Riff Magic: Natural Harmonics

Hello GMC!

My name is Victor Knyrko, i'm from Estonia and i'm seventeen years old. I've been playing guitar for a while which is two years by now and my absolute #1 guitar player is Dimebag Darrell. Another major influences are Tony Iommy from Black Sabath and Kirk Hammett from Metallica. I play in numerous local bands as a session guitarist.

That's me in Holland I'm a bit sleepy here




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In this lesson i'm going to uncover the possibility of using natural harmonics in heavy metal riffs in order to add some variety in the melody and to give it another feeling.

Heres is the main audio track which i called "Riff Magic"

 riff_magic_NH.mp3 ( 1.13MB ) Number of downloads: 833



Fairly simple isn't it ? However almost all kinds of rhytm guitar techniques are involved here.

Now let's break this composition into 4 parts which represent four different riffs used in it.

(NB! '*' - is a natural harmonic note)

RIFF 1

e|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-9---------------------7---------------------5--------------------------------------------|
A|-9--*--*-*-*--*--*-----7--*--*-*-*--*--*-----5--*--*-*-*--*--*-----4----------------------|
E|-7--7--7-7-7--7--7--0--5--5--5-5-5--5--5--0--3--3--3-3-3--3--3--0--2--0--2--3--5--3--2--0-|


So basically this one is based on a power chord progression going down. Natural harmonics are played using alternate picking.

SLOW VERSION (100bpm)  1st_riff_slow_100bpm_.mp3 ( 226.84K ) Number of downloads: 474


RIFF 2

e|------------------------------------|
B|------------------------------------|
G|------------------------------------|
D|------------------------------------|
A|-2--------------*-----*-----*---2---|
E|-0--0-0-0-0-0-0-5-0-0-3-0-0-2-0-0---|

In this riff you need a constant down-picking technique and always remember to remove your picking hand from the bridge when you're playing natural harmonics so they sound fuller. Open notes are player using palm muting.

SLOW VERSION (100bpm)  2nd_riff_slow_100bpm_.mp3 ( 227.25K ) Number of downloads: 404


RIFF 3

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------|
A|-2----*-----------4/5---5/7---7/5--2-|
E|-0--0-4--0--0-0-0-2/3-0-3/5-0-5/3--0-|

That one involves chord slides which is a common rhythm guitar technique too.

SLOW VERSION (100bpm)  3d_riff_slow.mp3 ( 227.25K ) Number of downloads: 414


RIFF 4

e|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-2------5/7---7/8---8/7-5/7-7--2------5/7---7/8---8/7-*-*-*-----2--|
E|-0--0-0-3/5-0-5/6-0-6/5-3/5-5--0--0-0-3/5-0-5/6-0-6/5-4-4-4-0-0-0--|

Nothing special here. The same as previous ones

SLOW VERSION (100bpm)  4th_riff.mp3 ( 372.55K ) Number of downloads: 399


BACKING TRACK (FULL SPEED - 175bpm)  backing_track_175bpm.mp3 ( 1.13MB ) Number of downloads: 474

BACKING TRACK (SLOW - 125bpm)  backing_track_slow_125bpm.mp3 ( 3.17MB ) Number of downloads: 466



So basically what we you have to know is that natural harmonics are on 12th,7th,5th,3d and 2th frets. Though you must turn your GAIN control to almost maximum to hear harmonics on third and second frets. Incorporating natural harmonics in rhythm figures is very effective when you search for some variety

For more inspiration i recommend you to listen to such tracks as:

Pantera - Heresy
Megdeth - Tornado Of Souls

Check out the riffs

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Good Luck and LET THE PRACTICE BEGIN!

All the best, Vic

Hello Gmc

Hi everyone.

My name's Victor (or simply Vic) i'm from Estonia (That's a little bit down from Finland ). Well...What should i start with? I began playing guitar two years ago and my first instrument was a western-type acoustic guitar which then became a part of my body for about a year . I was studying by myself and first tries were AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Metallica. And after nailing all those possible acoustic tunes i felt a certain need in electric guitar. And I chose a LINDO Flying V ! which was extremely cheap but sounded cool anyway Now i'm playing in a local band giving concerts in our rock/metal clubs. What about my guitar skills? Well i'm planning to film a lesson and upload it to "Student Lessons" Hope you'll like it

all the best,
Vic