False harmonics..?

[Sgt Baker]

Yo, Ive been playin the song Birdland for mad long, but I just now learned that the intro isnt popping, its false harmonic, this concept is new to me! ahah How do I pull this off dudes?

 

[I<34080]

fret with your left, place thumb on string, pluck behind thumb.

 

[standupbassman]

Basically what I<34080 said. This is Weather Report playing it live. There's a good clip of Jaco playing the intro.

 

[E-At]

Artificial harmonics?

 

[okcrum]

Well, they are actually harmonics of the fretted length of the string, not the open string.

 

[champbassist]

Well, they are actually harmonics of the fretted length of the string, not the open string.

+1

I'll explain with an example: on an open string, if you lightly press the 7th fret and pluck, you get a harmonic which is a perfect fifth above the frequency of the open string. Now, if you fret, say, the 6th fret on a string and lightly press the 13 (=6+7)th fret, plucking now will produce a note a fifth above the note on the 6th fret of this string.

Watch the end of this clip


Where Jaco actually talks about how to play false harmonics.

 

[Bassmickeyd]

Harmonics happen when a string is equally divided. ..... The difference in that division causes the difference whether it's an octave or a third of a fifth, etc ..... Jaco also used the index finger of his left hand like a capo and would play harmonics with his pinky five frets up. ..... This is one reason he was a genius.

 

[Sgt Baker]

So do you simoultaneously pluck with your thumb in the opposite direction? Im havin trouble with this..

 

[Devaghost]

No. It's just like playing a regular harmonic except that, assuming that you're right-handed, your left hand fretting the note replaces the nut. Your right thumb replaces the finger that you'd lay lightly on the string and the finger you pluck with is the finger you pluck with. The trick is finding the spot where the thumb goes, applying the right pressure and keeping it in place.

 

[Bassmickeyd]

And remember you are dividing the length of the string with the use of you right hand thumb. ..... You fretted finger is the nut, the thumb the harmonic division and your right hand finger the pluck or the source. ...... You have to move you right hand around to find the sweet spot.

 

[champbassist]

So do you simoultaneously pluck with your thumb in the opposite direction? Im havin trouble with this..

Did you watch the videos I linked to? Jaco makes it pretty clear, AFAICS.

 

[JTE]

Look at the posted videos, it's a lot easier to see than to explain. The gist of HOW it works is clearly explained in posts #6 and #7 above. For an open (a/k/a natural) harmonic you touch the string at a node and pluck it. The nodes are all over the place, with the most prominent being at the 12th fret (divide the string in half), the 5th and 24th frets (same node, divides the string in fourths), and the 7th/19th frets (divides the string in thirds). Now to get artificial harmonics, you do the same thing, but you have to be a bit more inventive with how you stop the string at the node and pluck it.

So, what Jaco did was to use his left hand to fret the string at whatever fret he wanted. Then he used his right thumb to stop the node (what you do with your left hand for a natural harmonic), and he plucked the string with his right hand fingers. Just gently touch the string with your thumb 12 frets above where you're fretting the string, then pluck it with your fingers.

Some people find it easier to reverse the fingers and thumb (many guitarists do this- like Chet Atkins and Lenny Breau). They'd damp the node with their first finger, and then pluck the string with their thumb. They started doing that probably because they used thumb-picks, but it works just as well on bass. The point is that you have to keep moving your right hand to be in position 12 (or five, 7, etc.) frets above where the left hand is stopping the string.

John