Natural Harmonics Guitar Lesson
Get Ready..We are going cover one of the coolest guitar techniques known to man....natural harmonics. A natural harmonic occurs when you divide any guitar string into different lengths. You do this by barely touching the guitar string with a fret-hand finger, then picking the string. The fret-hand finger should come off of the string immediately after picking the string. You will obtain a different harmonic (pitch) depending on where your fret-hand touches the string.
Now, you can't just touch the string anywhere. The frets at which these harmonics occur are the 12th (octave E harmonic), 7th (octave+5th B harmonic), 5th (2 octaves E), 3rd (2 octaves+5th). Let's start with the 12th - fret harmonics:
Natural Harmonic EX. 1(HEAR IT!) and 2(HEAR IT!) - play slowly and strive for a clear, bell-like tone.
Natural Harmonic Ex. 3 (HEAR IT!) and 4(HEAR IT!)
In the 3rd measure, you will move from the 12th fret to the 7th fret harmonics. It will take a fair amount of practice in order to switch frets and play the harmonics clearly and in time.
Natural Harmonic Ex. 5 (HEAR IT!) and 6(HEAR IT!) -Strumming Harmonics
Just barre the first finger of your fretting hand over the fret, and strum the three strings. The fretting finger should come off of the strings immediately just as you would in a single-note natural harmonic.
Experiment!
Now that you have the natural harmonic technique down, try different combinations of frets and strings. Don't forget to turn on the distortion and use your guitar's bridge pickup..this will bring the harmonics out!
| 
