Learn How To Play Harp Harmonics On Your Guitar And Be Prepared To Amaze All Who Hear You Play!

If you want to add a little bit of a “wow” factor to your guitar playing, then harp harmonics are definitely what you need. This technique is one of the more impressive things you can do on a guitar, producing an amazing sound, very much like a harp, hence the name “harp” harmonics.

However, don’t be mistaken in thinking that this is just some fancy guitar “trick” that you can’t actually use in real life music. Harp harmonics are very melodic and musical bringing a whole new sound to your guitar playing.

When I first heard this technique through guitar playing greats such as Chet Atkins, Lenny Breau, and Tommy Emmanuel, I was hooked. I just had to know how to get this amazing sound I was hearing into my own guitar playing.

Have a listen to the very beginning of the video below (click on the link) and you’ll hear exactly what I am talking about. This is the technique I am going show you how to do in todays article.

Harp Harmonic Video

The Technique Of Playing Harp Harmonics

As is the case with any technique you learn on guitar, a solid foundation is needed on which to build it. This is what we will focus on in todays article. By the end of it you will be playing magical sounding harp harmonic arpeggios, cascading up and down the chord shapes your fretting hand is forming. Throughout, refer to the video as it will help greatly for you to see me explain and demonstrate this technique as well as read about it.

Thumb Pick, Plectrum, Or Bare Thumb?

In terms of sounding the actual harmonic part of harp harmonics, you have three options. You can use a thumb pick, a plectrum, or your bare thumb. I actually use all three depending on the context, but favour the thumb pick in most situations.

You will understand these approaches more once we have gone through the whole technique of harp harmonics, for now, here is a brief comparison of each (if you would like to skip ahead to the section below headed “Harmonics”, and come back to this part later, once you have the basic technique going, you are welcome to)

1. Thumb Pick:

With a thumb pick you get a great sustained sound with your harmonics. You also have use of your middle, ring, and pinky fingers to play the regular notes, which is not the case if using a plectrum (see below). I personally favour this approach the majority of the time.

2. Bare Thumb:

Using your bare thumb gives you a slightly different sounding harmonic compared to a thumb pick or plectrum. You don’t quite get the same sustain out of the harmonic, however they still sound great, and it does suit if you’re playing a piece that requires a pure fingerpicking approach (ie. no thumb pick)

3. Plectrum (Flat Pick):

Using a plectrum requires you to alter the technique of playing harp harmonics slightly, as you will need to grip the pick between your thumb and middle finger instead of your index. This leaves you with one less finger to play regular notes, but is great for integrating harp harmonics into “normal” plectrum based playing.

In todays article I will use the bare thumb/thumb pick approach.

Harmonics

We will begin with open string harmonics, located at the 12th fret, so you can totally focus on your picking hand for now.

Place the tip of your index finger directly over the top of the 12th fret of the low E string of your guitar. It needs to be directly over the fret, not in-between as you do when playing regular notes.

Harp Harmonic Picture

Your index finger should just barely be touching the string. There is no pressure asserted whatsoever. If you push down at all you will suffocate the sound of the harmonic.

With your index finger in this position, take the thumb of the same hand (ie. your picking hand) and pluck the string your index finger is touching from behind. You should hear a bell like harmonic. If you don’t, you are most likely pushing too hard with your index finger and need to lighten your touch.

Be sure the following two things are happening when performing this part of the technique:

You are keeping a good distance between the index finger that’s sounding the harmonic, and the thumb that’s plucking the string. If these two are too close together, the harmonic will sound like it’s being choked.

Your index finger (the one sounding the harmonic) is straight at all times, not bent.

To get use to this part of the harp harmonic technique, run up and down the open string harmonics at the 12th fret. Take your time with this as it’s very different to how you are use to playing your guitar:

Open String Harmonics

* A colon (:) symbol is placed after the notes to indicate they are to be played as harmonics

Fretted Harmonics And Visualisation

The whole point of learning the technique you just have, is so you can use it to play the harmonics of fretted notes too. This is where things start to get interesting and the possibilities drastically increase!

The number one rule in order to sound the harmonics of any fretted note is you must always maintain a distance of 12 frets between your hand that is fretting the note and the index finger that is sounding the harmonic.

For example, our open string harmonics were located at the 12th because 0 + 12 = 12 (ie. 12 frets above an open string is the 12th fret).

Let’s look at a fretted example.

If you bar all six strings at the 3rd fret of your guitar, you will be forming a Gm11 chord:

Gm11 Chord

By placing your index finger directly over the 15th fret, with the lightest of light touches and applying our technique, you will be able to sound the harmonics of this chord.

Why?

Because you are exactly 12 frets above the chord your fretting hand is forming (3 + 12 = 15th fret)

Here are the harmonics ascending and descending our Gm11 chord:

Gm11 Harmonics

Remember to keep your index finger straight, and not to have the thumb and index finger too close together when sounding the harmonics.

Let’s play the harmonics of a C9 chord using the same technique.

First, here is the shape your fretting hand needs to form:

C9 Chord

I am including the 6th string in this chord to extend the harmonics. Typically you would fret this shape from the 5th string

And here are the harmonics of the chord, again ascending and descending the 6 strings.

C9 Harmonics

In the example above, we do have to divert to the 14th fret, on the 4th string, when sounding the harmonics of the C9 chord. This is so we stay true to the shape we are fretting. Harp harmonics is as much about the technique, as it is about visualising chord shapes 12 frets higher up the fretboard.

In this case you need to accurately visualise the C9 chord shape.

Let’s take another chord shape to apply our harmonic technique. This time we have an FMaj13 chord which has both fretted and open notes:

FMaj13 Chord

Harmonics applied:

FMaj13 Harmonics

Harp Harmonics

So far we have only been working on the harmonic part of harp harmonics. To get the amazing harp like sound, we need to add regular notes into the mix.

This is where the magic happens!

You will continue to sound your harmonics notes as you have been doing with your index finger and thumb, however now we will be adding in regular notes, on higher strings using our ring finger (video reference)

Here is one very common harp harmonic arpeggio pattern alternating harmonics at the 12th fret with open strings:

Open String Harp Harmonics

Simply play the harmonic note, and then follow it with an open string. You’ll find your ring finger is nicely positioned to pluck the regular notes/open strings. Having said this, it should feel very uncomfortable to start with as it’s something you’ve never done before, and is very foreign to how you usually play your guitar.

Once you have this harp arpeggio pattern down, you can really run a mile with it by applying it to any chord shape you like. Just keep in mind that:

You need to visualise the exact shape of the chord your fretting hand is forming, 12 frets higher up on the fretboard

You must always keep a 12 fret distance between the note you are fretting and the harmonic you are playing of that note

Let’s take our harp harmonic arpeggio pattern, keeping in mind the two points above, and apply it to each of the chord shapes we were using earlier for the harmonics:

Gm11:

Gm11 Harp Harmonics

C9:

C9 Harp Harmonics

FMaj13:

FMaj13 Harp Harmonics

The pattern your picking hand is playing in each example above does not change. What is changing are the frets where you are sounding your harmonics. This is effected by the chord you are forming at the time as you must always maintain a 12 fret distance, as has been emphasised throughout this article.

By simply connecting each example above, we get an amazing sounding harp harmonic progression that’s sure to totally spell bound those who hear you play it:

Harp Harmonic Chord Progression

We have barley skimmed the surface of what is possible with harp harmonics, yet we already have something that sounds awesome! The depths you can go with this technique is mind blowing to say the least.

Learn how to apply this technique to create magical sounding acoustic harp harmonic progressions on your guitar.