I was just keen on knowing how to get the perfect pinch harmonic like Pantera and Steve Vai!! I can PH pretty clean but i can never get the sustain and the pitch like the last notes in the cemetery gates. I've heard a lot of Steve Vai stuff with similar Pinches!! Help!!
I read somewhere that zakk wylde uses a lot of vibrato with those Harmonics ....im really not a big guy in harmonics
Few requirements for squealing pinch are: 1. Proper pinch technique 2. Removing your thumb/finger (whichever you use to produce the squeal) as soon as you get the squeal. This will allow the squeal to be sustained by the guitar. 3. Using the bridge pickup. 4. Using insane amount of gain, with good amount of mids dialed in.
alpha1 knows his stuff. And generally, use your thumb to produce the squeal. Also, look up youtube, there are a lot of useful videos.
Cemetary gates ending squeals are manipulated by the whammy bar, that's the only way to take them that high
To increase the sustain of the pinch, u could use higher output pickups, use heavier gauge strings (like ZW) and use insane amounts of gain... also the way the pickup is EQed makes a difference as the harmonics u r looking for are in high mid region. Also, I have also heard that some of the pitch bending done by dimebag is done with the help of the Digitech Whammy pedal he uses. I too find it difficult to sustain a high squealing note while pitch bending by so much as my action is pretty low.
He does squealies. Taps a harmonic with a finger on his left hand (while muting the other string with his other fingers) and then pulls up on the floyd to modulate the pitch. Also, wouldnt thicker strings be tougher to pinch? (thicker=more bass response, we want treble)
Thicker strings also mean more magnetic material => more current output from pick-ups... Zakk Wylde uses a .070" low E string on his drop C tuned guitar. For the sake of comparison, I use a .075" string as the 3rd(A) string on my bass (std light gauge bass strings). That might be the reason his low squeals sound so meaty. Thick strings should not be tougher to pinch unless they are round wound (G). Infact, I prefer harmonics on the G string as it gives thicker harmonics. String brightness also depends on the material of the strings. Steel strings for example are way brighter than Nickel and Chrome(dull, jazz strings). You can try the D'Addario ProSteels - super bright. Good for cleans and moderate drive. At high gain, they give a bit of "icepick" sound. For squeals, you should be looking at more of high-mids rather than treble anyways.
I have seen the video on Youtube in which he teaches this horse wail thing. (He also advices that you shouldn't try it a lot unless you get your whammy replacement parts for free. It wears out your knife edge a lot). I know he used to do amazing squeals. I meant that he also uses a Whammy pedal for some of the stuff. For example fretting a high note and pulling it further up half an octave can be pretty hard on a Floyd rose, especially if your action is very low and the strings are quite close to your frets. So you can try the same with the whammy pedal. With a little practice, you can get the timing of the pitch rise right and it can sound like a whammy bar.
That was pretty helpful stuff! Has anyone tried squealin an acoustic?? I did, n it sounds pretty cool!
Sounds WEIRD on an acoustic. I tried em on mine (electric) .....works only downwards (mines not a floyd.) Also, it makes my guitar go outta tune fast. (no locking tuners)
