steve vai style question

[newbieguitarmaker]

i've noticed that vai uses a lot of harmonics for screams but sometimes it looks as if he is bending the harmonic, is he bending a harmonic or is it something else? and how do u do it?

[technomancer]

I think what you're talking about is a pick harmonic... basically when you pluck the string you also touch it with the thumb of your pick hand to produce the harmonic, which allows you to bend the fretted note just like any other.

[lyconxero]

Ah, yes. They are also referred to as pinch harmonics since you are essentially pinching the string between the pick and your finger. It's not an easy trick to grasp initially but once you get the major idea then it just takes a LOT of practice to get to the point where you can make them wherever you want, anytime you want.

[newbieguitarmaker]

oh, i have been experimenting with pinch harmonics. so he bends the pinch harmonics?

[btangel]

yea kinda. Some people get it slow, but once you get it, it pretty much sticks to you. Also the harmonic sounds different depending on where you "pinch" the string. Just experiment!

[vy100]

You can use pinched armonics, as explain above, but you can also raise or depress a natural armonic with the tremolo arm. Steve uses both...and other tricks never thought.

[newbieguitarmaker]

but when he bends the string is he using a pinch harmonic with it or some other harmonic?

[drizzt75]

pinch

[wallie!]

heh, once you get it you cant stop :P

newbie give us an example in one of his songs so we can work it out what you are exactly taking about.

[Epicus Furor]

There are loads of tricks Steve uses with pinched harmonics and whammy bar to create some cool effects.

Here's a few:

The Horse

OK, here is an Eddie Van Halen-trademark, often called "The Horse". The way to do this is: hit an harmonic at the fifth fret, press down the bar while shaking it forth and back, then let it move up again, pull up a bit more (above standard pitch ) and down again...

The purring cat

This is an effect made popular by Steve Vai... used i.e. in "Blue Powder". But Steve Lukather is another player who uses it a lot, as i.e. in the Toto-Song "Dave´s Gone Skiing", from the "Tambu"-Album...

It´s kinda difficult to describe. First of all, you need a properly setup FLOATING doublelocking system.Set the bar so it is parallel to the strings, pointing towards the headstock. Then, while playing notes with the left hand, slam down your right hand onto the bar. Let your hand slide along the bar and slide off of it... if you do it right ( I hope you get the idea from my description ), the whole bridge will shake / vibrate fast, and thereby create a shake-y sound, kinda like a purring cat.

Steve Lukather had another nice trick: While playing trills with the left hand, he slightly pushes down the bar and lets it come up again... that way, he creates some kind of a "whirly", "drunk" effect.
Steve Vai took that to another level with his "windmill" ( He used to do that a lot live and in videos with David Lee Roth ).

Another cool trick Vai and Satriani use is to depress the whammy bar as low as possible, then gradually whilst raising it, with your right hand, pick pinch harmonics on the open G-string ( yes, those high-pitched, squealing harmonics a la Billy Gibbons... immediately after you pick the string, touch it slightly with the side of your thumb or the nail of your pinkie to turn the picked note into an harmonic...

Hope some of these neat tricks help ...

- PLAY LOUD -

[mi2tom]

Originally Posted by Epicus Furor

- PLAY LOUD -

and clean

[Chris From Singapore.]

As mentioned above pinched harmonics occur when the flesh on the thumb of your picking hand touches the string when you pick it. Usually to get the best results it has to happen almost simultaneously. Pick the note and then immediately, while on the downstroke, "hit" the string with your thumb.

Experiment with different portions of the string. Which means to say from the bridge pickup area to the neck pickup area. Different parts will yield different notes, which is basically the whole principle of harmonics.

For best results crank up the gain and add some treble, also use your bridge pickup.

What Vai does is basically bend the string while doing a pinched harmonic. You can also achieve the same thing, but not exactly; with your whammy bar.

Experiment!

[Chris777]

Pinch Harmonics are cool, if you really want to hear somebody play PH's on every note listen to some Zakk Wylde. If you want to sound like Vai play the lydian scale in hyperspeed, and learn how to tap like a friggin stenographer

[Roland]

Another cool trem-trick: Mushroomhead's "Solitaire unraveling" - Play an open E, drive the bar all the way down. Mute, let it come up, play a harmonic on the 3rd fret and drive the bar as far up as it will go. Very moody in the song!

As far as pinch harmonics go - I always find that the best all-out scream is above the neck-pickup coil-joint. Right in the middle.