Q for Paul Franklin

Niklas Widen · From: Uppsala, Sweden

Hey, Paul!

I read that you use the fingernail of your little finger to produce harmonics. Now I wonder more exactly in what way you use the nail to touch the harmonic point. Do you use only the tip of the nail or a larger part of the nail surface? Do you let the nail grow a bit for this? Being mainly a palm harmonics player, I had never heard of this method before the recent thread on harmonics, but I've just got to learn this!

Regards,

Nicke Widén

Franklin · Posted 15 Feb 2004 5:56 am

Niklas,
The length of the nail is not important. Try tucking the pinky fingernail even with the thumb. As long as it touches the string and is removed simultaneous with the thumb it should give you a bell like chime....Paul

Niklas Widen · From: Uppsala, Sweden

Thanks! After a couple of hours of focused practising, I'm starting to feel comfortable with this method... but I guess I'll never be able to produce those crystal clear harmonics of your calibre! But I'll keep trying!!

Btw, are your "Play by Play" and "Akoostix" tapes still available?

/Nicke W

Bill Llewellyn · From: San Jose, CA

Niklas,

You may also want to look at this thread:

http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/007126.html

I personally started out playing harmonics by touching the halfway point of the barred string with my thumb pick and picking with a finger pick. I also did the reverse. I now split the string with the tip of my ring finger and pick with the thumb pick, but that doesn't get the clarity of Paul's fingernail technique. That's a more precise method, and my limited manual dexterity isn't quite up to it.

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Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?

[This message was edited by Bill Llewellyn on 16 February 2004 at 09:01 AM.]

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