Tapped Harmonics

Author: Jimi Savage

What Are Tapped Harmonics?

Finger tapping is a technique that can be used for playing legato. The picking hand fingers hammer into the frets of the guitar to produce pitched notes. Instead of notes being played, harmonics are produced.
When you pluck a string it vibrates, not only throughout its full length but also in smaller sections: halves, thirds, quarters, etc. The meeting places of these sections are called nodes or harmonic points. If you can stop the string vibrating along its length (touching it once at various points) then the only remaining movement will be from the smaller sections. This means that you'll just hear the note(s) created by the smaller section.

How to Produce the Notes

To create a tapped harmonic you actually pitch the notes using the fingers of your picking hand. You need to tap the nodes of the string (which occur directly on the fret, not in the fret space) to produce a tapped harmonic. Play the note of D on the 7th fret / 3rd string and tap the same string at the 19th fret. You should produce a harmonic of the (fundamental) note one octave higher.

12, 7 5 & 9 Frets

When you play open notes you can get natural harmonics from the 12th, 7th & 5th frets. These harmonics are the basic harmonics from the fundamental note giving you the octave 12 frets higher, perfect 12th 7 frets above and perfect 15th (2 octaves) 5 frets above the note. From the same note of D (3rd string / 7th fret) tap the harmonics 12 frets above, then 7 frets above and then 5 frets above. You should create 3 different harmonics (which are related) from the fundamental note of D. 9 frets above the fundamental note will produce a harmonic of a maj17th (3rd) above the note. When playing these pitched harmonics get to know the pitches that are being produced from any note!

Playing Scales With Tapped Harmonics

You can play scales using tapped harmonics by simply fingering the scale as normal with your fretboard hand but tapping out the harmonics at the harmonic points / nodes, thus producing a scale of harmonics.

Improvising Tapped Harmonics

After mastering how to perform tapped harmonics and understanding the relative pitches produced from the fundamental note, try improvising with this technique from the scales you put into your jamming.

Remember

1. Tap with the 2nd finger on your picking hand.
2. Tap the metal strip of the fret (the actual fret itself), not the fret space.
3. Use a whipping action with your tapping finger and remove it immediately from the node/harmonic point to create a clear ringing pitch.
4. The harmonics will be brighter if you use the bridge pickup.
5. For Rock & Metal players use a fairly heavy overdriven tone; add a compressor if it helps, but beware of feedback.