Achieving the "scream" sound

[blueslover2]

Often when i play high up on the neck (but not always) I get a note to go into what I would call a "higher level", an utter scream, like is often heard in metal and classic rock. I think it happens when I strike the string in a certain way, perhaps with the pick angled versus having the point aiming perpendicular to the string. What is the explanation for the cool sound, what is happening musically, and how can I achieve this at my own will, instead of an almost random occurence?

Thanks a lot.

[beez]

what's happening is the side of your thumb is lightly touching the string at a point where a harmonic would occur. there is a corresponding harmonic at both the headstock end and the bridge end. Open string example: on a g string, play an open harmonic at the 3rd fret. on the same open string, you will find the same harmonic the same distance from the bridge to the harmonic (maybe 4 inches) as you will from the nut to the 3rd fret. On that same open string try to make that harmonic near the bridge ring only using your pickhand. You can do this by choking up on the pick and making sure plenty of finger meat hits the string after you pick.

When you fret the string, the harmonics are still there, though there position and pitch have changed due to the shortening of the string lenght. With a little fooling around you can find the right position for your picking hand to get that high "scream". Also, pick the same note, but move the position of your picking hand, and you will find different harmonics, ala LaGrange by zztop.

hope that helped.

[blueslover2]

Amazing...thank you so much. I think I got the picking hand technique down. Does it matter which note I am fretting? It seems to work anywhere in the vacinity of the harmonic. Is that right?

[beez]

as you play notes higher up the neck, the distance between the harmonics gets shorter and shorter, so very little movement in the pick will hit different harmonics. Think of the distance between the 5th fret harmonic and the 7th fret harmonic on a telecaster....now imagine if the scale length was only12 inches instead of 25 1/2...the distance between the 5th and 7th fret harmonic are very close together.....which is what is basically happening when you are playing high on the neck.

[DADGAD]

Beez is right. You can accent the harmonics by plucking the string an octave or two) above the fretted note.

For an example, another way to get a cool harmonic sound is to solo in 'A' around the 5th fret. Picking an octave above each note, around the 17th fret, gives a great ZZ Top tone with harmonics. 8)

Rock On...

[Jupiter Beach]

Isn't that a Zakk Wylde trick?

[beez]

Zakk does it a lot, but people have been doing it for years. Roy Buchanan was recorded doing it as far back as 1963 on "Potato Peeler".