Satch's trademark squeal in Surfin'

[Benson]

On the "Surfin' with the Alien" track Satch does his trademark left hand whammy "wooow" squeal (initially at 0.56).

I know its just pinched harmonics on the open b and g strings but I just can't get it to bite. I can get the thing ti squeal like a pig on fretted notes but not on the open strings. Any tips ? I'm sure its not tone/gear related.

Cheers,
Benson

[Fabe]

Do a forum search for Satriani AND Harmonic you find this:
http://www.jemsite.com/phpbb/viewtop...riani+harmonic
or this:
http://www.jemsite.com/phpbb/viewtop...riani+harmonic

Try using the search function

Fabe

[Benson]

thank you for your suggestion ... I did search for it but the results suggested no-one in that topic had a grip on how to do it properly. Its not a natural 'fretted' harmonic, its pinched with the right hand and seems to be harder to reproduce than a regular pinched harmonic.

[Jeroenn]

****loads of gain on distortion... Try your wah in trebble position.
Also try various postitions between bridge and neck.

[.Matt.]

First of all, make sure you have a High-Gain setting dialed in on your amp, and put your pickup switch to the bridge pickup. Low-output pickups are going to make them harder to hear. Now, to do the scream, you need to hit an Artificial (or Pinch) Harmonic on your open-G string. With your whammy bar, push it down, then pull up and you'll get them screaming pretty good.

[Jeff]

The key is to have the whammy bar depressed before you start to do the pinch harmonics. That way you're able to get the harmonic on both strings which is the key. If you just get it on one, it sounds like crap

[.Matt.]

I always do them on one and they sound just like Satch. I also depress the bar after the harmonic is picked. But they sound cooler if done with two strings. If you can't do them on open strings, do a 2nd fret Harmonic on both strings simulatneously.