How to play harmonics.

The pure, flute-like tone that you get when you pluck a guitar string while lightly touching—but not fretting—the 12th fret is called a harmonic. Some players also call that sound a "chime." You can get a harmonic tone—or chime—at many nodal points up and down the fingerboard, and harmonics are important musical elements in many styles. Learning the locations of the natural harmonics and developing the technique to play them cleanly up and down the fingerboard is a real challenge, and in this lesson Sharon Isbin shows you the fundamentals to get started. The audio examples were performed by Acoustic Guitar music editor Andrew DuBrock. To hear the examples, you need the RealPlayer plug-in. You can find this lesson, and much more, in the Classical Guitar Answer Book, by Sharon Isbin.

Sharon Isbin is one of the world's foremost classical guitarists. She graced the very first cover of Acoustic Guitar, and she was an original contributing editor to the magazine. Isbin has been offering A.G. readers her wisdom about guitars and guitar playing for over ten years now. Read more about Isbin's many talents and accomplishments at her bio page.

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