You can produce a natural harmonic by lightly touching a string with a fretting finger that’s strategically placed over a specific fret. The note is slightly muted and rings out as a harmonic. There are natural harmonics exactly above or near the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 9th frets, but today we’ll focus primarily on the 7th and 12th because of their melodic characteristics and accessibility. Place your first finger over the 7th fret and your fourth over the 12th fret. In Photo 1 you can see how I position my hand to make the reach. (My guitar teacher always told me not to flatten out my fingers, but in this case it helps.) Remember, you’re not pressing the string against the fret, but rather laying your fingertip on the string directly over the fret, and then plucking the string with the other hand. Also, keep your thumb in the center of the neck ... just imagine you’re holding a grilled cheese sandwich.
Loosely based around the G major pentatonic scale (G–A–B–D–E), Ex. 1 is a simple exercise that will help you get a handle on the basics of this technique.
Click here for Ex. 1
We can use the notes in the pentatonic scale to create beautiful melodies. For example, try playing “Amazing Grace” using these harmonics. Pick it out by ear, starting with the 12th-fret harmonic on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings. You may find that picking out melodies is slightly counterintuitive because the 12th fret harmonic is actually a lower pitch than the 7th fret, but if you spend enough time in this position, you’ll eventually memorize where the pitches are located. Ex. 2 is the melody to “Saje” from my self-titled album.
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We now have the harmonics that will serve as the melody notes under our fingers. The thing is, I want what I’m playing to sound like a song—not just a melody—so I need to add some notes in that correspond to the roots of the chord progression happening behind the melody (Ex. 3). With this in mind, I play a fretted C note on the 8th fret of the 6th string and then the open 6th string to suggest a C–Em progression. This gives the melody some context. Listen carefully to the audio and let every note ring out as long as possible. Note: I’m using a flatpick and attacking each note individually with alternate picking.
Click here for Ex. 3
Now that we have the basic melody down, we can play around with it a little. For example, I like to crosspick through the harmonics while still outlining the chords to give the melody a rolling, cascading sound. Ex. 4 illustrates one way to incorporate some crosspicking into this melody. This pattern also strikes the chord root more often, adding drive to the tune. In this case, the fourth finger rests on both strings at the 12th fret.
Click here for Ex. 4
Now that we’ve flatpicked for a while, let’s try a fingerstyle approach. Plucking harmonics with your fingers creates a much softer sound, and allows you to simultaneously play several notes. Ex. 5 is part of a song I wrote called “Pamlico Sound” from our latest album, Lost at Last. In this example, the thumb plucks the root notes of G, D, C, and E, while the index, middle, and ring fingers play the harmonic melody.
Click here for Ex. 5
It’s fun to mix in some traditional fingerpicking patterns with the 7th- and 12th-fret harmonics and fretted bass notes. Ex. 6 uses a traditional folk fingerstyle pattern, not unlike Mississippi John Hurt’s “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor.” The thumb alternates between the 6th and 4th strings.
Click here for Ex. 6
Well, that should get you started. Hopefully you’ll have as much fun playing with these natural harmonics as I do. They are a truly beautiful aspect of the guitar that can add a level of sensitivity to your playing.
Chops: Intermediate
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Develop a rhythmically strong fingerstyle technique.
• Explore the essential elements of Leo Kottke’s style.
• Balance melodic phrases with a steady bass line.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
In this lesson we pay tribute to the inimitable Leo Kottke by exploring his sound and powerful right-hand technique. It’s important to note that Kottke’s style has continued to evolve over the years, and what might have been “signature Kottke” in the ’70s is not the same as the ’80s, ’90s, or 2000s. While preparing this étude I spent a lot of time revisiting early Kottke compositions, including “The Fisherman,” “Eggtooth,” and “Stealing.” I also spent time dissecting his arrangements of music written by others, such as Pete Seeger’s “Living in the Country,” “Eight Miles High” by The Byrds, and the hymn “In Christ There is No East or West.”
While this étude demonstrates several features of both his left- and right-hand techniques, I focused much of my attention on what Kottke himself considers one of his chief attributes, “developing an invisible home for my thumb.”
One of the most obvious features that set Kottke apart from so many other fingerstyle guitarists is his long-form, right-hand pattern. He’ll frequently play eight or more measures of music before repeating any right-hand idea. His patterns are similar from measure to measure, but rarely repeat exactly.
I’ve done the same thing here. Measures one, two, and five are similar—in fact the bass notes (played by the thumb) are exact, but the melody notes are varied and switch strings.
The walk into the F chord in measure three is a common “Kottke-ism” that leaves the leading tone (E) on the downbeat and the root on the and of beat 1. Very cool! He does this in “The Fisherman,” “Stealing,” and several other songs. Measure eight contains a variation on this idea with the A note leading into a C chord.
Measures five and six are noteworthy for the fact that no note is attacked on the and of beat 4. This is another familiar Kottke trait, where he gives the previous melody note room to breathe without cluttering the piece with extraneous inner harmony. As I mentioned, Kottke’s plucking patterns are usually very similar from one section to another. In the second eight measures he explores variations of the first eight while seamlessly, yet unexpectedly, leading us into Em.
Interestingly, the bass completely avoids the downbeat in measure 17 and the melody propels everything forward. Two repetitive, static bass notes immediately follow this. The next two measures deliver a brief respite from the previous melodic movement by lingering on an Fmaj9, emphasizing the low notes.
The single-note run in measure 24 isn’t an uncommon Kottke trait, but when such a line appears it’s usually for a brief one-measure run or designed to segue into a different section of the song. And that’s what’s happening here: The run takes us back to the beginning of the piece.
Finally, the coda is classic Kottke (though admittedly simplified for our purposes). Kottke is fond of ending many a tune by ascending the fretboard with a variety of chord inversions, concluding on the I, voiced with the root on top.
One aspect that really sets Kottke’s playing apart from so many other fingerstyle guitarists is his powerfully rhythmic right hand and how he uses it to compose such accented, syncopated, and—ironically—non-guitaristic music.
This étude represents only a very small percentage of Kottke’s signature licks. I highly recommend listening to a broad range of his recordings. This list includes the essential powerhouse 6- and 12- String Guitar (1969), the highly polished Great Big Boy (1991), and especially the two classic live recordings done more than 20 years apart: 1973’s My Feet are Smiling and 1995’s Live. Be sure to pick your jaw up off to floor when you’re done.