Voted Overall Best Guitarist for the fifth consecutive year in the 1986 Guitar Player Readers Poll (see page 64), Steve Morse is truly a musician of amazing talents. Following his studies at the University of Miami in the early '70s, he recorded a half-dozen albums with the Dixie Dregs (later known as the Dregs). He then unveiled the Steve Morse Band, releasing The Introduction [Musician, 60369-1] and Stand Up [Musician, 60448-1]. At present, he's working with Kansas. We asked Steve to explain two of his flashier techniques for acoustic and electric guitar.

Could you describe how you create harmonics?

Sure. With a steel-string acoustic, you can get some artificial harmonics just as easily as on an electric guitar. You can use your left hand to fret a note that would ordinarily fit the chord changes, and then use your right-hand index finger to touch the string exactly halfway between the bridge and that note, so that you're an octave [12 frets] higher. You touch it right above the fret wire, not in between the frets. As you touch the string, you pluck from behind your index finger with your pick or thumb. Since I'm so used to playing more than one note at a time, I often create a harmony at the same time by hitting another note higher up. If the harmonic is on the third string, for instance, I'll use my pinky to pluck a natural note on the first string that's a harmony to that harmonic.

Can you give an example?

Okay. Say I play a G with my 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the first string, and a B on the third string, 4th fret. Ordinarily, that would be a sixth, but when you make that B a harmonic on the third string, it's as if you're playing a B above the G, so you get a third. It's just a different sound. Harmonics have that percussive, chimey sound. The beauty of artificial harmonics is that you can still add vibrato to them. And when you're playing in a hall that has a little bit of reverb, it's a nice effect.

Do you ever produce harmonics by touching the string with a part of your hand that's behind the pick?

Yes, for chords. I lay my right hand down in a karate-chop position across the strings, the same way I would to mute the strings. Then I pick as I normally do in front of this muted part. All I do is move my mute position up to where it's an octave above most of the notes of the chord. If you're hitting a G chord on the 3rd fret, move the fleshy side of your hand up to the 15th fret and try to approximate the angle of the notes you're fingering. Make sure that as you go across the strings, you gently rock your hand-unless you're going to do it very quickly. So at the same time you're stopping the strings, your pick is plucking them, but you have to get your hand off the strings as soon as your pluck them. Another way is to hold your pick perfectly stationary in relation to the side of your hand, and move the whole thing parallel to the strings, just like a machine.

How do you do simulate pedal-steel effects?

I use a bent harmonic mixed with the natural note. Here's an example that works over a C chord: On the 8th fret of the first string, play a natural C with your left-hand 4th finger. As your 4th finger holds the natural C, your 3rd finger plays a natural G right next to it on the 8th fret of the second string. Then you go up to the 15th fret of the second string and play the harmonic with your righthand 1st finger and the pick. Instead of getting the G that you're hitting naturally with your 3rd finger, you get a D an octave above the fretted note at the 15th fret; it's two octaves above the natural D on the 3rd fret of the second string. Since it's going to be the least loud of the two notes, you use the pick for the harmonic. Once the two notes sound, bend your left-hand 3rd finger up two frets, which raises the D harmonic to E, producing a tenth interval. When you combine the harmonic with the natural note, bend it, and add vibrato, it sounds like something that it's not. It's a great trick for creating a little steel guitar lick.

Transcribed by John D. Smith