Positioning of your finger between the frets is essential to achieving great sounding harmonics. To find a harmonic we need to position our finger over the fret marker. So the fret could split our finger in half right down the middle.

With the fretting hand you need to touch very lightly. So you can just feel the string under the soft pad of your finger. Pick the string hard. Soft on your fretting hand and hard on your picking hand.

Start by finding the harmonics on fret 12. These are the easiest to find. When you’ve got that go to frets 5 and 7. These can be harder to achieve and you might have to pick harder. But the technique is exactly the same.

Acoustic Songs With Harmonics

Nothing Else Matters – Intro – Metallica

Harvest Moon – Neil Young (These are played on the 2nd guitar when he starts singing – I don’t have a lesson for this song but there’s a TAB here)

Roundabout – Yes (I haven’t made this lesson but there’s a TAB here)

My Mentor – Beyond Fingerstyle Freedom Course

This optional lesson shows you how to play harp harmonics.

This intermediate technique employs a unique picking technique that will take some time to achieve.

Start by playing natural harmonics on fret 12 with your picking hand only. Point your index finger into fretting the harmonic and then use your thumb to strike the string.

Once you have this technique you can hold down any open chord and then pick the harmonics in the higher octave (beyond and including fret 12)

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