Guitar Dictionary Category
Picking & Fretting Technique
What Is a Natural Harmonic on Guitar?
A natural harmonic is a clear, bell-like overtone produced by lightly touching an open string at one of its vibration nodes while the string is picked. The finger does not press the string to the fret. It briefly divides the vibrating string and suppresses the fundamental so that a higher partial becomes prominent.
The easiest natural harmonics are found directly above the 12th, 7th and 5th frets. In TAB, harmonics are often shown with angle brackets, such as <12>, or marked N.H.
How to Play a Natural Harmonic
Place a fingertip lightly on the string directly above the fret wire, not in the normal fretting space behind it. Pick the string, then remove the touching finger while allowing the harmonic to ring. Pressing down produces an ordinary fretted note; lifting before the pick attack leaves the open string.
Use a small contact point and a relaxed hand. The 12th-fret harmonic is the most forgiving. The 7th and 5th require more accurate placement and may respond better when the string is picked closer to the bridge.
What the Main Harmonic Positions Produce
The 12th-fret node divides the string into two equal sections and produces a pitch one octave above the open string. The 7th-fret node produces a higher partial approximately an octave and a perfect fifth above the open string. The 5th-fret node produces a pitch approximately two octaves above the open string.
Additional nodes exist between and beyond these locations, but they are smaller and more sensitive. The same physical node can appear at more than one point along the string.
Natural Harmonics and Tuning
Harmonics are useful for listening and checking relationships, but they do not replace a chromatic tuner. The 12th-fret harmonic can be compared with the 12th-fret fretted note when checking intonation. Harmonics at the 5th and 7th frets can compare certain strings, but standard guitar tuning includes an irregular major-third interval between G and B, so a memorized matching routine must account for that exception.
Natural Harmonics in Music
Natural harmonics add colour to fingerstyle arrangements, open-tuning music, ambient textures, looper layers and endings. Because their available pitches depend on the open strings, alternate tunings create different harmonic resources. They can also ring sympathetically over fretted notes and chords.
Basic Harmonic Exercise
Play the six open-string harmonics at the 12th fret, then repeat at the 7th and 5th frets. Keep the volume even and allow each note to decay naturally.
Natural harmonics e|--<12>--<7>--<5>--| B|--<12>--<7>--<5>--| G|--<12>--<7>--<5>--| D|--<12>--<7>--<5>--| A|--<12>--<7>--<5>--| E|--<12>--<7>--<5>--|
Next, create a short melody using only harmonics from two or three strings. Write the fret numbers in angle brackets so the technique remains clear in the TAB.
Why Natural Harmonics Matter
Natural harmonics reveal the overtone structure already present in every vibrating string. They provide distinctive pitches and textures without fretting pressure and help guitarists understand scale length, nodes, intonation and the relationship between open strings and higher partials.
Kalymi Tip
The Mastering Fingerstyle Ukulele companion identifies the 12th-, 7th- and 5th-fret natural harmonics as a core extended-technique reference. Use the same order on guitar: master the strong 12th-fret response first, then move to the more sensitive 7th and 5th.
Touch directly above the fret wire, pick, and remove the touching finger without stopping the string. If the open string sounds, the finger left too early. If a normal fretted note sounds, you pressed too hard.
In my “Silent Night” looper arrangement, natural and artificial harmonics are used as colour rather than as a constant effect. Add harmonics to a sustained ending, a repeated loop layer or an important melodic point, and leave enough space for their softer bell-like decay to be heard.
Related Terms
Learn More
- Mastering Fingerstyle Ukulele Companion
- How to Play Silent Night with a Guitar Looper Pedal
- Open D Guitar Tuning Guide
- Open G Guitar Tuning Guide
- Looper Guitar Learning Path
- Guitar Learning Path
Reviewed by
Brent C. Robitaille,
music educator and founder of
Kalymi Music.