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FOUNDATION LESSONS 

How to Play HarmonicsHarmonics are one of the best things you can do on a guitar! Few instruments can provide suchan unusual but musically useful technique. With a little practice, they’re pretty easy to play and

produce a beautiful chime or bell-like tone. If you’ve ever heard a guitarist suddenly play these

high bell-like sounds while just barely touching the strings then you have heard harmonics.

Harmonics can be utilized in several very musical ways. This lesson covers how harmonics work

and how to play natural harmonics, false harmonics, and harp harmonics, in addition to giving

you several great licks to use along the way.

Harmonics 

So, what are harmonics? Harmonics on guitar are bell-like sounds that occur at very specific

points on the string. The string is plucked but the fretting finger is lightly resting on the stringinstead of pushing the string down to the fretboard. Here are several important things to know

about harmonics:

Natural harmonics occur at specific points on the strings. When an open string is played,

harmonics occur at the 12th fret (strongest), 7th fret (less strong), and 5th fret (even less

strong). The strongest or loudest harmonic occurs at the 12th fret—not at the 11th, or the 13th,

but exactly over the 12th fret. Accuracy matters with harmonics.

Don’t press the string down all the way to the fretboard—just lightly touch the string

exactly over the fret bar. Unlike normal fingering of notes, don’t press the string all the wayagainst the fretboard. For harmonics, simply lightly touch the finger exactly over the fret bar -

not between the frets.

Once the string is plucked, then raise your finger off of the string so that it can ringclearly. After the note is plucked take your finger off the string so that it doesn’t mute the

string.

Natural HarmonicsNatural harmonics are those that occur on an open string. Conveniently, the natural harmonics

at the 12th, 7th, and 5th frets form major and minor triads that can be used in music.

Harmonics are notated in music as diamonds.

intermediate

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Gibson’s Skills House Lessons with Steve Krenz

Harmonics in ActionNow, let’s get some practice putting these harmonics into action with a few exercises and licks.

Harmonic Exercise 1: Natural Harmonics 

Play these natural harmonics along with the video. Start with the two-handed method as shown

in the video then try to play them using one hand. Make sure each one rings out clearly.

Harmonic Lick in G 

Here is a great lick using harmonics that you can use when in the key of G. This lick works greatwhen you want to add a flashy harmonic ending to a song.

Harmonic Lick in Em

Here is another great pattern that can be used as a great ending to a song in the key of Em.

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Gibson’s Skills House Lessons with Steve Krenz

Harmonic Exercise 2: G Major Scale in False Harmonics 

Pluck the harmonic using one hand lightly touching the string exactly one octave, or 12 frets,above where the other finger is fretting each note. 

Harmonic Exercise 3: Am11 Arpeggio Using Harp Harmonics 

Mixing fretted notes with harmonics can create beautiful ringing arpeggios called harp

harmonics. Here is an arpeggio over an Am11 chord combining fretted notes and harmonics. Paycareful attention to which notes are plucked normally and which are harmonics. The parentheses

in the tab staff indicate specific notes played as harmonics. 

For step-by-step quality guitar instruction check out the award-winning Gibson’s Learn & Master

Guitar course at www.LearnAndMaster.com and the lessons section at www.gibson.com for allthe help you need to become the player you want to be!

Steve Krenz 

 As an educator, Steve is best known for the top-selling guitar instruction

course, Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar  that received the 2011 Acoustic Guitar

Magazine Player’s Choice Award for Best Instructional Material. As a

 professional guitarist in Nashville, Steve's broad playing experience includes

 playing guitar with a symphony orchestra, to jazz big bands, to performing with

numerous Grammy-winning artists like Donna Summer, Michael W. Smith,

Bryan White, The Fifth Dimension, Israel Houghton, and Tommy Sims.

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