Discover Harmonics on the Guitar

Skill Building Guitar Course from Jeff Gunn

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Perhaps more than any other sound, harmonics reveal the beauty of the guitar. 'Discover Harmonics on the Guitar for Beginners' explores how to sound a variety of harmonics including natural harmonics, artificial/harp harmonics and pinch harmonics using a range of fingering hand, strumming hand and picking techniques.

25 Lessons

Complete course with step-by-step lessons and practice examples.

Multi-Camera

Course filmed with 6 cameras for the perfect angles.

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Full Course Breakdown

Explore harmonics on both the acoustic and electric guitar. Guitarists will learn how to produce harmonics in a variety of ways that they can use when creating their own songs or playing along with their favorite songs. Learning how to create harmonics will elevate your guitar abilities and performance to new heights!

Begin the Course
1

Discover Harmonics on Guitar for Beginners Introduction

Perhaps more than any other sound, harmonics reveal the beauty of the guitar. Jeff will discuss the course objectives in this introduction as well as discussing pre-requisites needed to achieve success.

2:58 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

Sounding Natural Harmonics at the 12th Fret

Let's start with the basics of harmonics! The easiest and most common location to sound natural harmonics is at the 12th fret. Jeff shares a few exercises with us to get this technique down!

21:03 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

3

Sounding Natural Harmonics at the 7th Fret

The second easiest and most common location is at the 7th fret. Let's do a similar set of exercises for this location so we can practice how to get that great harmonic sound!

30:02 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

4

Sounding Natural Harmonics at the 5th Fret

The 5th fret harmonic location is simply an octave above the 12th fret location. It is however a little tricker to sound. Let Jeff show you some tips and tricks for getting a nice clean sound at this location.

29:43 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

5

Sounding Natural Harmonics in Other Locations

This lesson focuses on the not so common natural harmonic locations on the guitar. Mainly, the 2nd, 4th, 9th and 19th frets. And although trickier to execute, can really come in handy when you're searching for just the right harmonic sound!

34:10 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

6

Natural Harmonics in Song

Now let's look at integrating natural harmonics into a song setting. Jeff will break down a simple chord progressions that includes some natural harmonics, and will give you a chance to practice this with him!

8:21 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

7

Creating Artificial Harmonics - 12 Fret Distance (Single Notes)

Let's move on to artificial harmonics! This is a very different technique, and luckily Jeff is quite an expert at it! Join him as he will take you through the basic technique, giving you some 12th fret distance exercises to practice.

22:03 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

View this Lesson
8

Creating Artificial Harmonics - 12 Fret Distance (Combinations)

In this lesson, Jeff continues with the 12th fret distance on artificial harmonics, this time in combination with regular notes.

19:11 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

9

Creating Artificial Harmonics - 12 Fret Distance (Chords)

This technique moves from plucking individual artificial harmonics to strumming across the entirety of the strings to grab our favorite chords!

12:25 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

10

Creating Artificial Harmonics while Switching Locations - 12 Fret Distance

Now let's practice grabbing artificial harmonics while changing positions on the left hand.

7:24 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

11

Sounding Artificial Harmonics - 7 Fret Distance (Single Notes)

Just like with natural harmonics, the 7th fret, or 7th fret distance in the case of artificial harmonics, its one of the more easily accessed points on the guitar. Join Jeff for several exercises to get the technique under your fingers.

23:17 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

12

Sounding Artificial Harmonics - 7 Fret Distance (Combinations)

Now let's explore the 7th fret distance while also using regular fretted notes. Just like with the 12th fret distance, this combination technique opens lots of possibilitites on your instrument!

12:36 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

13

Sounding Artificial Harmonics - 7 Fret Distance (Chords)

And also just like the 12th fret distance, we now move to accessing chords as artificial harmonics.

11:08 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

14

Creating Artificial Harmonics while Switching Locations - 7 Fret Distance

We rarely if ever stay in one postition on the guitar, so it's important to learn how to move between positions while still accessing your artificial harmonics. The exercises in this lesson will help you grasp this idea!

8:14 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

15

Sounding Artificial Harmonics - 5 Fret Distance (Single Notes)

Let's move on to our artificial harmonics with a 5th fret distance. These can be tricky but very rewarding as it takes the register of your guitar to a rare level!

10:07 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

16

Sounding Artificial Harmonics - 5 Fret Distance (Combinations)

The super high octave of a 5th fret distance provides a chime or harp-like effect. Even more so when combined with regular notes on the guitar.

10:37 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

17

Sounding Artificial Harmonics - 5 Fret Distance (Chords)

Here's a challenging one! The 5th fret distance requires a good touch when accessing your chords. Give this a try and see how you do!

8:12 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

18

Creating Artificial Harmonics while Switching Locations - 5 Fret Distance

And finally for the 5th fret distance, let's switch up our left hand locations while still grabbing those artificial harmonics.

5:53 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

19

Exploring Artificial Harmonics in All Fret Distance Locations (Single Notes)

Now, let's combine all of our major fret distances, 5th, 7th and 12th, and grab the artificial harmonics as single notes. Being able to visualize the distances quickly is key to mastering this technique.

12:32 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

20

Exploring Artificial Harmonics in All Fret Distance Locations (Combos and Chords)

As in the previous lesson, we're going to work on grabbing the 5th, 7th and 12th fret locations, but this time let's grab chords and a combination of regular and harmonic notes.

13:10 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

21

Artificial Harmonics in Song

Now it's time to move our artificial harmonics into a song situation. This illustrates how artificial harmonics can be used in your own arrangements or original compositions.

12:40 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

Sounding Pinch Harmonics

In this lesson, Jeff gets out his electric guitar to illustrate the concept of pinch harmonics. This can be played on acoustic or electric, both with different sounding results!

13:37 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

23

Pinch Harmonics Riff

Pinch harmonics are very effective when playing riffs. So turn up the gain on your amp and join Jeff to get that harmonic flavor into your electric playing!

16:48 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

24

Pinch Harmonics in Song

In this lesson, Jeff shows how pinch harmonics can be effective in a song situation.

9:38 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Putting It All Together

Great job making it to the end of this course! It's back to the acoustic guitar, where we will put together all of the main techniques we have learned.

16:28 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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Jeff Gunn

43
  • Playing since 2000
  • 112 lessons at JamPlay
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Jeff Gunn is Juno Award nominated guitarist, songwriter and producer for his work on Emmanuel Jal's The Key (Gatwitch/Universal). He is the author of the Hidden Sounds: Discover Your Own Method on Guitar (Mayfair Music Publications) and a regular “guitar tips” contributor in print and film with Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Guitar World, Canadian Musician, Overdrive (Thailand), and The Guitar Mag (Thailand).

Jeff Gunn is Juno Award nominated guitarist, songwriter and producer for his work on Emmanuel Jal's The Key (Gatwitch/Universal). He is the author of the Hidden Sounds: Discover Your Own Method on Guitar (Mayfair Music Publications) and a regular “guitar tips” contributor in print and film with Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Guitar World, Canadian Musician, Overdrive (Thailand), and The Guitar Mag (Thailand). He co-wrote the song "Scars" with Jal and Nelly Furtado for the film The Good Lie (Warner Brothers 2014) and The Black Prince (2017) soundtrack. He has recorded with Emmanuel Jal, Nelly Furtado, Bibi McGill, Mark Pellizzer, Kae Sun, Domanique Grant, Rayzak, performed with DMC, Swizz Beatz, Kate Todd, Tanika Charles, and continues to serve as musical director for Jal opening for such acts as Nico & Vinz, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Angelique Kidjo, Xavier Rudd, Mumford & Sons and Ellie Goulding. He has performed at Glastonbury, Juno Songwriters’ Circle, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Ringo Starr’s Birthday Concert at Capitol Records, United Nations, Grammy Museum Concert Series in Honour of Bob Marley, Jimmy Kimmel’s Annual Italian Festival, and at the Dalai Lama One World Concert. He has appeared on CBC, CTV Canada AM, Good Day New York, Fox TV, Ted Talks, The Travel Channel (Thailand) and more. Jeff is endorsed by Godin Guitars, D’Addario Canada, Levy’s Guitar Straps, Planet Waves, G7th Capos, JHS Pedals and Gravity Guitar Picks.