I cannot do the simplest of things -.-

Hello again ladies and Gentleman!
Once more I require you help:
How can someone who uses there fingers and not a pick to quick pinch harmonics?
I can do it with a Plec/Pick, but if I try to bend it up for a change in the squeal it just goes into a normal sounding bend, the squeal is gone.

Another problem is Pick Sliding, if you watch the video for 'The End of Heartache' by Killswitch Engage, there is a pick slide just after the breakdown which I just cannot do, no matter what I use(finger nails most of the time) or where I start from on the guitar it just sounds wrong, the main problem is the sound of the pick on the strings come out louder then the sound of the pick sliding on them.
Yes I've tried fiddling with Gain,volume even the limited tone control I have (two knobs on guitar, one on amp)..

Any help would be appreciated :) Yes I did see the video which was put up in the Lessons section, it's why I can now do Ph with a pick, about 5% of the time.

Have you considered developing a 'hybrid' picking technique ie. use your thumb and first finger to hold the pick, and your second and third fingers for 'finger picking'(some clever b*****s even manage to use their fourth!)?

What do you pick slides sound like?

its alright, i cant do either of those things anyways.

i dont really have any desire to use them though anyways, just not my style.

I'm a bit confused, are you saying you want to be able to play PHs with your fingers? They're not too hard to play with a pick. You've gotta get your thumb right behind your pick. It is easier to play them with loads of distortion and the tone controls on full, but if you have the correct technique then you can play them when you're not even plugged in. If you are not producing them, then no amount of distortion is going to make them appear!

If you're still finding them really hard, have you thought about using a whammy pedal? You can step on it to bend a note up an octave, or two, three octaves, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, etc. I was just messing around with one, and I was chugging along in Drop D on the low D, and I played the 12th fret with loads of vibrato and stepped on the whammy (+2oct), and it made a sound quite similar to a PH.

Digitech Whammy (GAK)

I think I read somewhere that you like RATM, Tom Morello uses a whammy loads.

Yeah I'm looking to get a Whammy to learn some RATM leads (Learning alot of the bass parts at the moment).

I can produce PH with my pick and hybrid picking, but that is really mood dependent. Sometimes I can do Hybrid-Pick fine sometimes I just screw up, same with PH, but because I prefer using my fingers to using a pick (Screw up less and actually play faster with my fingers) I want to try PH with my fingers, I can do it as in pick the string and then bring the thumb up on it just the speed isn't fast enough.

My Pick sliding, well it sounds like a cat scratching the side of a sofa or wooden post -.- as you can hear the tone underneath the sound of the Pick scratching up the strings, but the pick scratching is a lot louder.

idk if this is what u mean but i was going to ask to things:what are pick slides, im guessing thts sliding the pick dwn the strings, i just wana be sure, whats pinch harmonics? is this it:



just the part from about 4:50 to the next lesson part, how does he do the first thing sounds like zz top, and then how does he do those squels? thnx

If youwant to be able to pinch a harmonic with just a finger what I do is, grow the nail so that there's about a mm of fingernail then touch the pads of my index and thumb togetherkeeping them as straight as possible, then I play the note with the finger nail and let tip of my index finger pinch, I've managed to be able pinch on acoustics with this technique, I'll try to upload a vid when I get my camera back.

And for pick slides I barely use them but I know that recently in Guitar World there was a column on pick slides by Dave Mustaine on the cd-rom so here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIgzNIPWC2c&feature=related

Pick slide as Mustaine uses them are pretty easy so maybe its your sound. As for Pinch Harmonics I learned them from the lesson posted on this site recently with the video. I still havent mastered it yet but I can do most of what Zakk Wylde does. Alexi Laiho is the best at PH in my opinion. Zakk Wylde over uses them.

lol ye this was acctually the first thing i did when i picked up the guitar. i plugged it in. i turn volume up...dog runs away barking lol and i hit these very high notes and had no clue how. showed my teach how, he said it was amazing i could do it as ive just picked up guitar. i havent done a pinch harmonic after tht. does it matter if ur nails r short or long? mine are generally very short. my mom calls them claws if they get even a tad long. so maybe i should grow them out? gr8 lesson btw thnx

It might be my tone as I can't turn my amp not even quarter-volume with full gain.

thanks for the help everyone :)
League, yeah I used that video as well I can do it about 7/10 times with a pick now but they are uncomfortable to me (come on, I'm an acoustic player at heart haha :P).

Wow people used my lesson, anyways @EMB it doesn't matter how long your nails are unless your trying to pinch harmonics without a pick.

Sorry it double posted for some reason

no im trying it with a pick, i figured tht with short nails(just cut them yesterday) i wouldnt be able to play pinch harmonics. my nail doesnt hit the string. ive done it b4... i should be able to do again.

Well some people pinch using their nail others use the tip of their thumb, it's up to preference really.

I bring up the side of the thumb to just tap the top of the string lightly, get the harmonic but it's to slow on the coming up -.- also when I bend a string which is doing a PH it goes to a normal sounding bend is it normal to do that?