memnoch, i find it's easier to do upstroke pinch harmonics with the pick slightly perpendicular to the string, that's when you do the "tremolo pinch picking". and it doesn't sound weird, the riff doesn't have to be as fast as a tremelo picking, but it could be easier to do stuff like the chorus of "Living Through Me (hell's wrath)" by Pantera. just as fast as that riff or faster, is where you could use alternate pinch picking.

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An upstroke pinch harmonic? Does this mean that you hit the harmonic with the index finger instead of yor thumb?

Yeah.....the way i do my upstroke pinch harmonics is with my middle finger though.

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"unless i want to write a tremolo pinch harmonic riff.....but that would be too weird."
LoL, yeah that would be odd. I think you would be better off doing that with a natural harmonic...
Anyway, for learning artifcial harmonics, or 'pinch squeals' as Dimebag refers to 'em, it's easiest just to have someone show you. Maybe you could go to Guitar Center, and when you see some badass wailing on an overpriced axe, just ask him for advice.

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Use you thumb, not your middle finger...

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i don't do those with my thumb..if i think i think i know what you're talking about lol... like the big harmonic high pitched sqeal type thingy..anyways i just put my regular playing fingers, whatever one is most convienient(sp) and usually it depends on how much gain i have on what frets it works, at high gain it works in a shit load of frets, i usually do em on the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 9th and 10th, some of these don't work on every string. but the 3rd fret usually works on the the 4th, 5th and 6th string, anyways so i take my finger lightly put it on the string, like right next to the fret, like if you were hitting a perfectly clean note, anyways if you pick it like this you'll get a weird high pitched sound, it's like a cling/feedback, anyways when you push down on the string once you pick it, it does the squeal, now if this is not the correct way to do these, someone tell me what is. this way i just stumbled onto, a long time ago about my first year in playing guitar and done em that way ever since.

Those are "Natural Harmonics." I was refering to "Pinched Harmonics." Anyway, you're right about you techniqe. If you want to make your natural harmonics sound louder and clearer, use your whammy bar and give it a fast flutter. It will make the note sound much fuller. I just hope you have a locking tremolo.

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then what's the sound difference between natural harmonics and pinched harmonics?

Natural harmonics ring alone and can sound very loud.

Pinch Harmonics sound close to natural ones, but it's more of a squeal type sound. Also you can do a pinch harmonic on just about any fret on the guitar......natural harmonics only occur at certain places.

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Memmoch is absolutely right!

Natural harmonics also have more of a pure, cleaner tone as well.

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pretty useful info folks! and it's not that hard, managed to do it after 3 or 4 tries...maybe hard to perfect

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ok, now my problem is that i cant do it at all the frets. only between 4th and 8th. when i get past 12th position, it just becomes impossible and sounds muted(its barely audible) like a muted screech. and also, is the original note supposed to sound aswell?

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No. You're probably doing it wrong.

Even after reading through this whole thread, it will most likely take you loads of practice before getting it right.

I practiced about 2-3 months before even getting a sound out of my pinch harmonics. Took maybe another month until i could pull them off on any string.

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you're doing it in the wrong place weijia. when you move your left hand up the fret, you're supposed to move up the spot where you pick , too. all harmonics are basically the same distance apart from eachother. artificial harmonics are like recreated natural harmonics, when you think about. like try this, do a natural harmonic on the 12th fret. now do a artificial harmonic with the left hand fingering the 1st fret and the right hand picking where the 13th fret is on the bridge. it should sound similar to the natural harmonic you played, only it's transposed half a step.

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oh, does it go that far? because i only tried moving between the area of my pickups. ok thanks

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I basically pick all my artificial harmonics within my "pickup" range.......i've never had to go over the fretboard.

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a question about natural harmonis at the 12th fret. they sound the same as if i fret it. is that right? because the others sound different.

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Here's your problem: You must be playing out of both pickups at once. Play only out of your bridge pickup. You'll get the sound you're looking for...

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I think there's an important aspect of this that you are missing.
A natural harmonic is performed by forcing the string to vibrate with half it wavelength, or some other integer split. Common "harmonic places" are 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th.
If you fret a string on the (n)th fret, then you can place the "harmonic-finger" on the (n+12)th (or n+5 or n+7 or n+9) fret, to get a proper harmonic. Then there's also the option of forcing a harmonic, ie strumming so hard that you get some sound even though you're not placing your "harmonic finger" on a good spot. This is of course easier with lots of dist and so on.
This also applies for artificial/pinch harmonics. To get a higher pitched squeal, find a 5th or 9th (or whatever) of the strings length (the part that is not stopped by fretting fingers).

I can admit that I learnt how to do artificial harmonics (and succeded in performing them on my acoustic guitar (don't have an electric guitar)) from this thread, but the theoritics about harmonics in general is stuff I learnt ages ago (like 5 years).

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Basically...

As much distortion as your amp can give, A Treble sound (no mid or bass, unless its a large amp), and Only use Bridge, Thats my setup, and they sound awesome, Try that

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