Ear Fusion Guitar Lessons - How To Play By Ear
Harmonics
Now, let’s move on for a moment so that you can
understand the guitars structure better. Notice that the notes made
by the strings played open are the same as the notes on the 12th
fret and that the notes on the 3rd fret are the same as
the notes on the 15th fret and so on. That twelve fret
difference in called an octave. You’ll see why soon! Now about
harmonics…a harmony is produced when two or more of the same note is
played together at once. Then the two notes are the same, they sound
harmonious. It’s possible to make a harmony by just tuning your
guitar and matching notes that are the same. A harmony can also be
produced with only one string. Notice on your guitar where the 12th
fret is. Chances are your 12th fret has two dots
indicating that it’s the 12th fret. You’ll also notice
that the 12th fret is right at the middle of the length
of the guitar strings from end to end. By lightly placing the tip of
your finger directly above the metal on the 12th fret and
plucking the string you can produce a harmonic, where the string
actually vibrates in two halves almost like two strings playing the
same note...the 12th fret cutting the string in half.
Next, we’ll try a harmonic at the 7th fret…place your
finger lightly just above the 7th metal fret and pluck
the string lightly…if you have your finger just above the metal
fret…it will produce a higher pitched harmonic. Notice that the 7th
fret is perfectly one third of the length of the string. Finally,
you can produce yet another harmonic by doing the same thing with
the 5th fret witch is one quarter of the string. Notice
figure 4 below!
FIGURE 4
Notice that the harmonics are produced by placing the finger lightly
directly above the metal fret rather than in the middle of the fret.
You can do this on any string of course. There are other ways to
make different harmonics on your guitar.
Next - Lesson #8 - The Major Scale
