Melodic Muse

How to play the tapped harmonics in “Electric Gypsy”

LAST MONTH, WE looked at the essential elements, in terms of the chords and the melody, in a tune of mine called “Electric Gypsy,” which I wrote as a tribute to one of my biggest guitar heroes, Jimi Hendrix. During the first verse, I use a technique known as tapped harmonics to perform the single-note melodic lines, so let’s focus on both the techniques and the specifics of performing these lines.

FIGURE 1 presents the entire 16-bar “verse” section of the tune, wherein the melody is executed entirely with tapped harmonics. One of my primary goals with this melody is for each phrase to integrate with each passing chord in the progression. I allow myself “melodic freedom,” in terms of how each of these smaller phrases will relate, intervallically speaking, with the underlying chord, but, of course, there exists an overall awareness of the entire melodic line and the musical “tale,” as it’s being told.

First, what’s a tapped harmonic? A tapped harmonic is performed by using a pick-hand fingertip to quickly “tap,” or “slap,” a string exactly 12 frets above a fretted note. The tap must land right on the fretwire, in order to activate the desired octave-up harmonic. For example, in order to sound the initial note in the example, an A note on the D string’s 7th fret, the note is fretted conventionally with the left hand while I use my right-hand middle finger to quickly tap the string on the 19th fret, which is exactly 12 frets higher. When performed correctly, an artificial harmonic will sound, for which the pitch is an octave higher than the fretted note. These harmonics are classified as “artificial” because they originate from fretted notes. If one were to sound a harmonic from an open string, that would be known as a natural harmonic (N.H.).

That initial A note is followed by a D on the G string’s 7th fret. In my approach, I envision a standard D barre chord shape rooted at the 5th fret, and I then sound the notes of the chord with tapped harmonics, as opposed to picking them in a conventional manner.

When composing this melody, I realized

F#, that the D major pentatonic scale (D, E,

A, B) worked perfectly over each chord in the D - A - Bm - G progression, and thus the majority of the lines in this melody are built solely from this five-tone scale. I do, however, like to also include the fourth of D, a G note, for two reasons: first, a G chord is included in the progression, so utilizing that note in the melodic line affords the opportunity to melodically acknowledge the root note of the IV (four) chord, G. The other reason I like including the G note is that the options made available to me via a five-tone scale are now increased by employing the

F#, six-tone D major hexatonic scale (D, E,

G, A, B).

As you play through the example, strive to execute each tapped harmonic with absolute clarity and sustain while also maintaining a wider view of the “global” melody that is being presented.

Andy Timmons is a world-renowned guitarist known for his work with the Andy Timmons Band, as well as Danger Danger and Simon Phillips. Visit andytimmons.com and guitarxperience.net to check out his recordings and many instructional releases