Pinch Harmonics

[JCool]

Ive been messing around with pinch harmonics and i can get the right tone but its always real quiet. What would be the best way to get it louder?

[Mark Wilson]

Roll the volume to the back pickup (If it's a jazz or something)
And...a little treble never hurt.

[Rattlehead]

I hear you. I can also get the right tones out, and do successions of notes fairly quickly, but even with full bridge pickup and a bit of boost in the treble (normally I EQ almost flat with small boosts to my mids) I can't get it nearly as loud as regular notes.

I guess one solution is to use a lighter touch for normal notes and pluck harder for harmonics to make up the difference.

Another thing you could do is get some sort of volume pedal and just put it on full volume when doing harmonics.


Neither of these solutions are satisfactory for me (actually the second is impossible right now as I have no pedals). I envy silly guitarist with their distortion who can get harmonics with such ease, even though I hate their excessive usage of pinch harmonics, which I see as just 'wankery'.

[tomas_almeida]

Originally Posted by Mark Wilson

Roll the volume to the back pickup (If it's a jazz or something)
And...a little treble never hurt.

Mids, not treble.

[David1234]

Some basses are more responsive than others. I like bright sounding basses with neck-through construction, so harmonics tend to come a little easier than on most bolt-ons I've played. But even then it varies from bass to bass.

Also light compression may help, and new strings, and yes, get plenty of mids in your tone - the fundamental frequency of a lot of these notes is the same band (mids) that a lot of gear deliberately scoops out.

[DayoftheGreek]

I have also run into the volume problem with pinch harmonics. Learning the intro to Birdland kept me busy for a while! It seems that its a careful balance of how much harmonic you put into it. The more harmonic, the less volume. How Jaco does it? The world may never know!

Even though I learned by watching Jaco on youtube, I still can't get that awesome sound he gets out of them.

[Spoek]

I cheat and hit the reverb pedal to make them ring out a bit more

[iceshaft07]

I am no Jaco expert. I probably know a lot less than I should, but I am pretty sure he used some sort of an effect.

If you watch one of his you tube videos, you can see him adjust a knob before he starts playing. I wouldn't doubt that one of the effects he used aided his playing harmonics.

But again, I am no Jaco expert.

[robmill3r]

is this the technique where you hold down a note with your left hand and do the harmonic with your right index finger, plucked with your ring or pinky?
I've always admired that, but never had the discipline to practice it. a lot of the music I'm doing now might call for it, though...

[AElfes]

I've found a good way for pinch harmonics to ring out is a nice, heavy compressor. I have my modded cs-3 set with the sustain about the quarter of the way up, and they ring out great.

[bassdoubler]

pinch harmonics work, much like natural harmonics, work best when plucked at the created midpoint between the bridge and the new artificial nut your left hand finger creates by touching the string above the fret. Jacos false harmonics were super loud and clear because he knew all the exact spots on his bass....practice moving your right hand horizontally in different spots until you find the exact midpoint....the harmonic should speak loud and clear....

[Etbass]

Buy Steve Bailey's custom pickup and preamp from Seymour Duncan. Or just boost the low and mid mids.