Harmonic notation

The marks that tell a player a note is to be sounded as a harmonic, showing either a diamond note head or the fret in angle brackets.

Printed music indicates harmonics in two main ways: in standard notation by replacing the note head with a small diamond, and in tab by wrapping the fret number in angle brackets or naming the touched fret separately from the fretted one. Natural harmonics need only the touched position, while artificial and tap harmonics need both the fretted note and the node above it. Because the written pitch and the sounding pitch can differ, players usually check the marking carefully against a recording the first time.

Example: Notes written inside angle brackets in a tab line are harmonics produced by touching the string rather than pressing it.

Harmonic notation

See also