EVH Harmonics

M

matttornado

Active member
How on earth was Eddie able to make all of those tapped harmonics pop out loud and clear? I been trying off and on for decades and I can't figure it out. Sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. I wan't to be able to do it every single time with no effort like Ed did.


My band is learning Dance the Night Away and even though I know the breakdown solo part, It's really hard to get the harmonics to pop out, especially when I turn the volume down for that part.


Learning the intro to Meanstreet, I discovered that the more distortion I have, the easier it is but Ed didn't use that much distortion, especially by today's standard.
He never seemed to NOT be able to it and when he did, it was just as easy for him as playing a note with a pick! It boggles my mind.
So who here knows the (his) secret! haha I'm guessing the answer is to keep trying.
 
Yes - a LOT of this boils down to technique. BUT … I have found a few things that help those tapped harmonics to jump off the fretboard:

1) Definitely, light strings help. Lighter gauge strings are pulled to lower absolute tension at the exact same pitch than heavier gauge strings. Ed played 9s with a lighter .040 bottom (as opposed to the more typical .042 low E)

2) Harmonics always sound clearer and are easier to get with brand new strings as opposed to older, duller, dead strings. I know Ed was once quoted in an interview saying that he loved the feel and sound of dead strings. But he also said in an interview that he used his variac to crank the voltage UP on his amps, not down. So you never know. Wait til your strings are good and dead and go hunting for harmonics. Then slap on a new set and try again.

3) Finally - get your hands on a Peterson Strobe Tuner and set your guitar’s intonation with a true strobe. Use brand new strings. Go slowly. Make each octave harmonic dead to nuts with the open string and ’fretted’ 12th fret octave. You will find that having the intonation dead on with a strobe makes ALL the harmonics everywhere the neck ‘truer’ to the fret where they are ‘theoretically’ supposed to be found and makes them way easier to hit.
 
PDC said:
Yes - a LOT of this boils down to technique. BUT … I have found a few things that help those tapped harmonics to jump off the fretboard:

1) Definitely, light strings help. Lighter gauge strings are pulled to lower absolute tension at the exact same pitch than heavier gauge strings. Ed played 9s with a lighter .040 bottom (as opposed to the more typical .042 low E)

2) Harmonics always sound clearer and are easier to get with brand new strings as opposed to older, duller, dead strings. I know Ed was once quoted in an interview saying that he loved the feel and sound of dead strings. But he also said in an interview that he used his variac to crank the voltage UP on his amps, not down. So you never know. Wait til your strings are good and dead and go hunting for harmonics. Then slap on a new set and try again.

3) Finally - get your hands on a Peterson Strobe Tuner and set your guitar’s intonation with a true strobe. Use brand new strings. Go slowly. Make each octave harmonic dead to nuts with the open string and ’fretted’ 12th fret octave. You will find that having the intonation dead on with a strobe makes ALL the harmonics everywhere the neck ‘truer’ to the fret where they are ‘theoretically’ supposed to be found and makes them way easier to hit.
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Good advice man; thanks. :thumbsup:
 
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PDC said:
Make each octave harmonic dead to nuts with the open string and ’fretted’ 12th fret octave. You will find that having the intonation dead on with a strobe makes ALL the harmonics everywhere the neck ‘truer’ to the fret where they are ‘theoretically’ supposed to be found and makes them way easier to hit.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify: The 12th fret harmonic will always be in tune with the open string. That's just physics. But the fretted note at the 12th is the one that we use to set the intonation. Other than that I totally agree.

Regarding the tapped harmonics, the tapping finger has to lift off the string immediately...like kind of bounce off of it. Otherwise there is a micro-second where it mutes the string.
 
I think a Jumbo fret and a real good setup would help. And yes, a very cranked amp.

And practice, practice, practice.
 
The only way I was able to do this properly was by playing the same pinch harmonic over and over again finding the location on the string that made it sound the best. I had to do this for every pinch harmonic note and what I found was there are several locations on the string where the pinch harmonics sound different. It's not too different from finding the location on the string where chug sounds good. There are multiple locations. I've only ever got good pinch harmonics from the bridge position and with the volume up. I nearly always add some finger vibrato to the pinch harmonic so that it sounds out.
 
Uh, yeah he's not talking about pinch harmonics tonemaster, esquire. Hes talking about the "popped" EVH harmonics that are performed with a tap. Thanks for your boundless knowledge, though.


OP, light strings, really well intonated guitar, and in some cases slightly sweetened tuning. Besides that its practice...especially on the same guitar, so you know exactly where they are in relation to the frets.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Uh, yeah he's not talking about pinch harmonics tonemaster, esquire. Hes talking about the "popped" EVH harmonics that are performed with a tap. Thanks for your boundless knowledge, though.


OP, light strings, really well intonated guitar, and in some cases slightly sweetened tuning. Besides that its practice...especially on the same guitar, so you know exactly where they are in relation to the frets.
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Sorry my bad. Oh well, they got a bonus on his pinch harmonics.

The answer to their question is perfect string muting. They need to mute with both hands. Free fingers on the strings not being tapped.
 
In the 80s you could walk into most any club in any city in the US and you'd
hear guys doing them on every type of guitar, string, amp, whatever.



How to you get to Carnegie Hall Dan?
 
TheRealDonnie said:
In the 80s you could walk into most any club in any city in the US and you'd
hear guys doing them on every type of guitar, string, amp, whatever.



How to you get to Carnegie Hall Dan?
Click to expand...

If you hang out on 57th and 7th long enough someone is bound to ask.

The answer is always practice.
 
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