Hints on how to squeal dimebag or IA style?

[Wolfster]

Right before I begin I would just like to say I have been searching for all the youtube vids on this and practicing the technique.However I dont feel I have complete control,and my tone when producing the harmonics is not great.Not up to IA or Dimebags standard(RIP). I ve been thinkin perhaps its the timing of my left hand but I cant get it consistently to sustain and really squeal man!


Anyone got any tips on how to perform the squeals up to a standard of dimebag or mattias eklundh? I also noticed on one of the videos of IA, He picks(or pulloffs) and lowers the tremolo for one squeal but then continues to lightly touch the string and lowering the tremolo at other points to get other harmonics without pull off again,something which ive noticed dimebag could not do, and neither can I.


Sorry but one more thing, is it possible to acheive squeals on the B and E string?because dimebag could not and Im not sure from looking at the video whether IA can either.

 

[BinaryTox1n]

Hate to say it, but practice is the only way.
Do something, then try it a little differently, see if its better or worse, change what you're doing respectively.
When you've found something that kinda works, keep doing it. A lot.

And you could do harmonics on any string you like, i frequently squeal away on my low b.

 

[Ancestor]

Tone is a big part of it. You need a pretty heavily distorted and gain-y sound. And mute the strings that aren't supposed to ring. If you're hearing the other strings it won't sound right.

 

[stuz719]

Lots of gain (not necessarily distortion), in my experience, and angle the pick downwards slightly so the flesh of the thumb catches the string just after the pick strikes it.

And practice.

 

[HamBungler]

Okay, I use a technique hardly anyone uses, but works fairly well. Do natural harmonics, but bend them. It takes awhile to get a hang of it, and you usually have to pick in just the right place to get them but you get a feel for it. You can even get different harmonic semitones by placing your finger halfway between the fret to get different harmonics. This works especially well for the low E and B strings because those strings can be really hard to pinch on, but natural harmonics are a snap. I usually do pinch harmonics on the higher strings because naturals have a different sound when made higher up.

 

[Leec]

Watch the IA clinic where he explains targeting natural harmonics all over the neck, using his "mirror image" approach, and just practice, like someone else said. There's no easy quick fix, unfortunately.
And yeah, the high E and B yield slightly less desirable results than the G does, but that doesn't make them redundant. Again, watch IA to see how he uses them (usually for flutters).

 

[Hellbound]

The trick is to mute all the other strings except for the one your hitting the natural harmonic on using your fretting fingers. This will really make the squeal stand out nicely. It's just going to take practice but eventually it should become second nature to ya.

 

[Drew]

Moved to the Lessons and Techniques forum.

Sorry but one more thing, is it possible to acheive squeals on the B and E string?because dimebag could not and Im not sure from looking at the video whether IA can either.

Satriani does this with regularity - in fact, his signature harmonic scream is evidently a combination of the G, B, and E strings together. If you're talking about the lower strings, I know he does this on, um, "Hands in the Air" I think; one of the first few tracks on Strange Beautiful Music anyway.

Satriani is another good guy to check out if you want to learn this stuff - the gist is clean technique coupled with loads of gain and plenty of treble.

 

[playstopause]

Imo, vibrato is the key.
Beside tone and hitting the string correctly, that's how the harmonic comes to "squeal".


edit : nevermind. You're talking about natural harmonics.

 

[Leec]

It's just occurred to me that's probably it's worth differentiating between the typical Dimebag artificial harmonics and IA's natural harmonics. From what I remember of Dimebag's playing, he did use naturals (typically 3rd and 2nd fret on the G) with up-pulls for some screams, but a lot of his playing used pinched harmonics with wide vibrato, like Playstopause mentioned.
IA uses lots of naturals and uses the trem with them. Quite distinct techniques.

And as Drew mentioned, Satch does lots of open string pinched harmonics across several strings (like the tracks SWTA, The Extremist...), but I find what Dimebag and Satch does less exciting than IA's approach.

Try diving your trem, muting the bass strings with your right hand palm and/or thumb over the neck with your left, and whilst the strings are slack, get a left hand finger over the 3rd fretwire on the G. Try to use sharp and sudden trem movements to move the string, in place of actually picking it.
This kind of thing is best demonstrated rather than explained, as it's all about subtle movements, but that's the best I can describe.

The IA clinic video really does explain this a lot better, plus you get examples.

 

[Wolfster]

It's just occurred to me that's probably it's worth differentiating between the typical Dimebag artificial harmonics and IA's natural harmonics. From what I remember of Dimebag's playing, he did use naturals (typically 3rd and 2nd fret on the G) with up-pulls for some screams, but a lot of his playing used pinched harmonics with wide vibrato, like Playstopause mentioned.
IA uses lots of naturals and uses the trem with them. Quite distinct techniques.

And as Drew mentioned, Satch does lots of open string pinched harmonics across several strings (like the tracks SWTA, The Extremist...), but I find what Dimebag and Satch does less exciting than IA's approach.

Try diving your trem, muting the bass strings with your right hand palm and/or thumb over the neck with your left, and whilst the strings are slack, get a left hand finger over the 3rd fretwire on the G. Try to use sharp and sudden trem movements to move the string, in place of actually picking it.
This kind of thing is best demonstrated rather than explained, as it's all about subtle movements, but that's the best I can describe.

The IA clinic video really does explain this a lot better, plus you get examples.

Thanks man yeah I am talking about natural harmonic rather than pinch,which it seems some have misunderstood my original post.
I think I have seen the IA clinic vid,In france is it?with lots of people walking around?If this is not the one could you perhaps post a link?

How ever if it is the right one and i have seen it,He seems to have the ability to sound various harmonics from just one pull off or pick of the string,and thereafter dips and releases the tremelo to sound as many harmonics as h likes.

This makes me come to the conclusion that his technique does not include pulling off or picking the string whilst dipping the tremelo otherwise he would not be able to do this.How does he make the string resonate for so long? Because from my practice when dipping the trem the strings slacken and therefore looses the resonance.

 

[Drew]

It's just occurred to me that's probably it's worth differentiating between the typical Dimebag artificial harmonics and IA's natural harmonics. From what I remember of Dimebag's playing, he did use naturals (typically 3rd and 2nd fret on the G) with up-pulls for some screams, but a lot of his playing used pinched harmonics with wide vibrato, like Playstopause mentioned.
IA uses lots of naturals and uses the trem with them. Quite distinct techniques.

And as Drew mentioned, Satch does lots of open string pinched harmonics across several strings (like the tracks SWTA, The Extremist...), but I find what Dimebag and Satch does less exciting than IA's approach.

Try diving your trem, muting the bass strings with your right hand palm and/or thumb over the neck with your left, and whilst the strings are slack, get a left hand finger over the 3rd fretwire on the G. Try to use sharp and sudden trem movements to move the string, in place of actually picking it.
This kind of thing is best demonstrated rather than explained, as it's all about subtle movements, but that's the best I can describe.

The IA clinic video really does explain this a lot better, plus you get examples.

Actually, Satch's technique is sort of a hybrid approach - he's playing natural harmonics, it's just he's generating them with a pinch harmonic. It sounds kind of like a contradiction, but it's not, exactly - he's simply hitting the harmonic node over the pickups that's approximately equivalent with the 3rd fret oone you're talking about, and executing it with a pinch harmonic - a pickstroke where he's using his fingertip to partially mute the string to mute the fundamental but not the upper harmonics.

He then does the same thing Matthias does- dives, pulls back, pre-dives, whatever. I generally fake it by hitting a harmonic around the 3rd fret because my pinch harmonics aren't terribly clean, but the sound is the same if executed right.

 

[Leec]

Actually, Satch's technique is sort of a hybrid approach - he's playing natural harmonics, it's just he's generating them with a pinch harmonic. It sounds kind of like a contradiction, but it's not, exactly - he's simply hitting the harmonic node over the pickups that's approximately equivalent with the 3rd fret oone you're talking about, and executing it with a pinch harmonic - a pickstroke where he's using his fingertip to partially mute the string to mute the fundamental but not the upper harmonics.

He then does the same thing Matthias does- dives, pulls back, pre-dives, whatever. I generally fake it by hitting a harmonic around the 3rd fret because my pinch harmonics aren't terribly clean, but the sound is the same if executed right.

Hmm, I'm not completely in agreement with you on this. As IA says, you can finda mirror image of natural harmonics between the nut and 12th fret (the 'mirror' being placed at the 7th fret), the same between 12th and 24th, and between 24th and halfway to the bridge, then again between that and the bridge (it's probably a bit like Zeno's arrow; reductio ad nauseum).
When doing pinch harmonics, it doesn't seem much different, except your fretting hand is replacing the nut, so you target spots of a specified distance from the fretted note (or bridge if you look at it that way). In fact, artificial/pinched harmonics seem different from naturals in that your hand acts as the nut - affording you the ability to use vibrato - and that you use your picking hand to target the harmonic.

To demonstrate this, play a natural harmonic over, say, the 5th fret of the high B string in the traditional way - lightly touching the string with your left hand. Then whilst leaving the string open, perform a pinch harmonic over the same spot. The result is largely the same, just a little less accurate in my case.

So by this definition, I would say Satch is using artificial harmonics.

But this is all speculation on my part based on experience and not from any thorough knowledge of the physics involved.

Wolfster, I did mean that French clinic IA did, but there's also another short clinic video available on Youtube that's a little less informative but covers some of the same. I'll try to find it and PM you the link.

 

[Wolfster]

Thanks very much. much appreciated

 

[Matt Crooks]

The movie Deliverance has some pointers as well.

 

[Drew]

Leec, close, but not quite.

I think the thing you're missing is Satriani is doing this on open strings - he's not doing pinch harmonics on fretted notes (which I agree would be artificial harmonics, although really the difference is relatively minor - an artificial harmonic is simply one that isn't a naturally occuring harmonic node on the open string, but becomes one when you fret, effectively shortening the vibrational length and moving the harmonic nodes. But, from a strictly functional point of viiew, there's minimal difference between a harmonic generated on one scale length with no additional effort, and one generated on a longer scale length that's been artificially shortened by playing technique, so...)

...anyway, he's not doing pinch harmonics on fretted notes and then grabbing the bar - he's grabbing the bar, and then playing a pinch harmonic at the harmonic node of an open string. The only difference between what Matthias is doing and what Satriani is doing is MIAE does it with two hands, whereas Satch just uses one.

 

[Drew]

The movie Deliverance has some pointers as well.

 

[Vision]

The movie Deliverance has some pointers as well.

 

[DDDorian]

IA sounds harmonics with either the left or right hand, or a combination of both for some of the more dissonant stuff. If you watch this vid, you'll notice that IA is wearing a metal ring on his picking hand which he uses to hit harmonic nodes a la Satch. Unless you plan on hitting harmonics as frequently as IA, you might as well just stick to pinching the harmonic nodes in the way Drew described. Some of IA's left-hand harmonics are dive/hammer/release a la Dimebag but there are others that just confound me. IA's guitars are set up with quite a high action so you might want to try that with your own and see if it helps.

A cool harmonic trick I stole from Satch (I've heard Zakk Wylde and George Lynch do it too) involves playing an open-string pull-off lick with the left hand and sliding the right-hand pinky rapidly along that same string, so that you hit a whole bunch of harmonic nodes in rapid succession. This sounds especially cool in a high-gain setting, as if you're firing off a volley of harmonics, try it out sometime

 

[eelblack2]

Its way old school, but if you ever get a chance, watch the Brad Gillis video he did years and years back. Particularly watch the harmonic pull ups at the end of the Dont Tell Me You Love Me solo before Watson's part (Right after the bar flutter notes) and the end of Sentimental Street solo. That pretty much demonstrates the Natural/pinch harmonic hybrid climb and natural harmonic pull ups respectively you guys are talking about in super slow motion. Nice part is its all on a Boogie/Marshall hybrid rig that isnt totally overdriven so you can hear when his fingers get in on the string behind the pick. Also watch the tapped harmonic pull up in Sister Christian thats a nice trick and super melodic.

Brad may have been in cheesy bands but he was way up in that stuff before OFR's ever hit the shelf for the first time.