Tap Harmonics Overview
What are Percussion Harmonics?
There are two families of harmonics-based techniques that are performed in a percussive fashion, where the picking hand slaps or taps the strings to create the harmonic.
The first technique, called slap harmonics, is associated with Michael Hedges and new-age guitar styles. This technique is commonly used to play entire chords, especially chords with a "flat" or "straight" shape. The chord is fretted with the fret hand, and a picking-hand finger gently slaps the fret five, seven or twelve frets higher than the notes of the chord.
Slap Harmonic Example
Let's start by attempting this technique using only open strings. Line up the middle finger of your picking hand so that it is parallel to the fret XII. Gently slap all 6 strings at this fret, being sure to immediately remove your hand from the strings once you've slapped them. If performed correctly, the natural harmonics at fret XII will be activated.
Now let's barre the first fret and repeat this last exercise, this time slapping fret XIII.
Finally, we can experiment with different shapes of the chord if we keep in mind the natural limitations of our picking-hand fingers. For instance, the Fmaj7 chord (left) can be activated with slapped harmonics because it has a straight shape. You can slap the same shape 12 frets higher, creating an identical angle with your finger.
Tap Harmonics
Begin by striking fret XII of the E string with the tip of your index finger. Once you've successfully produced the harmonic, try to do it again on the A and D strings.
Now we can play a scale or melodic line using this technique. Such as the G major scale.
A related technique, called tap harmonics, or sometimes drum harmonics involves the same motion: percussively attacking a string to produce a harmonic. Drum harmonics are played as individual notes, with a single finger striking the harmonic location. Drum harmonics are much easier to create with the heavier bass strings than they are with the high treble strings. For this reason, we'll focus on producing drum harmonics on the bottom 3 strings.
Key Exercises
- Try doing some slap harmonics with the Fmaj7 chord above.
- Play a G major scale, one octave, using drum harmonics. The fret hand frets at fret III, and the picking hand taps above the XV fret, and so on.
- Play A–7 and D9 in position V. Slap the chords into harmonics.
