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Wheelyonyourface
Hey guys! Wondering if anyone could help me with my PH. I've been playing on and off for a few years but just recently started practicing seriously. I'm learning as much as I can of Satch's 'If I could Fly' but have come across a harmonic on the 17th fret of the B string. I can consistently do PH at every fret before the 15th fret but when I attempt to do them high on the neck they come out as....SILENT! Any tips and tricks would be gratefully appreciated. You guys rock.

-Dan
MonkeyDAthos
Practiced, angle or pick in your thumb, try to find your "own" spot
Sinisa Cekic
The thickness of the picks that you are using is.. ?
Wheelyonyourface
QUOTE (Sinisa Cekic @ Sep 11 2011, 09:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The thickness of the picks that you are using is.. ?


Currently I am using some small dunlop tortex that cant be anymore than .5mm (they do not have a thickness on them). Up until a few days ago I was using any pick I could find. I found that i was very inconsistent with my PH. I guess the smaller pick enables me to hit the string more efficiently. I plan on going to the music store tomorrow and picking up some more of the Dunlop Tortex picks but thicker (maybe .75mm -1.0mm?). I have heard that the Dunlop Jazz 3 picks are the way to go so I may try those.
SpaseMoonkey
QUOTE (Wheelyonyourface @ Sep 11 2011, 06:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Currently I am using some small dunlop tortex that cant be anymore than .5mm (they do not have a thickness on them). Up until a few days ago I was using any pick I could find. I found that i was very inconsistent with my PH. I guess the smaller pick enables me to hit the string more efficiently. I plan on going to the music store tomorrow and picking up some more of the Dunlop Tortex picks but thicker (maybe .75mm -1.0mm?). I have heard that the Dunlop Jazz 3 picks are the way to go so I may try those.


I use to swear by the Jazz 3, the ones I had were 2.0 maybe? I know I currently use a Tortex Sharp 1.5. Was weird to get use to but I like to be able to grip the pick plus its quite a bit sharper than the Jazz 3.
thefireball
QUOTE (Wheelyonyourface @ Sep 11 2011, 04:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hey guys! Wondering if anyone could help me with my PH. I've been playing on and off for a few years but just recently started practicing seriously. I'm learning as much as I can of Satch's 'If I could Fly' but have come across a harmonic on the 17th fret of the B string. I can consistently do PH at every fret before the 15th fret but when I attempt to do them high on the neck they come out as....SILENT! Any tips and tricks would be gratefully appreciated. You guys rock.

-Dan


Try moving your pick around on that string until you get what you want to hear. (anywhere from the neck to the bridge pickups.)
Daniel Realpe
Try doing harmonics in the lower frets and maintain the exact same hand position and technique, only slightly adpating it to the size of frets, and move around horizontally until you find your spot
Cosmin Lupu
smile.gif why don't you see what note you obtain by pinching that harmonic in that particular place. Once you know the note, see where els on the neck you can find it by pinching it - there must be another place for certain. See if it's close enough to where the phrase had the other harmonic - if it's close enough, keep the newly found position, if not, search until you find a better position. I hope I'm making sense smile.gif
Ben Higgins
Ah, I've been trying to hold onto this secret for as long as I can but I can hold it no longer... ph34r.gif

I'm not sure how Joe does it but I'll tell you how I get harmonics on the upper frets and that is by using upstrokes. You have to slightly change the angle of your thumb and finger so that your thumb looks like it's almost bending inward, not outward and your index finger should be facing away from you

Do you remember how we were all taught NOT to hold our pick between the back of our finger and the thumb ? Well, that's kind of what you have to do for this technique. When you do the upstroke you have to catch the string with your fingertip as well (or is it thumb, I'm describing this from memory) but it feels as if you really are pinching the string with an upstroke.

The other important factor is that you have to pick in the correct place according to which fret you are on. Around the 15th, you'll be closer to the neck.. any higher and you start moving back toward the bridge, but it's only in small movements. Imagine that the frets continue under the strings that you are picking and it will help you gain an idea of how small the changes in direction need to be to get the harmonic. You will generally be picking in the area over the neck pickup (if you have one)

I hope that helps ! smile.gif
Ivan Milenkovic
When so high on the neck, it could be that the PH spot is little shifted. Try moving horizontally a bit on the string around the PH spot, and see if you can produce it. And crank the treble and compression a bit until you get it right.
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