harmonics drills

[John McClung]

What about lifting the bar and just using the tip? Who does this rather than leaving it across the strings?

I've been trying it: it's easier to get a clean 'chime' - the other strings don't need blocking - but not easy for my left hand to accomplish. I use a heavy 12-string bar (15/16ths).

What's the general consensus on this?

I do that, Roger, like on the single note line that opens Sleepwalk, the bar sliding adds all kinds of noise, so I "nose tip" the bar so it engages just the single desired string. Another strategy is I do that harmonic gliss on string 1, tip the bar significantly, and the yields a super clean slide.

[Barry Yasika]

When I tried palm chimes and the pinky fingers extended across the 12th fret I always end up having one of my finger cracks were usually over one or two of the desired strings. So, what I do now is curl up my picky finger and use the flat part of the middle joint at the 12th fret from the bar fret. Also I compress my steel just a little and keep my volume pedal high but enough to hear it a so I can pick that string pretty hard without the noticeable clang from hitting to hard and maintain a pretty fair amount of pressure on the bar. Once I know the chime is clean I gun the volume pedal to bring up the sound. The compressor also helps to sustain the chime or chimes like bells. That may not be the best way but it works best for me. Sounds much harder than it actually is. Just something you can either try or forget about.

[Ron Funk]

I recently stumbled across this old video on YouTube ......

Good view of Buddy Emmons 'curled pinky technique' at about 1:45 into the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkErgzgKoFs

And remember, with the 'gear' symbol on the screen, you can adjust the speed of the video to see BE's technique in slow motion.

He had it perfected...