Pinch harmonic
A harmonic produced by catching the string with the edge of the pick and the side of the thumb at the same moment, so the pick sounds a note and the thumb kills the fundamental.
The string is left vibrating only in its higher partials, producing a piercing, squealing note that sits two or more octaves above the fretted pitch and changes as the picking hand moves along the string. It works best on the bridge pickup with a distorted sound and a firm attack, since the effect depends on stopping the fundamental completely. Moving the hand closer to the bridge raises the pitch of the resulting harmonic.
Example: a pinch harmonic held on the third string over a distorted chord gives the high, screaming note that punctuates a lot of rock lead playing.
See also
Related
- PageHarmonic
- PageAccent
- PageAction height
- PageAlternate picking
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley
- PageAd-Rock
- ReferenceCircle of fifths