Technique Focus

Natural harmonics

Dimebag was the king of incredibly clean and sustaining natural harmonic screams, which he invariably played on the third string between the 1st and 3rd frets. Natural harmonics are played by momentarily touching the string at a node point and removing the finger to allow the string to sustain. These node points – mostly positioned between the fretwire, for example, just above the 3rd fret (fret 3.2 to be precise) – produce a high ‘D’ pitch. Another useful harmonic is just above the 2nd fret (fret 2.3), which gives us a high ‘G’. Sometimes the harmonics line up with the fretwire such as the ‘A’ over the 2nd fret and the really high G over the 1st fret. To produce all of these harmonics requires a great deal of accuracy, which makes Dimebag’s seemingly effortless performance style all the more impressive. Rather than picking the notes, Dime would use the whammy bar to slacken the strings, then snap them back into position while simultaneously touching the correct point on the string. In order to do this cleanly he also muted the other five strings using his thumb and fingers.