Make It Sing! Play Tapped HARMONICS Like Eddie Van Halen

Guitar World

Tapping isn't just for shredding – it can make notes scream and sing too!

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone, my name is Jamie Humphries and in this lesson we're going to be talking about

00:24tapped harmonics. Now there have been many great guitar players that have utilised the

00:28tapped harmonic technique within their playing but I think it's pretty much safe to say that when

00:33we think of tapped harmonics especially when we're talking about rock guitar and electric guitar we

00:39think of Eddie Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen really pioneered the technique of tapped harmonics

00:46within rock guitar and it was very much a part of his sound and his style. Now the basic concept is

00:52is that we use tapping to sound artificial harmonics. A natural harmonic is played off of

00:58an open string and we can play at various points or nodes to sound different notes off of our open

01:06strings and the concept is pretty much the same except we will use our fretting hand to play a

01:13note effectively producing an artificial nut. In other words raising the nut to a certain point

01:20and then tapping at set positions on the guitar to sound harmonics and these positions that we tap in

01:28mirror those where we play natural harmonics off of open strings. So let's kick off with example number

01:34one and look at the basics of the technique. What you will do is you will tap directly over the fret wire.

01:42So think about when you sound the natural harmonic as we strike that the finger comes away we don't leave it to

01:50rest on the string you strike the string just lightly holding the finger you're not pressing the string down

01:57and the concept is the same with the tapped harmonics. You can hear as I'm tapping on that fret

02:04there's a harmonic

02:09so for example number one you are quite simply going to tap across each of the open strings at

02:19the 12th fret to practice the technique of being able to sound a harmonic through tapping. You're going

02:26to ascend and descend. I'm going to play that first of all for you against our backing track which is just

02:32an e-drone with a click track and then I will play it isolated for you so you can really hear and see

02:40what I'm doing.

03:02All right.

03:06So for example number two,

03:34we're going to take the concept that we looked at in our previous example and just take it a little bit further.

03:39Whereas in the previous example I showed you how you can tap 12 frets above the open strings at the 12th fret to sound harmonics,

03:47we can do exactly the same thing with fretted notes.

03:50What you're going to be doing in this example is playing the 5th fret of the top E and the 8th fret of the top E

03:56and then you're going to tap 12 frets above those notes.

04:02Effectively your first finger and then your little finger are going to act like an artificial nut.

04:08So when you're playing a note at the 5th fret you're going to tap the harmonic at the 17th fret.

04:18The same approach again, I'm not letting my finger come to rest.

04:22As I strike my finger comes away and I'm doing that directly over the fret wire.

04:26And the same thing when you play the 8th fret.

04:30When you play the 8th fret you're going to tap at the 20th fret.

04:34Okay, it's a little bit harder to get some of these harmonics out.

04:40But with a little bit of practice try to work on your muting as well as look at the tone of the guitar.

04:46I'd suggest using the bridge pickup and also pushing the gain a little bit.

04:51And if you've got a compressor try using a compressor because that will help pull the harmonics out.

04:55So for example number 2 you're going to start off playing whole notes.

04:59Changing between the A note and the C note with tapped harmonics.

05:02Then you will play quarter notes and then finally an 8th note rhythm.

05:07So just to get you used to the technique and being able to move between 2 different points

05:13where you are tapping the harmonics exactly 12 frets away from where you are fretting them.

05:18So when you fret the 5th fret of the toppy you will tap at the 17th fret of the toppy.

05:23When you fret the 8th fret of the toppy you will tap at the 20th fret of the toppy.

05:29Remember tap on the fret wire and just lift your finger away.

05:33Don't make contact.

05:34Don't leave your finger on the string making contact with the fretboard.

05:39So now I'm going to play the example for you with the backing track and then I will play it slower with the click.

05:45I'm going to play the wrong.

06:10Now on to example number three, and for example number three,

06:38we're going to take the concept another stage further, and now what we're going to do is

06:42practice playing through an A minor pentatonic using tapped harmonics. We're going to hold shape

06:47number one, so we're playing 5A on the low E, 57 on the A, D, and G strings,

06:565A on the B, and 5A on the top E. And you're going to mirror that shape 12 frets above,

07:07so when we're playing the 5th fret, you're going to be tapping at the 17th.

07:14When we play the 8th fret, you're going to be tapping at the 20th.

07:20And then when you play the 7th fret, we are going to be tapping at the 19th.

07:26Okay, and the idea is that as you walk through the scale, you're going to be sounding each note

07:32by tapping exactly 12 frets above, producing a tapped harmonic as you ascend and descend

07:39through the scale. So be sure to pay attention to muting, try to keep things nice and clean

07:43when you're practicing through this example. Okay, so I'm going to play through example number

07:47three for you now, up to tempo with the backing track, and then slowly with the click.

07:52, up to tempo with the track, and then slowly with the track, and then slowly with the

08:03Now on to example number four, and for example number four,

08:32we're going to take a look at how we can sound different harmonic pitches off of a static note by tapping at different points on the neck.

08:41Now there are different points where we can sound natural harmonics off of an open string,

08:45but we're just going to focus on three of them to keep it nice and easy and use this as the formula for our tapped harmonics.

08:52If I'm playing the open G string, I can play the harmonic at the 12th fret, the 7th fret, and at the 5th fret.

09:02We can sound them at the 9th fret, we can sound them around the 3rd and the 2nd fret.

09:06These ones can be a little bit harder to achieve, especially when you're trying to produce harmonics such as this with tapped harmonics.

09:15So for this example, we are going to be fretting the C note at the 5th fret on the G string,

09:22and you're going to treat that, as I said, like an artificial nut.

09:26Think of moving the nut to the 5th fret.

09:29And then we can just transfer that formula of where we play 12, 7, and 5.

09:35We can take that same formula and apply that to tapped harmonics off of the 5th fret C note.

09:43So I'm going to take that C note, I'm going to tap a harmonic at the 17th fret,

09:48at the 12th fret,

09:50and at the 10th fret.

09:53Now just pay a little bit of attention when you're tapping harmonics that get closer to the fretted note.

09:59They start to get a little bit harder.

10:01In other words, when you're tapping the harmonic at the 12th fret and at the 10th fret,

10:07they can be a little bit harder to produce.

10:09So spend some time just finding that sweet spot so that the harmonic really jumps out.

10:14Okay, so for example number 4, I've put together a short melody,

10:18tapping harmonics off of a C note in these different positions.

10:23We're going to be tapping at the 17th fret, the 12th fret, and the 10th fret,

10:27whilst holding the C note on the 5th fret of the G string.

10:31I'm going to play the example for you first of all with the backing track,

10:34and then I'm going to play it slower for you with the click.

10:57Now on to example number 5,

11:10and for example number 5, I wanted to explore another concept using tapped harmonics,

11:15where we tap harmonics when playing chords.

11:17Now if you listen to the track Die to Live by Steve Vai,

11:21he is using this technique to great effect throughout the track.

11:26So I was very much inspired by that track.

11:29So what you're going to be doing is you're going to be holding a chord,

11:32for instance if we take the A major chord,

11:35where you're barring across with your first finger at the 2nd fret,

11:41we will then tap by holding our finger and sort of slapping it 12 frets above,

11:47so that will be at the 14th fret.

11:53And you can hear that I can sound all three of those fretted notes.

11:58You're going to have to get your finger quite straight,

12:00so you're going to have to move your finger the position of it,

12:03whereas we've been tapping with our hand sort of running along the string,

12:07you're going to have to come over the top.

12:09And for this example, I've engineered it so that all of the chords that you're playing,

12:13it will be possible for you to tap the harmonics across one fret.

12:18Okay, so now I'm going to play through example number five for you with the backing track,

12:23and then I'll play it slowly with the click.

13:25Okay, so now we're on to our final example, example number six.

13:33And in this example, I've put all of the different techniques together to form a full solo.

13:39Now, there are going to be a couple of troublesome areas in this solo.

13:43Probably the hardest part of this solo is going to be the string bend lick with the tapped harmonics,

13:49where you bend the 7th fret of the G up by a whole tone.

13:52And we're tapping between the 14th fret and the 12th fret,

13:59and then you've got to let the note down while still retaining the harmonic.

14:04That's a classic Eddie Van Halen technique.

14:06As well as that, there's also some tapping using double stops.

14:11I have a little bluesy phrase.

14:17Instead of just fretting the notes that I'm barring on the 5th fret of the G and B,

14:21in the 7th fret of the G and B, we're going to be playing those with tapped harmonics.

14:25So, in the same way as you played the chords, you're going to be tapping two strings at once.

14:38Now, in the same way that we practice through our A minor pentatonic scale using tapped harmonics,

14:44I've also included a little descending pentatonic sequence that you will also play using tapped harmonics.

14:51So, once again, you're just going to be mirroring the shape of the minor pentatonic scale an octave higher.

14:58Okay, so now I'm going to play through example number six for you with the backing track,

15:05and then I will play it with the click at a slower tempo.

16:08So, I hope this lesson has given you an insight and a bit of an introduction to the world of tapped harmonics.

16:31This is not an easy technique to master, but it's one of those techniques that once you get down,

16:37it sounds really cool when you start to introduce some of these ideas into your own playing.

16:43So, if you've enjoyed this lesson, make sure you click like on this video,

16:47as well as subscribing to GuitarWorld.com.

16:50That's it from me.

16:51I hope to see you very soon.

16:53Bye for now.

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