Harmonics ? with picks on thumb, index, middle, and ring

[Sherman Willden]

Do you mainly harmonic with the palm and little finger knuckle joint? I haven't found too many other ways to do it.

Thanks in advance;

Sherman

[Mat Rhodes]

In my case, never the palm. Always the second joint of the pinky (closest to the hand, or "body") and my hand is positioned at about a 30 degree angle "karate chop" . The harmonic sounds brighter that way.

The angle allows me to see the fretboard better and play chord harmonics with the free fingers (you have 4 of them). If the chord voicings are close (3rds, 2nds), then the pinky does a good enough job. If the chord voicings are open (4ths or wider), then I have to incorporate the first joint of the hand ("body").

For single note stuff, I usually pick with the thumb, but sometimes I'll pick with the index finger (brighter).

[Ray Montee (RIP)]

Harmonics not at all unlike pedals..........depend on what YOU, the player, is wanting to convey to your listener.

What are you saying? What is the phrase you're addressing? What is the embellishment you're shooting for?

It's not just something that you bang away at without regard to the message........... You wouldn't likely have had Minnie Pearl sing a phrase in a high class uptown Opera and more than likely you'd not have an OPERA STAR sing "Great Speckled Bird".

Some folks have lost sight of what music is all about. One is supposed to be playing to the EAR of the audience, is he/she not? There's suppose to be
a flow of pleasant musical tones........not just a
bunch of loosely connected, chain of somebody else's hot licks.

FINGER HARMONICS, Palm Harmonics are different from each other as to how they're played and thusly, WHAT IT IS, that you're attempting to convey to your listeners. Choose the type you're going to use "wisely".

[Gerald Menke]

FWIW, my favorite way to get chimes, and I use them A LOT, is the technique Paul teaches in his video. He uses the fingernail of the pinky finger, which gets a brighter, more punchy tone in my opinion. It will take a few hours practice time to get it if you have been using your palm or, as I used to do, the second section of my third finger (for want of a better way to describe it!)

One of the many benefits of Paul's technique is that it makes doing combinations of chimed and unchimed string pairs much easier. Once you get this happening, your chimes will sound amazing. There's nothing like that sound of one chimed string and one plucked string ringing together, it's sublime. I practice playing scales while chiming them, I feel it's one of the fundamental skills of playing steel, dobro, lap steel.

Gerald

[John Billings]

I like the little finger method. I can "chime" on thre adjacent strings at once if I wanna.

[basilh]

So in this practise recording, what type of harmonics are used on the intro and what type are the ones on the end ?

Blue Velvet

[Paddy Long]

Another very good technique is to use the end of your third finger with the thumb pick behind it !!

[Michael Johnstone]

I wear my thumbpick well back on 1st section of the thumb - as far back as it can be and still bend the 1st knuckle - and use the tip of the picking thumb on the fret 12 frets up from the bar and pick the string with the thumbpick. I do it all with the thumb. There ends up being about 1.25" from the tip of the thumb and the tip of the pick but that seems to be enough to get a solid harmonic. Plus nothing is hidden and you can really see what you're doing. You can rake up or down across several adjacent strings too for chord harmonics if you maintain the angle. An added feature of wearing the thumbpick back a ways is you have better leverage and can play faster and more accurate. I've never seen anyone else do it that way. I showed it to Jeff Newman at a seminar with Buddy Emmons - he(Jeff)laughed me out of the room and accused me of being from California. But hey it works.

[Mat Rhodes]

Michael, what do you do to avoid hitting those middle strings you don't want to hear while raking chords with "dropped" voicings (example from low-to-high: 7,3,5 or 5,7,3)? Do you dampen them with your bar fingers?

[Clete Ritta]

I at first found using the pinky knuckle to work for me. I sat down with Denny Mathis here in San Antonio recently and asked him about chiming. He likes to use the palm. And after reading previous posts, it seems there are more than a few ways to get harmonics. I suppose like any art form, its a matter of preference. And as Ray mentioned, depending on what you want to convey musically. For broad sweeping stuff I imagine palm harmonics may work better. For intricate string skipping style the pinky knuckle (or other) method may work better.

[Michael Johnstone]

Adjacent strings.
For split grips I use my palm.

[Clete Ritta]

Adjacent strings.
For split grips I use my palm.

Mike,
That makes sense to me. Im a new steeler and this is all news to me!
Ive only managed the knuckle and finger techniques recently, and am now experimenting with palm harmonics. "Grip" generally refers to thumb and fingers on the right hand, yes? So you use the finger picks too? So far, I'm just using the thumb and sweeping adjacent strings. Anyway, I cant imagine contorting the fingers to pick too, if using the knuckle method. Palm harmonics seems to be a natural way to pluck split grips. Thanks for sharing that!

[b0b]

Do you mainly harmonic with the palm and little finger knuckle joint? I haven't found too many other ways to do it.

Thanks in advance;

Sherman

I use the tip of the little finger for single notes, And the knuckles for double notes. I've never been able to get enough volume from palm harmonics. I'm probably doing it wrong.

[Clete Ritta]

I havent heard this, but its probably been played, just not sure how. Lets say you want to chime just 3 and 5 (or another split pair) simultaneously. Can this be done with pinky knuckle and plucked with thumb and pointer? Or is palm easier? Im curious about those techniques involving more than the thumb alone picking.

[Georg Sørtun]

I (used to) chime pairs - adjacent or split, by curling my little finger under to get a flat "edge", and pick, or rather "snap" the strings, with thumb and middle finger. My little finger "edge" gives a strong tone.

My palm tend to give a much softer, weaker, chime, that goes almost unnoticed in under a normally picked chord. I (used to) add some such chiming/half-muting when playing quietly in the background, creating a more harp-like, rhythmic, sound that doesn't intrude on fellow musicians' parts.

Single strings I often (used to) chime by using pick on index finger, or thumb, to "cut it", while picking with middle finger. This gives a sharper, more distinct, ring.


All this is a bit "theoretically" to me now as I'm "picking myself up" after years away from the steel. But, after half an hour or more of practicing regular picking, my dormant reflexes tend to kick in and I can produce somewhat proper chiming the way I used to.

[Ben Jones]

First two years i used the pinky. worked really well for singel notes but I couldnt get nice adjacent string chiming with it.

Now I use the third. I was told emmons uses the third finger. Its taking forever to retrain myself away from the pinky.

[b0b]

I havent heard this, but its probably been played, just not sure how. Lets say you want to chime just 3 and 5 (or another split pair) simultaneously. Can this be done with pinky knuckle and plucked with thumb and pointer? Or is palm easier? Im curious about those techniques involving more than the thumb alone picking.

That's how I do it. For some people the palm technique is easier.

[Chuck McGill]

Randy Beavers gave a demonstration of a technique
using your first finger to pick and your thumb pick
at 12,7,5 from bar. It works great and you can get
a pinched 6 str. sound like zz top using this method.

[Ben Jones]

No matter what the method..I just wish I could get em to a point where they are 100% reliable and on tap LIVE.

Nothing builds confidence like going for a harmonic live and getting that dead string "plunk". No amount of frowning at the bass player can alleviate or deflect the shame of that grand spotlighted failure


I want to install a clown car horn on my steel so I can honk that every tme I muff a harmonic. "a-oooh-gah!"

[Ray Montee (RIP)]

"Steelin' the Chimes".......a great example of palm harmonics can now be heard on the JerryByrd-FanClub.com/ site.

When we occasionally flubbed a harmonic, we always used to turn, point at the drummer and hollar "HE DID IT!" Audience reaction was always the same and simply accepted the fact that the drummer 'did it!' They always seemed to believe steel players back in the olden days.

How I miss those days............

[John Billings]

I always pointed at the bass player and started laughin'! Really used to tick him off!

[Clete Ritta]

Another very good technique is to use the end of your third finger with the thumb pick behind it !!

Mr. Johnstones technique appears to be a variation of this "pick behind" style, but just thumb alone. The advantage also is being able to clearly see your sweet spot on the fretboard. The "pick ahead" style requires you to get a lock on the distance from pick to knuckle or palm and use this constant distance to find the spot. Of course the "spot" varies on where you are on the board, so there is an inconsistency which requires a lot of spot memorization. Remembering 12 7 and 5 is a lot easier than having to do some logarithmic calculations in your head everytime you reach for a harmonic. I suppose this is because we tend to watch the pick more than the "spot" when using a "pick ahead" style, to make sure the pluck is clean on the intended string. The "pick behind" style focuses the attention on the "spot" rather than the "pick" IMHO.
As a guitar player, Ive found Steve Morse's 6 string technique very cool. Since he usually holds a flatpick with thumb, pointer and middle fingers, he creates harmonics by holding the flatpick with thumb and middle finger while "pointing" the harmonic with his 1st finger. Paddy's technique sounds very similar, except, since having a pick on the pointer negates its use, substituting the ring finger as the "pointer". I am going to work on this technique, as I'm already familiar with Mr. Morses technique on guitar. Who else uses the ring finger over the thumb style? Ive seen it done, just cant remember who or where.

Thanks Dave, for pointing out the topic title below, which I didnt regard in my posts. I dont use a 3rd fingerpick, sorry.

[David Doggett]

People should be aware the original post states there is a pick on the ring finger. I also use four picks, and have the same dilemma for harmonics. I haven't settled on the best solution yet.

[Sherman Willden]

Thanks to David and all. I learned by using the middle knuckle but when I went to picks on the thumb and three fingers I had to learn how to use the pinkie. Michael Johnstone uses the thumb which I didn't know about and that is what I wanted to get from this posting. Is there a way to harmonic while wearing a pick on a finger? I can't get the stretch to do that


Sherman

[basilh]

So in this practise recording, what type of harmonics are used on the intro and what type are the ones on the end ?

Blue Velvet

Would you be requiring any clearer harmonics than at 2:16 in the above video ? they are played using 3 finger pix and a thumbpick.