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Modern Banjo Ideas & Techniques With Jake Schepps
by: Jake Schepps

Harmonics on the Banjo: Part 1

by Bob Altschuler

Harmonics (or chimes) are the bell-like sounds made by lightly touching certain mathematically important places on a vibrating string. Harmonics are a featured effect in the classic bluegrass songs Bugle Call Rag, Grandfather’s Clock, Foggy Mountain Chimes, Reuben and others. Tony Trischka plays them in New York Chimes, Alan Munde uses harmonics in place of Scruggs tuners in Earl’s Breakdown and many banjo players use them in other songs and for improvising. Guitar, resophonic guitar, pedal steel and other stringed instrument players use harmonics extensively. To hear a haunting original banjo song composed of harmonics, watch Benji Flaming from Monroe Crossing playing “Titania’s Music Box” at www.solobanjo.com.

When you play an open string, it vibrates both along its entire length and in shorter sections. The sound produced includes the louder fundamental note plus overtones that add to the sound and tone of the string. Two banjos sound different from each other partly because of differences in the type and number of overtones. Adjusting head tension or tailpiece angle and changing the bridge or string gauges (and even the tone ring) can change the sound by affecting the overtones along with other sound elements.

When you fret a string, it vibrates between the fret and the bridge. If instead of pushing the string down behind a fret you lightly touch it at certain locations and pick it, the string will vibrate on both sides of your finger and create a harmonic. The most common, loudest and easiest to play harmonic location on a banjo (and guitar) is directly above the 12th fret. This is at the center of the string length and splits the string vibration in half. If you lightly touch a string at the 12th fret and pick it, you cause the center of the string to remain still. This eliminates some of the original natural frequencies, while allowing other frequencies to continue.

For strings one through four, harmonics are found directly above the 5th, 7th, 12th and 19th frets. There are also harmonics where the 24th fret would be, beyond the upper end of the fingerboard. The most common harmonics are played at the 12th, 5th and 7th frets. The shorter fifth string starts at the 5th fret, so harmonics are found above the 12th and 17th frets, with a weak harmonic above the 10th fret. The harmonics on the fifth string are generally played less than those on the other four strings.

When you play harmonics you force the string to vibrate in halves (12th fret for strings one through four and 17th fret for string five), thirds (7th and 19th frets) or fourths (5th fret and where the 24th fret would be). You can try to play more harmonics by splitting the string further into 5ths, 6ths, etc. of string length, but they become too weak to hear.

The harmonics over the 12th and 5th frets are the same notes as the open strings (D-B-G-D on strings one, two, three and four) but are one octave and two octaves higher. The harmonics at the 7th and 19th frets are identical to each other but are different notes than the open strings. The harmonics on strings one to four at these frets are A-F#-D-A, which are the notes in a D chord.

The harmonics on the fifth string at the 17th fret and the third string at the 5th fret are identical. You can also find the same G note harmonic one octave lower on the third string at the 12th fret.

To play a harmonic, very lightly touch the third string directly over the metal fret bar at the 12th fret using your left ring or middle finger tip or the fleshy part of your finger below the tip. Pick the string with your right thumb and immediately lift your finger off the string to make the harmonic louder. You should hear a bell-like tone.

Move your finger a little to each side of the 12th fret to determine where the clearest harmonic sound is located. Then, try playing other harmonics on strings one, two and four over the 12th fret. Also try the harmonic on string five over the 17th fret, the halfway point of the string length.

Next, try the harmonics on strings one to four over the 7th fret, then over the 5th and 19th frets. You will discover that some harmonics are easier to play than others.  

It will take some practice to get a clear bell-like chime sound, but once you get the mechanics down, you can play harmonics in other locations on a banjo and even on other stringed instruments. I’ve been able to play harmonics on instruments I don’t normally play, including guitar and bass, as long as I can find the correct spots on the strings. Also, learning to play banjo harmonics made it much easier for me to play them on resophonic guitar.

Check out sites on the Internet for more technical information about the physics and mathematics of harmonics.

The tab and MP3 below show harmonics at the 12th, 7th, 5th and 19th frets, plus the harmonics from “Bugle Call Rag” in G and D and the song’s ending harmonics.

Part 2 in the next issue will have harmonics from Foggy Mountain Chimes and New York Chimes plus more information. There will also be a description about how to set bridge location using harmonics. Banjo bridges are moveable and must be in the proper location to make the string length correct.

Happy Picking! 

Harmonics On the Banjo MP3
Download the MP3: HarmonicsonTheBanjo.mp3

About the Author

Bob Altschuler lives in upstate New York and has played bluegrass banjo since 1970. As a banjo instructor, his 25 years of experience includes teaching many students at Banjo Camp North, where he has been the Beginner Bluegrass Track Coordinator since 2003. Bob's training and work as a public school teacher sharpened his teaching abilities, and helped him become a patient and sought after banjo instructor (his day job is now with the NY State Retirement System).

Bob performs with the Dyer Switch band at concerts and festivals across the Northeast, Midwest and South, and recorded American Airwaves and Family Business CDs with the band. His banjo playing has also been heard on Northeast Public Radio and on television and radio commercials.

You can contact Bob at arobanjo@aol.com, or through the Dyer Switch website at www.dyerswitch.com.