The Steel Guitar Forum

A question for the players. Is it possible to play artificial harmonics on the steel without picks? Natural palm harmonics seem to be no problem.

Here is how I do them, I didn't pratice them a lot though : http://youtu.be/tm6W2JZlnio

I was holding the camera so I couldn't record it with the bar and did them over the 12th fret. But when playing with the bar, you just move it accordingly depending on the harmonic you want.

Does someone have another technique?

Dan Simard wrote:Here is how I do them, I didn't practice them a lot though

Hey thanks! It never occurred to me to play them that way but it makes a lot of sense if you are playing without picks. (I've been playing guitar a lot with just my fingers lately- something that I could never do very well.)

Steve Ahola

Steve, in fact, this technique is derived from bass (which was my first instrument) and is applicable to traditional guitar. I'll try to post a small video so you can see how I do them on those instruments.

I've never heard the term, "artificial harmonics" before. What's "artificial" about them?

Jim Cohen wrote:I've never heard the term, "artificial harmonics" before. What's "artificial" about them?

Jim,
I've been wrong before, but the way I understand it is:

If you lightly touch a string at the "Halfway point", i.e. 12th fret, and pluck it, you get a "Natural Harmonic".

If you, for example, hold the bar on the 3rd fret, place your knuckle or palm on the 15th fret, and pluck in between those two points, then it's an "Artificial Harmonic".

Natural harmonics are found on frets 12, 7, and 5 by touching the string with a finger of the Left hand and picking the string with the right hand.

Artificial harmonics can be played on any fret by touching the string with the edge of the Right hand (or a fingertip of the right hand) 12 frets above the bar (or 7 frets above the bar) and picking the string somewhere between the right hand and the bar (as Steve said).

In answer to the original question... yes, it's possible to play artificial harmonics without picks, but the sound won't be as "bright" as with picks.

Artificial harmonics is the term most commonly used in classical string pedagogy to refer to harmonics which are not "naturally" found to be derived from the open string. Natural harmonics, as steelers well know, are produced most easily by lightly touching the string at a point halfway, a third of the way, and a quarter of the way up the open string. Other divisions of the string are possible. These areas, or "nodes", relate to the fact that a string vibrates in many ways at the same time, in halves, in thirds, in quarters, in fifths. The harmonic series of overtones, upon which our tuning system is based, derives from this natural phenonenon, which also applies to a column of air. These divisions correspond to certain intervals in music. The Greek mathematician and mystic Pythagoras discovered this over 2,000 years ago.

To produce an artificial harmonic easily on a violin, for example, you close the string somewhere along its length with your first finger, and at the same time lightly touch with your pinky the point either a fourth or a fifth above. The first finger can be moved anywhere, as long as you keep the same relationship between it and the pinky. It is therefore possible to play fast scales and arpeggios using harmonics. The steel player uses the bar as the initial starting point, the "closed' string. The series of harmonics, at least the strongest ones, together produce a major chord, and their relative proportional strength in the composite sound is responsible for the fact that you can hear the difference between the tonal color of a flute as opposed to a violin.

All this information is at the beginning of any introductory Acoustics course. My question is, how do you play the friggin' things without picks? Regards

Joel Meginsky wrote:My question is, how do you play the friggin' things without picks?

Perhaps we need a forum called "Steel Without Picks."

It think that metal fingerpicks are part of the equation for traditional steel guitar: steel strings, steel bar and steel fingerpicks. I think that might have been necessary in the 30's and 40's because the guitar amps back then did not have a lot of power.

However many people here do not use fingerpicks- they use their thumb and fingertips. I never could wear metal fingerpicks because they dug into the cuticles of my fingernails- that all changed when I ordered some of the coated fingerpicks from the late Andy Hinton.

I think that being able to play with and without fingerpicks gives you a wider range of dynamics and tone. For higher gain rock and blues lap steel I prefer bare fingertips because it gives me more control over tone, volume and sustain- at least for me I can mute strings much faster using the same fingertips that just plucked them.

As Doug mentioned the harmonics without picks are not as bright (they don't have that chime to them.) However they can be very cool at higher gain settings.

BTW many of the music books I've seen use the abbreviation "PH" for "pinched harmonics."

Steve Ahola

Pinched Harmonics are a totally different effect. On guitar, you let just the smallest amount of pick hit the string then the string hits the skin on your thumb creating a harmonic with a lot of percussion or pop to it. Danny Gatton called them "Whistlers." Roy Buchanan was a master of that technique. Because of our picks on steel, it's almost impossible to do. You really need a flat pick to get the best sound.

...how do you play the friggin' things without picks?

Joel, I made a quick, short video demonstrating artificial harmonics without using picks. It is possible, but it's not easy to do. You need to extend your thumb out quite a bit to pluck the string. Just pretend there is a thumb pick on it. It sounds better on the plain strings than the wound strings. But not as crisp and bright as with a thumb pick. By the way, I don't normally play without picks, and I wouldn't recommend doing so, but some players prefer it. I just made the clip to demonstrate that is possible to do harmonics without a thumb pick.

CLICK on the PICTURE to Watch the Video!

Thanks, Doug

Another way to do it, though more difficult, would be similar to the way a guitarist might do it: use your index finger to touch the note an octave above the bar and use the thumb or ring finger to pluck the string behind it. If you use the thumb, your ring finger is free to pluck another string, a la Lenny Breau, so you can get a descending effect like a harp.

Mike's explanation is the way that classical guitarists play those harmonics. Extended index finger leaves lots of room to bring your thumb under and pluck the string. While studying classical guitar, I had to play a duet and my part was nothing but artificial harmonics for the whole piece. Try watching left hand fingering and exact placement of the right hand for the harmonics for a couple minutes straight. It's not easy.

I do it the way Mike described. Index finger at the harmonic point and pick with my thumb pick behind it. It just seemed to make sense to me when I was figuring it out.