 Hi, I'm Freddie DeMarco for Blackstar Potential, and this lesson is on dive bombs and pinch harmonics. So we're going to cater more to the hard rock and metal crowd here. So we'll start with pinch harmonics. Now historians can probably date this back to real early guitar, but one of the landmarks is just back to the 70s, and that would be like Billy Gibbons. He was doing pinch harmonics all the time, getting real throaty, pinch harmonics sounds on the lower strings, some more aggressive sounds on the higher strings, and he didn't use much gain. It was kind of a clean crunch type sound back in the day. So what we're doing though is more of a high gain thing. So I have my Blackstar HD Club 40 here, and it is on the high gain channel, and it's pretty much dimed out. So in terms of gain, just so we could really exaggerate the pinch harmonics. Also for the dive bombs, you're going to want a lot of gain because a lot of the dive bombs in the hard rock and metal style need the gain that creates the sustain to keep it going when you go down and back up, because you want a lot of sustain and pick up on the notes. But first here with the pinch harmonics, this technique has to be developed. So you're actually taking the pick and kind of cutting it into the string this way and pinching it. It's going to sound like this. So very throaty. It's a real throaty type sound. What happens is the pick is dug in this way. You pinch it kind of. You flick it into the string, but what's really happening is that string then snaps back instantly into this side of the thumb. The skin of the thumb is actually what's causing the harmonic. So the pick pinches it, but it's really a flicker. You're flicking it into the skin of the thumb, the side of the thumb. Some people get it with a flat pick, but typically you have to kind of angle it down and pinch it this way. Now a lot of the students I have, it's kind of interesting. A lot of them just do it and can catch on to it. Most people don't. Most people, though, it's kind of a fight for where it is and it just takes a while. All of them always get it, so it's going to take a while. But once you feel the sensation and find it, you'll be able to get it and really pull it off. But don't be discouraged if you don't get it right away. It's going to take a while. You just have to get that pick angled and just kind of pinch it in there and feel for that harmonic, that real sustaining harmonic to come out. Some of the characteristics that you'll want to do with this is vibrato. It seems like vibrato goes hand in hand, a real nice fast vibrato with the pinch harmonic. So, you know, Zach Wilde does those things where he does the low ones and he really accents the song that way like a... I like those low throaty ones. Now, the work on all the strings and on each string, you can play linear this way with these and you'll change the pitch. Not only the pitch, you'll change from a more abrasive, brighter sound to a more throaty, dark sound. But actually, you'll hear the pitch change as I change the harmonics. I'll just do this on an open string, just the A string and check out how just the pitch harmonics alone are changing the pitch. It depends on how your amp's working, what pickup you have selected. I typically select the bridge pickup, but you'll get kind of like a... You hear the fundamental tone, but then the higher harmonic in there is really what we're going for. So, you want to kind of know where in the guitar certain things happen. If I want to throw to your sound, I feel I was getting that over here. So, I would shoot for that if that's what I was looking for. Whereas, if I want a brighter sound, I thought up higher. So, you can definitely reference songs like the End of the Grains where you'll hear him playing kind of, you know, just off more of a clean sound. And then of course, another big landmark down the road, there was Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhodes would use this. And then now, you know, a lot of modern-day rockers and shredders are using this in their vocabulary. So, that's really a cool thing to be able to just pull that off on call. And that is risky. Sometimes, you know, when I'm playing live, I don't know if they're always going to come out. This is a thing that you really kind of want to feel out. Some people use a visual, know like, well, between my neck and pickup, there's one. Between these two pickups right around here, there's one. So, you could, you know, navigate around that way if you'd like. I suggest just practicing to a scale like even a pentatonic and maybe three different places on each note of the pentatonic. So, now for dive bombs. So, you need a vibrato bar for the dive bombs. So, you know, typically some type of locking system or a thing like this, it's going to help keep it in tune. If you don't have that, some pencil lead on your nut would be cool. You could use, they sell some lead in tubes at some hardware stores. You could sprinkle on there. It helps it slip back and forth so it doesn't get stuck out of tune. And then some bars go up and down. You could have that adjusted on certain bars where I can go way up and you could have it adjusted to a half step, a whole step, a step and a half in diving downward. So, you know, the effect is often used on the E, A, D and G strings, typically. When I do a dive bomb on the high E and B, it's cool sounding, but it won't go as low as you'd expect the lower strings to go. So they sound like this. So, you know, this traces back to, you know, a real good example of this would be Hendrix's National Anthem at Woodstock. And then, of course, the Van Halen album, certainly the first album, interruption. And some of the techniques would be you go down on one string and as your bar is down, you could then release on a different string. So I'll go from the E down and the A string up. Other cool things you could do is take your fretting hand, hold it down and kind of use it like a motor, like an engine of a motorcycle while you're tremolo picking. Kind of a cool thing. Check it out. You kind of got to get a feel for how you want it to grow. Another really cool thing is harmonics. You can do these type of harmonics. We have... When you do those harmonics, a cool thing to do sometimes is hit an open string that's in key to the song. And as you dive bomb on that open string, just put your finger where the harmonic would be. When the strings loose, touch it, tap it, and it'll come back up as a harmonic. It'll descend as a pure note and ascend as a harmonic. Check it out. Here's the old spaceship trick where you take your left hand and I'll hit a harmonic. I'll pull this all the way down with my volume down. And then I could bring it up and tap the pickup like this. Actually, I'll do one without the volume down. So it's just a straight harmonic. I'm going to do it off the fourth fret. About three strings I'm going to pop. Bring this down and then I'm going to tap the pickup and it's going to kind of have a, I don't know, like a sci-fi spaceship landing as I release the bar, ascending as I'm tapping. Kind of a cool thing. I'm probably going to use this, but it's kind of cool to know. Check it out. And that, of course, can be exaggerated with delays and big reverbs as well. So here's a nice cool thing you can do, utilizing a dive bomb where I'll go down on a note. So I'm going to go down on my index finger fifth fret G string, thinking a minor pentatonic. Go down there and I'm going to swell up on the root note, the A, on the D string seventh fret. Kind of a nice lick, kind of very musical, and utilizing the bar with vibrato as well. So this kind of thing. So what's happening, I'm dropping the pitch to almost A and as soon as it hits A, I release back up to an A. So this means you have to use your ear. So this is the technical part of this. It's very much like a frontless instrument or a slide instrument where you use your ear. And I think the best thing to do is literally learn your vibrato tension and practice just going down to the next note down a scale. So if I took an A scale, an A major scale, let's say, coming down from 12th position, I would have this. And a good thing to do would be actually test the note, then go back to it and use the vibrato. So this would be a half step, one fret. From the second note, this note to this note, it's going to be two frets, a whole step. And I got to get the feel, the sound of my ear, and then the feel for how far I'm going to dip to achieve that. So check this out. If I go 12th fret to 11th fret. Then I'll do it with the dive bomb. And the next note. Just too much fun for days. So that's using that with some scale and actual pitching it in your head so you could stay in key. Now here's incorporating the harmonics, the dive bombs, kind of everything. Check it out, just get crazy here. Now one thing I did, all I did here was I hit a C on the G string, fifth fret, and I went a whole octave higher, which is 17th fret, same string. And I just tapped it, it created a harmonic, then I did the dive bomb. So this. Again. Well that's about it for the dive bombs and the pinch harmonics. Thanks for joining me.