is there an optimal place to pick for harmonics

Hey Mike,

I really enjoyed your guitar workshop on harmonics. Great stuff! I have a follow-up question. When one is playing a harmonic, natural or otherwise, you're basically placing a 3rd node into the string (i.e., in addition to the nodes at the nut and the bridge) and at every other point that along the string that is a multiple of the distance between the nut and where you are playing the harmonic. So if you play a harmonic at the 5th fret on a 24" scale length guitar, you are putting a node 6 inches from the nut to produce an octave of the open string, and that will also give you nodes 12 inches from the nut, and 18 inches until you get to the bridge. That makes me think that one is working at cross purposes if plucking the string at those nodal positions (say 6 inches in front of the bridge) because I would think that wherever you pluck to set the string in motion, that is going to be an anti-node. That is, you are both putting the string in motion and also trying to have it not be in motion at that point. To test this, I tried playing harmonics on the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets while plucking at different positions along the string. The results were sort of consistent with what I'm saying, but certainly not conclusive. Anyway, I guess if I were going to boil this down to one question, I'm wondering if you or other accomplished players try to pick at any particular point when playing harmonics or do you basically not worry about it and strike the string wherever your hand happens to be.

Thanks,

Dave

Hey Dave - thanks so much for your question - this is a very interesting topic.

I'm not aware of any guitarists that ever mention where to pick across the string in playing harmonics, though it doesn't mean they're not out there. I think it is very likely that many guitarists have figured this out instinctually - ie they don't think about the science of it, but have experimented and determined optimal spots to pick across the string when playing harmonics that sound the best to them. This is just more of a - "I think this sounds better when I pick around here" kind of thing.

However, I would imagine that the anti-nodes make up much less of the overall sound than the harmonic notes. Which would explain why we never really talk about where to pick across the string when describing this technique. It might sound slightly better or worse, depending on where you pick, but, in an overall sense, the majority of the sound is the harmonic note.

More directly to your question - no, I've never actually considered where exactly I'm picking the string when I use this technique.

Does this make sense?

Mike

Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Hey Mike,

I really enjoyed your guitar workshop on harmonics. Great stuff! I have a follow-up question. When one is playing a harmonic, natural or otherwise, you're basically placing a 3rd node into the string (i.e., in addition to the nodes at the nut and the bridge) and at every other point that along the string that is a multiple of the distance between the nut and where you are playing the harmonic. So if you play a harmonic at the 5th fret on a 24" scale length guitar, you are putting a node 6 inches from the nut to produce an octave of the open string, and that will also give you nodes 12 inches from the nut, and 18 inches until you get to the bridge. That makes me think that one is working at cross purposes if plucking the string at those nodal positions (say 6 inches in front of the bridge) because I would think that wherever you pluck to set the string in motion, that is going to be an anti-node. That is, you are both putting the string in motion and also trying to have it not be in motion at that point. To test this, I tried playing harmonics on the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets while plucking at different positions along the string. The results were sort of consistent with what I'm saying, but certainly not conclusive. Anyway, I guess if I were going to boil this down to one question, I'm wondering if you or other accomplished players try to pick at any particular point when playing harmonics or do you basically not worry about it and strike the string wherever your hand happens to be.

Thanks,

Dave