Help with Dance the Night Away

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threadkiller

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How can I get the tapped harmonics during the choruses to ring out more? I don't think more gain is the answer. Is there a trick to this or do I just need to work on my technique? I suspect if anything what I need is volume. Not really ringing out at moderate to low volumes. Feels like I need to get closer to the feedback threshold but via volume and not via gain. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to crank it with my band as we are very volume disciplined.

Which brings me to my corollary question? How cheesy would you think it is to see a band do the tune live but have the keys cover the tapped harmonics part. Even if I can get the harmonics ringing out loud, I'm not sure that my other guitar/keyboard player can play the underlying riff while I do the harmonics. He's more of a strummer/singer and not much on riffs that require any palm muting or precise picking.

Hope the suggestion of having keys play a Van Halen guitar part doesn't earn me a rig-talk ban. :D Eddie played some keys so I figured it'd be allowed.
 
Volume can help. Gain just smears the notes. Whack that fret!

And maybe some phaser to add bloom.
 
Play it on an acoustic for a week, then go back to the electric. You just have to hit the fret wire hard with your taps and bounce off very fast. Also, make sure that your fretting isn't sloppy, because if you aren't fretting the notes, cleanly, you won't do yourself any favors.
 
Yeah, with less gain, you need to smack that string directly above the fret, as stated above. Think of Spanish Fly and how hard he hits the strings on those tap harmonics on an acoustic.
 
Acoustic tip is a good one. I used to play the whole set before a gig on acoustic. Mine is tough to play so it made playing an electric easier.

First Ed lowers his volume from the guitar slightly. So more volume and gain aren't the answer. I assume your using a humbucker in the bridge position. If not you should be. Then it's just learning the technique. One finger hits all three strings at once. Index. Angle it to play all three harmonics as needed. As stated you have to hit pretty hard. At first I would hit lightly to find the harmonic and get a feel for how hard I'll have to hit to play it live. Also your tapping on the right frets to produce the harmonics, right?

I've found the Phaser makes harmonics harder to tap. Maybe it's me.

Good luck and forget the keyboards. You can do it!
 
shredhead7":8aitnqog said:
Play it on an acoustic for a week, then go back to the electric. You just have to hit the fret wire hard with your taps and bounce off very fast. Also, make sure that your fretting isn't sloppy, because if you aren't fretting the notes, cleanly, you won't do yourself any favors.
Click to expand...

+1 All the above.. You have to be precise and hit it solid.
 
As everyone is saying, the bottom line is you have to hit the HELL out of those frets. Watch Ed do it - he is smacking the shit out of them...

Steve
 
Thanks for all of the advice. I am getting the harmonics, they just aren't as loud and prominent as I would like for them to be. Sounds like I just need to work on the technique. When I try to hit em' hard I miss. :cry: I usually tap with my middle finger but I'm thinking I might have to go with the index for this part to get the strength and precision required.
 
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