Pinch Harmonics or Pick Harmonics are a cool sounding pick trick that makes notes squeal & howl. The good news is that it’s not a hard trick to learn!
So, if you’ve been wondering how guys like Zakk Wylde, Billy Gibbons, Eddie Van Halen and billions more guitar players do it, here you go.
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Basically all you do is pick a note and let the string quickly brush against the side of your thumb as you down stroke (in other words pick towards the floor) and you get a Pinch Harmonic or Pick Harmonic.
Now here are a few good tips to make it easier to make Pinch harmonics really scream out.
Use A LOT of distortion. The more distorted your guitar sound is, the more it makes the note easy to make squeal.
Hold your pick very close to the pointed end so the side of your thumb can ‘snap’ against the string. About an eight to one quarter of an inch of pick sticking out under your fingers is perfect.
Make shore you don’t stop your pick when you feel the string hit the side of your thumb or you’ll stop the trick from working at all and you’ll just get a lame ‘thud’ sound.
Try picking a note in a bunch of places up and down the string (between the bridge and the neck of the guitar) and you’ll get a lot of cool squeals that ring out with different pitches.
Try playing Pick Harmonics on all six strings. The high pitched ‘squealing’ notes with come from the thinner strings and the lower ‘howling’ notes will come from the thick strings.
