I'm wondering if anyone knows if steve uses pinch harmonics, or not, if so does anyone know how to do it, Sheehan has a really difficult way of doing it, but i think Bailey's doing it a different way.

like around 42 in this vid
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4uC2aur6ezk

Gah... i dont get it.

Those are false harmonics. Is that the same as a pinch harmonic?

He fingers a note with the left hand, then stops the string at the harmonic node with his right index finger while plucking with the middle or ring finger.

Some people (like me) put the thumb on the node instead of the index finger.

weird.......... i've never seen someone use em so clean... but yeah they're slightly different....so he plucks with his right, holds the note with his left and stops it with his left?

stops with his right

Ive never heard them called false harmonics, he uses artificial harmonics ( the correct term). anyway he doesnt use the pinch harmonics, ( which is essentially the same thing except done with thumb and fingernail usually or a thumb n pic)

False or artificial - same thing, and they're both used heaps. Steve Bailey is a cheater though - he's got Seymour Duncan to custom make him a tone circuit and a soapbar that amplifies just the harmonics, and makes them do that cool little 'plop' sound that he gets when he does them - like dropping a pebble into a well. So yeah - if you wanna imitate his technique, get a six string fretless, fork out a fortune for his custom electronics, and learn a new technique. He goes through exactly what he's doing on 'Bass Extremes' with Victor Wooten - you could buy it for about $40ish, or you could download it for about $freeish, depending on your personal moral code.

Hope that helped.

You can get a similar sound by boosting the mids, so I'm not sure you can really call him a "cheater" for getting that sound ;)

You can do this technique on any stringed instrument with practice.

Cheers,
Alun

There's a vid of him explaining this technique at bassplayer.tv ;)

For a more aggressive sound, I do it another way; with your left hand, fret the note that you want to hear, and with the right, hammer down on the fret where you want the harmonic to sound - not holding it down like a hammer on, just hitting it. I can do fairly fast licks and patterns, string bending and all that other stuff with this approach...