The ESP Guitar Company

Its all in the technique. High gain bridge pickups with bright qualities into bright high gain amps help, but at the end of the day its the technique which mkes it what it is.

I think they'd be relatively difficult with very thin strings and picks.

small strings, i find, are actually easier. i like heavy picks though. but i don't use small strings. 12-56

I tend to get my best ones when I don't want them. :/

seriously though, I'd agree with Hades and the technique statement. If done right you can get one anywhere even though it seems significantly easier in certain spots on the string.

It has been said before, it really is all in the technique. heavier picks make it easier IMO

I have found that it is technique mostly. I use the 3mm picks from Dunlop and I find they are easier to do with them than with thinner picks. Metal (brass, aluminim, steel) also are good for them, but I hate the tone you get with them otherwise.

I have also found that they are also easier to get with bridge pups. They stand out more with more gain, but you can get them to stand out whenever you get to the point that the sound starts to break up.

Humbuckers really give biting pinch harmonics while single coils tend to give more subdued ones. My Strat, with stock pups, can not touch the screaming harmonis I get from my stock ESP pups.

I use the red jazz III's and they make it a bit easier to do harmonics. The small size of the Jazz III keeps your grip in the perfect position to do harmonics- plus its a great pick.

Technique technique technique. I use the Dunlop "tear drop" shaped picks which are a bit smaller, which means that naturally my fingers are closer to the strings, which help me personally. It's just something that you have to do a lot to get good at. But be careful, don't turn into a Zakk Wylde clone while you're at it.

vibrato that shit too

^Vibrato the fuck outta it...

^So do I- Its just that the smaller picks keep your thumb closer to the strings, thereby making it take alot less effort to touch your thumb on the string.

That's exactly it.

You can also do artificial harmonics and bend them ala dimebag. If you have a floyd, flick the string, dive bomb, hit the harmonic, bend it up. You can do that sort on a hard tail too... lightly fret the string, pluck, jut as you hit the harmonic fret hard and bend. Then yeah, there's the 100% right hand technique of fretting and hitting your thumb on the string.

I find it easier to pull off on my guitar with regular slinkys and skinny top heavy bottoms vs my RG with Beefy Slinky's. IDK... just feel I guess.

to get a pinch harmonic, its all technique, however depending on the guitar, the strings and pick, there can be differences.

new strings simply sustain longer giving a stronger pinched tone. smaller gage strings are better since their cores are not as stable, which means they get longer sustain time and the frequencies are more free to do as they wish since there isn't a more stable core limiting vibrations.

the guitar itself has slight characteristics. typically neck-thru guitars emit a stronger pinch and more resonate woods create a stronger pinch sustain.

picks/how you pick the string makes all the difference. if you have a light pick and it sways to much, it can be difficult getting you thumb in the right place since the sweet spot is moving every time you hit the string at an even slight velocity change. 1mm picks are the all around pick, they can handle heavy strings, but they are light enough to strum acoustic giving way (suspension) but not too much, they are very stable, this ensures a consistent sweet spot every time you go to hit that harmonic. keep to the standard shape pick, typically IMO, dunlop rules over all picks, because their standard shape is the best all around.

pickups and amp setting make a difference. Hot pickups or pickups that have strong mids will make he pinches stand out more. And on your amp make sure you don't scoop you mids, for one its just plain stupid, you never cut through the mix...ever and your pinches will sound lousy.

however technique makes up about 90% of the quality of your pinches, everything else just makes up for the pinch's characteristics. if you pinches suck on a $100 guitar, they will suck on a $1000 guitar, however like i said, some guitars will be different and you might find one guitar easier to pinch than another, but that comes down to your technique, maybe the guitar you have isn't right for your technique while a guitar you play somewhere else is more fit to your technique (again this only makes up for a small percentage of the whole equation, your technique is the most important...period)

so just practice, it takes a few years to get a feel for where all the nodes are for every single string and fret, trust me, its a lot and not easy, but once you get them all down and strong, you will be able to do it on any guitar.

I can get them with everything from a dunlop nylon .038 to a 2mm gator grip... almost any string but it's typically easier on the higher strings.. then again zakk wylde loves doing it on the lower heavy strings..

I can get them on my electric with a clean setting too or even on an acoustic.

in the end its all about technique really.