Name: [Tutorial]Fingerstyle 101 - Lesson 4: Harmonics | Tutorial by Peter Gergely
Uploaded: 2015-07-10T06:48:28.000Z
Duration: 8 min 6 s
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Hi, my name is Peter aka GP and this is the fourth episode of my fingerstyle series

called Fingerstyle 101. In the previous lesson we learned how to spice up your

playing by adding some kind of rhythm to our playing

and this time we'll take a look at harmonics. So grab your guitar and let's get into this!

A guitar harmonic is a musical note played by

preventing the vibration of certain overtones of a string.

Using harmonics is a great way to get very high-pitch notes

which are difficult or impossible to reach by normal notes.

Harmonics also produce a different sound quality

than fretted notes and for this reason they are a great tool to widen musical variety.

Basically, there are three types of guitar harmonics:

natural harmonics, slap harmonics and harp harmonics.

Natural harmonics are probably the most  common kind of harmonics used in fingerstyle.

This might be because it's probably the easiest form of the three.

Alright, so you can make natural harmonics at the

However, it's the easiest at the 12th fret,

so let's practice there. Now what you want to do is

lightly place one of your left-hand fingers over

the 12th fret, let's take the G string for example.

first finger or second finger on the G string

touch the string. Remember, it's not a normal note so

you don't have to apply too much pressure, just

second to pick the string with your right hand

you immediately lift your left-hand finger up

You'll hear the difference between harmonic

So this is how its done, if you get to hang of it

You'll see that it's harder to make harmonics there.

So that's how you produce natural harmonics.

Similarly to natural harmonics you can also

Although instead of picking the string you just slap on them.

First thing to point out is that it's done with your right hand

However, moving your hand from the soundhole to the desired fret

can be quite tricky, especially if you're playing a fast-paced song,

but it can be handled. Second thing I'd like to

mention is that this way you'll get multiple notes

So while it's possible to get a  natural harmonic note on one string only,

you won't be able to do that with slap harmonics.

Alright, so take your right-hand index finger and simply hit the strings

You can also slap with your middle finger, or with both of them -

it's a matter of personal taste, feel free to experiment with that.

So yeah, just slap on the strings. You'll feel how hard you have to hit

to actually get harmonics. Also make sure to hit one the fret,

because otherwise you won't get harmonics.

Then again, it's not mandatory, just experiment with

and if you feel like it suits you more then do it.

So yeah, once you mastered this technique, move on to the

Watching covers on YouTube, this one  seems to be the

least used kind of harmonics - maybe because it's the hardest

maybe because it's less known or maybe because people don't feel the

in their arrangements. Who knows? I'm gonna explain it anyway so you can use it aswell.

The first thing I'd like to mention about this technique that

unlike the previous two, now you're not limited to the

but you can use it at any fret. Basically, what you want to do is

hold down a note with one of your left-hand fingers.

Let's hold down the G string at the first fret

example we're holding down the string at the

1st fret, so let's move your right hand over the

13th fret. Now you have to lightly touch the string with your index finger

like this and you pick the string with your thumb.

And just like you make a natural harmonic,  you immediately lift your

index finger up after picking the string with your thumb.

So that's how it's done, remember, there are always

12 frets between your left and your right hand, so if you're holding down the string

at the 2nd fret, your right hand goes over the 14th fret

string at the 5th fret, your right hand goes over

just move your right hand over the 12th fret.

harmonics, for example take an A major chord

and simply go string-by-string, like this.

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[Tutorial]Fingerstyle 101 - Lesson 4: Harmonics | Tutorial by Peter Gergely

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