Natural harmonic
A bell-like overtone produced by lightly touching a string above a nodal point without pressing it to the fret.
A natural harmonic sounds because the finger damps the fundamental and its lower partials, leaving the higher partials that still have a node at that point. The most reliable nodes sit above the twelfth, seventh and fifth frets, where the octave, the twelfth and the double octave live. The note rings only while the finger is lifted, so the fret hand must move away the instant the string is picked, and the result is thinner and purer than a fretted note.
Example: The chiming bell notes at the twelfth fret of an electric guitar played with a lightly resting finger are natural harmonics.
See also
Related
- PageHarmonic
- PageArtificial harmonic
- PageOvertone
- PageAccent
- PageAction height
- PageAlternate picking
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley