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Tutorial - All About Harmonics
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Slap Harmonics - Part 1

Richard Lundmark 307 lessons

On to the Slap/Spank/Left Hand Tap Harmonics!

Same as with previous examples, the notated harmonics do not exactly match what is played.

This is another technique to produce a similar result, and is my preferred weapon of choice for harmonics. This technique is nothing new, but has been quite underground until players like Ron Thal and Mathias IA Eklundh made them more main-stream with their music. This is the kind of technique that looks and sounds really difficult, but is really very easy once you get the hang of it.

Start out by learning to “slap” out harmonics on the fret board with your left hand. The slap is similar to the right hand tap, in that it must NOT be a hammer-on, but a quick, rapid, decisive slap. You must use the index finger of your left hand to mute the top strings you are not using, and the palm of your right hand to mute the string not used at the bottom. Then you angle your hand as much you can to get a straight line with the fingers towards the fret board. If you hit them too head on, you will risk setting several strings in motion, and also lose a lot of precision.

Practice going back and forth along all string until you can get clean, fast harmonics pop out effortlessly!

Once you’ve got that down, it’s time to add the whammy-bar to eliminate some of the attack noise (you will hear the acoustic sound of my string in the video, which you would not hear at loud volumes live). The end result is a very clean harmonic technique, quite unlike anything else!

You compress the bar just as with the flick harmonics, but this time you slap the harmonic while on the way up to produce the note of choice. Be sure to compress the whammy bar with straight fingers. You will need to master that if you want to be able to make rhythmical effects later on.

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