Well, I know I must seem like a noob, posting something like this XD, but I just CAN'T do natural harmonics, or pinch harmonics on any string but the E string, if anybody out there has any advice or any excercises to help me get harmonics down, I'd appreciate it, because I need to learn harmonics for The Needle And The Spoon by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I love the way they sound, especially in Bad Horsie by Steve Vai, so if you guys have any licks or anything good for harmonic practice, post away, thanks a lot!

Natural harmonics are very easy and the best place to practice these is at the twelfth fret. Rest your finger on the string without fretting the note and remove your finger immediately after picking the note. You''ll find these harmonics in a few places over the neck with some being stronger in sound than others (5th, 7th, Etc). You can find some as well around the 2nd and 3rd frets which are good for divebombing etc. On pinched harmonics the rule usually is the more gain you are using the easier it will be to sound them. It's also easier to get them using humbucker pickups especially the one at the bridge position. You can also vary the sound of these depending on where you pick the note i.e you can move the pick closer to the bridge or up towards the neck for different sounds from pinched harmonics.

yeah, I figured out that it works best with high gain, using a humbucker near the bridge, and I knew about the picking in different areas of the string, you see, pinch harmonics are easy for me on the E string, but not any other string. Also, thanks for the tip with the natural harmonics, I think those have a great sound, I'll be sure to include them in some new licks after I get them down, thanks a lot

If you can do them on the high E string you should be able to get them on the others without too much difficulty. I usually bend the note I have just picked while doing pinched harmonics but it's not necessary to do so.

no, i meant low E string haha, srry, im used 2 talkin with my friends thru ims and whatnot, and when we talk, E is low E, and e is high e

First of all do you want to learn natural or pinch harmonics?

try the natural harmonics at the 12th fret, 7th fret, and 5th fret.

A huge thing to do with getting good harmonics is your tone. Your pickups and amplifier are what decide whether they can be done successfully or not.

Natural, I can do pinch on the low E string, but I'd like to know if it's possible to pinch harmonics on higher strings than the low E string.

Yeah it's possible to get them on every note on the fretboard. I can't understand why you can only get them on the low E. You're striking the note with your pick and the edge of your thumb basically at the same time, right?

And I thought low E is the most difficult string to do a pinch on.

Agreed. It's easier to get them on the G,B and high E.

hmm, well, i guess it's cause i learned pinches on the low E string, so it's easier for me to do it on that string

I think I have an easy method for somebody who is just getting the hang of it

if you want a pinch on 7th fret G string, for example, fret the 19th fret and look at the part of the string between that fret and the bridge.

right in the center of that segment of string is where you brush with your thumb.

now go back to 7th fret and brush the string at the same spot you did earlier and you'll get the harmonic you wanted

if you repeat this process in your head for each fret you want to get a harmonic out of, you will eventually hit the string in the right spot without thinking about it

the key is that the sweet spot moves slightly for each fret. there is more than one sweet spot for each fret, and some have more than others, I'm referring to the spot that produces the strongest signal

as for tone limitations, raising up your bridge pickup as high as you can and turning up your treble tone knob (on the guitar, down a bit on the amp) will help

less string tension is also better, either use lighter strings or downtune

A friend showed me something cool: making a sweep in two strings just to make two pinched harmonics at the same time. But if you fail, the sound of open strings will be too loud and horrible...!