Slapped artificial harmonics

[Stefan Eff]

Is there any trick to slap artificial harmonics clean and loud like Mr.Lage does here at 1:20“?

Thanks for your input!

[grahambop]

Actually I don’t think this is too difficult, I just tried it on my 175 (unplugged) and surprisingly it worked quite well. I held down a Gm7 barre chord at the third fret and whacked the strings at the 15th fret, the harmonics were pretty good.

I just copied what JL did, i.e. gave the strings a pretty smart slap with the side of the index finger (held very straight) right along the top of the fret, hitting all strings simultaneously.

For more complex chords I guess it’s a case of hitting the best outline of the chord shape that you can. I managed a 3rd fret G7#5 pretty well just by whacking the 16th fret straight across.

Whether the sound would come out so well through an amp I don’t know, I didn’t try that.

[pauln]

grambop's got it... hit the location 7 or 12 frets higher.

Some using a pick will rotate their hand palm up and use their fourth finger to make the strike with the out side edge, with the end of the finger pointing UP. Some finger pickers will use their index finger, rotating palm down and using the outside edge, finger end pointing DOWN. In the video of JL, he is holding a pick, using his third finger to kind of snap-pop the strings from above.

Michael Hedges highly developed the technique of slapped harmonics... much harder to tell what he is doing, pretty much magic.

[grahambop]

Actually Julian Lage is sliding the pick out of the way (probably to holding it in between his thumb and middle finger) and slapping the strings with his index finger, that’s why I did it with my index too.

Quite clear in this screenshot (which also shows how he is aligning the RH finger angle to mimic the chord shape outline):

[pauln]

When I tried to replay and stop the video, it looked like his third finger was the action, but I think you're right, the angle...

[whiskey02]

I've been meaning to post a query as to what the hell that little technique is; thanks for bringing it up and for the answers.

[ccroft]

I slowed JL's vid down to the lowest setting and zoomed in a bit to try to see what he's doing. A bit of looping and stopping in different spots revealed something amazing to me, though when it comes to JL I'm pretty easily amazed.

He seems to 'ditch' the pick between the side of middle finger and thumb, slaps with the outside of index and flips the pick back after it's done. Similar to the pick flippery of Jimmy Bruno or Tim Lerch. It'd take some practice, but it actually seems learnable.

I think he's pretty much just hitting D,G, and B strings with front half of index. The amp totally hears it just like any other harmonic. I've heard it live on his telecaster.

[ccroft]

Here's the pick getting ditched a several milliseconds before the slap:

[ccroft]

Actually Julian Lage is sliding the pick out of the way (probably to holding it in between his thumb and middle finger) and slapping the strings with his index finger, that’s why I did it with my index too.

Quite clear in this screenshot (which also shows how he is aligning the RH finger angle to mimic the chord shape outline)

Hah!! Graham's clearly better at grabbing screen shots and posting than I am :-) He got his done and posted in the 40 minutes or so it took me to do mine...

Sidebar: I can only imagine how much better I'd be now if we had these resources 50 years ago. I didn't even know Wes played with his thumb or that Django had 2 fingers until I was like, 18 or something.

[grahambop]

Well I’m amazed you caught the pick being ditched, I couldn’t get a screenshot of that at all!

[ccroft]

Thanks Graham, but I couldn't have done it without the slo mo feature in settings in the clip window. The gear icon, if you don't know it. Pretty handy!

[grahambop]

Thanks, yes I use that slowdown feature too. But I was doing it on my ipad, probably more difficult to pause it at the right place.

[Stefan Eff]

Thanks for your replies gentlemen!

I know the technique in theory and yes, I guess the middle finger is best bet!
My problem is how hard to do it, most times I try it‘s too silent. But I guess it‘s just a question of practice…

[mikeSF]

it's easy: 1) alignment and 2) power.
practice it and it'll become 'natural' (see what i did there?)

[mikeSF]

Tuck is a master o' the slap, check his outchorus on Man in the Mirror here [at 3:25]: