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Squee! Pinched harmonics in rock guitar
Posted by nicktf on 7 March 2011 - 6:58am.
...You know that little "Squee" sound before the 2nd solo in Comfortably Numb? Also to be heard throughout the '80s as a favourite trope in hair metal guitar solos? Often combined with Whammy-bar abuse?
Anybody think of some early examples? They are easy to play (amplified guitar, distortion, hit the string first with the pick, then the edge of the thumb), and it seems strange to me that I can't recall Hendrix or Townshend et al utilising them, especially as they often occur by accident (There's an inadvertent one in "Dazed and Confused")
I have no idea why this is bugging me.
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Re: Squee! Pinched harmonics in rock guitar
There is, of course, a wikipedia article about pinched harmonics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinch_harmonic).
But sadly it doesn't mention the man I consider to be the King Of Pinched Harmonics: Robbie Robertson. He just does it all the time and, amazingly, it never gets old. Watch "The Last Waltz".
Yeah Robbie
There's a great track on Planet Waves where he does it - "Going Going Gone" maybe? It's a great effect.
Rory Gallagher
loved a squee.
Mick Ralphs
explained how to do it in an early issue of the short-lived Kerrang! spin off Guitar Heroes. I particularly enjoy doing it on the twelfth fret of the third string. I call it the Squee-G.
Riding the Squee
I only have a vague understanding of what you speak. I wonder if Mr Gilmour in this clip is using a pinch harmonic at 37 seconds in. Whatever it is, Jeff is suitably impressed.
Indeed it is!
Thanks for that clip.
This is the guy in the Wikipedia article
cited as the originator:
Personally, I think Zakk Wylde is a squee-ler par excellence (esp 3:54 to 4:41) in this particularly savoury offering from Mr Osbourne:
Sometimes, all you need is a squealy guitar solo and a key change to the outro.
There's a lovely pinched Harmonic
on the intro to 'Sweet Home Alabama' on the 3rd run around (the slightly chromatic run)
Also - Billy Gibbons uses this to great effect - 'La Grange' etc. He's masterful anyway.
Billy Gibbons...
seldom afforded the respect he's due. A brilliant, brilliant guitar player. I seem to remember some also-ran by the name of Hendrix giving him the thumbs up back in the day.
Leslie West from Mountain..
..was petty keen on 'em too.
Whether by accident or design...
... Andy Partridge throws in a couple of squees in his solo on 'Science Friction.'
Great solo as well.
As mentioned above, Roy Buchanan was the king
of the pinch. I recommend you check out his first two albums.