@haywire8008Billy gibbons uses only a little gain and they squeal but there is a technique element to it
Technique combined with an adequate amp for metal.
or pedal
less the actual amp and more the amp settings and/or pedals you use
@@tassiegamer4516 well, you can max gain a vox ac30 and a peavey 6505 and get completely different gain structures. so amps do matter, too if you don't have access to a distortion pedal
@@siggiarabi I don't have access to a good amp but have a ds pedal lol good point
Mick Thomson nails it
right hand position is the most important. Ill see people try to squeal over and over without moving the picking hand. Find those places where the pinch hits better, and muscle memorize them
100% this. The spot is often near/around the neck pickup when you're using the bridge pickup. It also moves depending on the fret and string.
Yep, this and angle of the pick. I play with Fishmann fluences and the the perfect place is like a ½ an inch back from the actual pickup itself. I just pick kinda "down and out" as in angle my hand down to hit with my thumb and away from the neck pickup to add more contact (which tends to give the squeal more attack). Jazz III picks also help A TON
@@GlJoe6904 when i die i want to be buried with a jazz iii in my hand
This. It’s all about timing, pressure and positioning, nothing else.
💯...I can get it with no amp..I just grabbed my guitar to be sure and yeah. Squealies with no amp. It's your position on your right hand and a good vibrato/slight bend on fretting hand.
Your tone matters a lot with this technique. Many people have already got it down but don't realize it because they're using a low gain tone and the volume on their guitar is down at like a 3. High volume high gain is the key.
Well, having low volume with distortion is generally a bad idea, since it cuts frequency and sounds like your tone knob on 0
Bruh I max my guitar volume at 10. I need that metal distortion lmao
triple s single coil strats sound aweful when squealing
You need a lot of gain for pinch harmonics to ring out
Not really, I do pinch harmonics on my acoustic and they sound pretty good. Just gotta hit the right spot.
Edit: having gain will make it easier to find that spot for a beginner.
@@ozzycurda8297it's like a seatbelt on a car, you don't need it but it sure helps
A great guitarist with perfect technique can do pinch harmonics with minimum levels of effects but with high distortion it makes it extremely easy
@@TheRyanDuffinProject true but it sounds so much cooler with lots of gain. Van halen, dime, etc
I'm not super good at them but I used to practice them on acoustic guitars because if you can do it on an acoustic then you can do it with any amount of gain
For Dimebag type squealing, you need a humbucker and a lot of gain. However you can do more ZZ top type pinchs without the gain.
i’d like this comment but 69 likes
@@f41thxx on 4/20 too ;)
And a Floyd rose
As someone else has already said, position of picking hand is important. Think of artificial/tapped harmonics. They will only sound at nodal points. You don't have frets to show where the harmonic is so you need to practise judging where those points are for each note
Absolutely! Just by changing the position of your thumb of your picking hand along the string, new pinch sounds are possible. I think one mistake some guitarists make is always pinching at the same spot on every string. Every string has its sweet spot, or several sweet spots.
also, single coil
Roy Buchanan riffs... nice. The extra push from the humbuckers definitely sounded clearer and more like the pinch harmonics were full notes. Neat comparison.
I was surprised to hear him play Roy but I guess he was a master of harmonics.
Finding a comment about Roy this far up brings me joy.
@@andreboden1437 Roy was unreal. Saw him six times. Insane energy live.
@@geraldfriend256 Man, I envy you! I was born after he died so I never got the chance to see him. Hearing his version of Hey Joe on the "That's what I'm here for" LP pretty much started my musical awakening. Introducing me to blues and more "obscure" musicians.
@@andreboden1437 Roy had a bag of tricks, man. Those two octave pinch harmonics on the treble strings would hurt your feelings. He completely slackened his low E and bent it for two minutes like a maniac .Him and the late great Jeff Beck are my two favorite.
Pinch harmonics sound at a low volume and high frequencies. So if you add more gain, meds or treble they'll ring out more. Also, humbucking pickups will help eliminate some unwanted sounds so that the notes stand out more. But none of that matters if you don't have the technique or don't play the right notes. A huge part of it is right hand placement in relation to the fretted note. Think of it like playing regular harmonics but moving the nut while doing so. Start off by playing an open string with your picking hand pinching on the 12th fret and this should give you an octave above the open note. Move your picking hand to the 5th or 24th and the note will be 2 octaves above the open string. The 7th and and 19th fret will a 5th (1 octave up) above. Now when you start fretting notes you need to move the picking hand up the same number of frets. E.g. if you fret a note on the 5th fret, you can pinch either the 10th, 12th, 17th, 24th or 29th. If you fret the 12th you can pinch the 17th, 19th, 24th, 31st or 36th. Obviously the frets don't go that high, you just have to figure out where they'd be.
I hope this explanation helps anyone who took the time to read it.
Thank you , this was highly helpful 👍
Are you talking about tapping natural harmonics? Pinch harmonics are always done up by the pickups with the picking hand in it's normal position
@@m.taylor7025 No, pinch harmonics follow the same exact principles of natural harmonics. While pinch harmonics are usually played by the pickups there's absolutely no reason they can't be played over the fretboard. Playing octaves and fifths where these more room for error and there's visual markers is a great way to learn the technique. At the same time, understanding the relation of the notes will help unlock every position. Not moving the right hand at all will severely limit the amount of notes that will sound as well as the quality of the notes. Most comments on this video claim that it takes an insane amount of gain to play pinch harmonics yet I can play them without any gain and even on nylon strings. It's all about technique and theory and that's what I was hoping some people could learn from my comment.
For big squeals lots of gain and maybe not a single coil will definitely get you closer. Something that people also don’t tell you is that each guitar and each pickup has a sweet spot for pinch harmonics, so if you’re not getting strong harmonics you can adjust where your pick attacks the string. Different places on the string will also give you different versions of pinch harmonics so there’s a lot to fool around with when it comes to nuance and the ideal sound you’re looking for
Dude be like "let me grab 6 different guitars" gets 6 stratocasters
Yes lol, he is a strat guy
Hammer smashed face is the first thing to come to mind for a practice routine
Bum bum bum bada bum bum bum
_Cannibal Corpse_ - still my favorite metal band name.
@theft king I know right? Talk about a real extreme exercise lol the song is not too bad it's the pinch harmonic section that's intense for me.
from my experience, it's a mixture of having a good metal amp that can actually dish out the high squeals, and having the right positioning on your strumming hand. there's sweet spots for different pitches of pinch harmonics and you need to be able to get them down if you wanna get good :]
“Only to be kinda good at it” *nails it every time*
My guitar teacher was always impressed that I could make pinch harmonics sound perfect when completely unplugged
Cool.
proof that it's not about gain and compression
@@carpediemarts705 yeah but thats how I play normally (minus compression) I got the gain at 10 all the time. But when I actually practice my technique I play on the clean channel
It’s about amp settings and technique; a good artificial harmonic doesn’t use a pinch, it’s grazing the string with the edge of your thumb. Also more mids and gain will help accentuate a harmonic.
gain up to 10 treble up to 10 volume up to 10 \m/
Also totally works on an acoustic guitar!
I tried on a classical guitar and it sounded terrible
So you laid your finger on a string and bent the string jondo2010
High gain and high treble as well as possibly using the neck pickup. Works pretty well
Bro called it a telecaster 💀
because it is?
.
I get screaming harmonics on my stock fender Strat. Mostly about having gain/distortion and generous mid/treble settings. A wah pedal will definitely help make those harmonics scream too
You need to get yourself a squire contemporary strat. Has a floyd rose, sound and feels amazing. Squire did their thing on it.
is it good?
@@boredom730Yeah its good
will consider trying this out on my next visit at the store thanks
More gain because that makes more frequencies pop out and the harmonic rings easier.
Both + high gain amp + vibrato = perfection
Sounded cool on the strat
it sounds twangy pinch harmonics on a triple s single coil strat
1 word: compression
Humbuckers and high gain both compress your signal
Its always technique. But a lot of gain and being on the bridge pick up helps for me the most
its the tone homie
crank the distortion, mids and highs, and use the bridge pickup exclusively
Hand positioning plays a big part, I use the neck pick up on my strat and I usually try to hit the middle pickup or around the area to get a good squeal. (I also have high gain settings as well)
Pinch harmonics came easy to me on my strat. But for the life of me I can't get the hang of sweep picking. It's been too many years.
Haha, same!
Almost 3years in sweeping and I can (kinda) do one sweep lick ok. Lol!
Technique + strong pickups+ high gain amp
I heard rory Gallagher do pinch harmonics on his strat with a small box. Sounded insane
The sounds he could squeeze out of that flaking strat floors me to this day, still I think the "right" equipment makes things easier at least.
Rory Gallagher has upgraded pickups in his strat
my dumbass read the title as "do you need a guitar to play pinch harmonics"
Pinch harmonics can be quite tricky! I’m still trying to figure out how to be consistent with them and I play a lot of metal so it’s important. I know even some of the best metal guitarists in the world struggle with their consistency. This is what I’ve learned, make sure you find the sweet spot on the string, because where you try to hit them is as important as how you hit them. Also pick depth will change how hard they hit. I am cursed with being able to hit them backwards on an upstroke by using middle or pointer fingers but when I do they hit really hard and sound exactly as I want them to. The problem is I have to change the position of my picking hand and how I hold the pick so I have to manage to plan when I want to do them and change up my grip before doing it.
U can get pinch harms from even an accoustic, its all technique , knowledge and precision which comes in time according to the amount of practice u put in
Came here to say exactly this.
Actually I found once I gained consistency in being able to do them right, every single time on an acoustic. Since then, I honestly can’t remember the last time I muffed one.
What’s that old idiom about the lousy tradesman blaming his tools something, something…..,
scale #1 is where the steel frets are.
scale #2 is relative to the fret pressed, and is a fraction of the string, the wide part of a node down near the pickup.
move your picking position to find the pinch points.
Settings is where it helps you a lot. The guitar isn’t doing much under distortion, and maybe low on bass, right in the middle on middle tone, and high on the treble. That’s what helps me on my strat.
You also gotta know where on the string to hit it. A lot of people seem to think you can get it anywhere, but it has to be on one of the harmonic nodes of the string, preferably the first one which gives you the octave. A good way to practice is forget the pick and get good at false harmonics first. Which are the same thing just with your finger instead of you picking thumb. The first node always splits the string in half, exactly between the fretted note and the bridge. Your right hand has to follow your left hand up and down for higher or lower notes.
Zakk Wylde has no choice but to throw them in every four seconds cuz those massive mitts he’s got just can’t stay away from the strings.
It’s about finding all the sweetspots for me personally, I noticed what pickup i do them on is important, and playing closer to the bottom of my top pickup gives me great squeels
It's in the technique. I started with a metal guitar and got kinda good at pinch harmonics (but only with the bridge pickup). Then I got a single-coiled strat and developed my pinch harmonics further. Nowadays I can play any guitar and get great pinch harmonics every time, regardless of pickup position or coils.
Pinch harmonics are one of my favourite techniques on guitar. I used to find them difficult (me wanting to do play dimebag squeals and THAT riff from slipknot’s duality) What clicked for me was using jazz 3 picks, using a high amount of distortion and boosting the treble
It’s the pickups and setting. If you crank up the phaser or flanger they really crank. I actually like the 1st example most.
For me it works flawlessly with every guitar when you use the bridge pickup.
Cool video, now i don’t have to spend extra for a guitar that will do a same sound
It usually doesn’t take a lot of money to get a good sound. It’s more important to practice than buy more gear.
Distortion helps with amplifying the frequencies that pinches do but you gotta get your node points…..on point.
Anyone who knows the maths behind natural harmonics should know that pinches are using the side of your thumb to hit a specific point to divide the frequency just like a natural harmonic.
To get the best pinches, I find It’s a mixture of. Hitting the right spot with you’re right hand (just pick a string and pinch everywhere from neck to bridge, until you find the ones you want), a good high gain amp, and a nice guitar with humbuckers (some just naturally have nicer harmonics). I use a Serling majesty 7 string, and a katana mkII 50W, and the pinches sound amazing.
My brother, turn ur gain way the hell up for those nice squeals
G string, 4th fret. Easiest spot to practice on strats for some reason, practice there until you get the right hand solid. Add more bending and slow down between notes.
It’s all in your technique. How you grip the pick, where you hit the string in relation to the bridge. Amp settings have a lot to do with it, too. Higher gain=more squeal. I play a Strat and Tele with singles and mine can sound pretty damn meaty.
Pickups are important. Humbuckers have higher outputs so making pinch harmonics is easier, especially with active pickups because they are the strongest when it comes to output power. Technique is also very important and a distortion sound is obviously necessary.
Having a humbucker pickup helps getting squeals a lot. That mixed with high gain and appropriate right hand position
You need a boss super overdrive. That provides some sweet pinch harmonics.
It’s been said by others much more concise than me, but my experience has always been the type of compressed distortion (high gain amp/pedal). I did a lot more pitch harmonics when I played a 5150. When I went digital and moved a more hot rodded Marshall sound (like a Friedman) because it was more difficult to do it, it affected my playing in that I did them less. Something like the compression in the distortion is the big thing I believe.
Hi gain, lots of sustain, and yes humbuckers help but I wouldn't say the guitar necessarily has much to do with it. Technique is also highly important.
I will say it took me a long time to figure it out, but I never felt more complete as a person than when I finally mastered it.
I personally think the biggest thing about pinch harmonics is your setup, while you do need to know the technique. It just makes it so much nicer.
Been practicing pinch harmonics for the first time, i got pretty good but when i got a new Ibenaz it went from pretty good to perfect
As we like to say, the tone (or pinch harmonic) is all on the hands! It’s technique. Signal chain (amount of gain/distortion mainly) can manipulate the sound and embellish it, but hitting that pinch harmonic in the first place is 100% technique.
They do seem one of those techniques that for some people they just click while others over think them to oblivion. They’re a bit like golf, the harder you try, the more you think, the harder they’ll be.
Dude, that is amazing.
I've found that high gain and high compression will help annunciate my pinch harmonics, paired with proper technique of course
Its really both. Each guitar and string combo has a different place where pinch harmonics work. Some may be easier to hit than others but you still need to master the technique to get a good sound out of any guitar.
pinch harmonics just came natural to me, and i worked it out before i could even play enter sandman. but now i can do pinch harmonic cleanly on the neck pickup with tone rolled all of the way down on a clean amp.
It's about finding the sweet spot on whichever guitar you're playing. "Metal" guitars just tend to have bigger sweet spots making it easier. Also I've found using jazz picks makes it easier as well
I think guitar, technique and the tone really brings pinch harmonics up very well.
Gain always helps. I myself use very heavy metal distortion, that way pinch harmonics are always pritty easy to get.
Its technique, i can make squeals on a strat, also a high gain amp might help, but i can make pinch harmonics on everything, because i practice them daily, i practice my bends, my accuracy, my feel, my scales and pinch harmonics, just practice them as something of their own
It’s the way you strum if you palm mute alittle with some gain it’ll make it easier to do it when your playing clean I’ve practiced pinch harmonics more than probably any other technique I know and it just takes time and learning where you can hit them/ where it sounds best to hit them your honestly doing good id just say get more comfortable with palm muting and you’ll get better it’s not just for metal it helps with being a more dynamic player
High wire … gotta love that song it was on Roy’s last album
The flesh to pick ratio while holding the pick is most important. I've also found that rounder picks make it harder.
When you the strum angle your thumb holding the pick in a way that the string grazes the side of your thumb...
The the amount of squeal high or low depends on both where your fretting AND how close to the neck or bridge your strumming hand is...
Yes more gain makes it easier and louder but once the technique is down you can get a nice little squeal on low gain, hell I've even gotten it on acoustic (The volume drops out way low though because of the lack of energy to move the air.)
You rock Mikey!
It’s much more technique, plus your amp settings in some ways, but it also depends where you’re picking to get the harmonics, play around in different places above the pickups and between them, you might see a difference
You have to play with your right hand tring to get it between the end of the neck and the end of the bridge humbucker, you can’t pinch in the same area for every pinch armonic. Getting it mastered you can get them sound cool even without gain at all, but you have to use gain if your traing to play more like a rock or metal way
Actually the issue is that the distance from the note fingered and the pick playing the note(with proper technique) changes depending on what note your playing. If you don't change pick hand position in accordance with the note your trying to squeal then it won't be effective, and you'll need a high gain amp and guitar to compensate.
Ngl sounds sick with Strat
Technique 100%.
All the humbuckers do is pick up more harmonic frequency/amplify it a little more. So while it's true that playing the same pinch harmonic on a humbucker guitar may be easier to pick up/amplify it more than a single coil, at the end of the day you can do pinch harmonics without an amp. If you can make it sound good unplugged, then you know you have the right technique
It's more in the technique, literally, it sounds like I'm stereotyping but I'm serious. It's how you handle projecting a pinch into a song/riff/solo. And how good you are with creating em. And you need more gain/distortion than this, add more gain like a DS1 or a second TS808 if you have one. Shit, even clipping your signal from the amp into the PC would help too I think.
Technique. I can get pinch harmonics (obviously not as loud or powerful as through an amp) from an unplugged electric and an acoustic. Once you get them down they become muscle memory.
When learning bends I always used to accidentally do harmonics
Both Technic and the guitar (specially the set up) low strings and not having a middle pickup helps a lot
You need to crank that gain up
My dad, who was never properly trained and hasn't played since at the latest the early 90s picked up my crappy guitar and was able to pick it up and immediately pull off some sick pinch harmonics
I did one or two pinches on a boomer guitar yesterday. That's a LP Junior type with single P90 and it did the thing even if I don't know how to *properly* do it. Anyways Neural DSP Gojira is a good amp sim.
I feel like it's all about your Amp/pedal settings doesn't really matter what guitar you have imo.
It's like 85% technique, it depends on how you hold the pick and how you pluck the strings in that position. Having distortion and/or a high gain amp makes it a lot easier, but even without those you can get some clean pinch harmonics (e.g. the beginning of smashing pumpkins mayonnaise)
It's easier at the higher point harmonic in the string, but the note also changes when u move it on the string
I can pinch harmonic on an upstroke and also strum a whole chord pinched. Its so hard on the upstroke though 😅 my buddy and i do a bet you can't play this thing with each other and my riff could only be played with an upstroked pinch harmonic 😂i win.
It takes a little bit of finesse and feel but Pinch harmonics are 100% technique I can do it on any electric guitar with or without an amp and even an acoustic can work it’s just the way you hold the pick and the right spot on the string and when you get the hang of it it’s not that difficult 🤷♂️ (short pick and let the string lightly touch the thumb at the same time while picking then experiment with the location until you find the right spots, it becomes second nature pretty quickly)
It's sound heaviest on hambuckers of course, but the thing is on the right hand position, is pretty hard to hit on the perfect position
“To get that pinch harmonic sound I grabbed a single coil guitar” 😂😂
Most important thing Is your technique.
2nd Is the amp/peddal being used (i personaly like to use a tube screamer type pedal).
Guitar only needs to be metal if you want it to look metal.
Higher gain definitely helps
Its technique and many years of practice..I can get it with no amp at all..I just grabbed my guitar to be sure, and yeah, Squealies with no amp. It's the position on your right hand and a good vibrato/slight bend on fretting hand/ middle of the neck are the easiest... with an amp having your guitar in the bridge pickup position helps too.
Make sure to have the tone up to, bc it will muffle out the harmonic, also have guitar volume knob up all the way, me and my buddy didn't realize that issue for a while
It is not only the guitar, but also the effects and the picking
Honestly with playing pitches you don’t even need distortion or gain you can play them clean it’s just all down to technique
A really good way to get your pinches down is to learn songs that have a bunch of them for instance cemetery gates by pantera (as much as I hate them the guitar is great for learning pinches )
Humbuckers make a huge difference even when the gain level seems close to the same. And of course high gain makes all the difference
You need to crank your gain up, that's what I think. Pinch harmonics are a much more specific tool when played clean versus with hi gain because I feel you have a much clearer, sharper sound with the gain.
Oh my god he’s listening to us
The humbukers generally are better at taking a lot of gain that means you are getting better pinch harmonics with them
Nah your just skilled. I could never play that fast. 😊
It’s about gain/volume you need either one to achieve it. Metal guitarists like Zakk Wylde and dimebag use it on high gain but Rory Gallagher and Billy gibbons can use it on lower gain amps but they are loud AF