Guitar technique
A pinch harmonic (sometimes called a squeal) is a guitar technique where the pick and the picking-hand thumb both contact the string at the moment of attack, suppressing the fundamental and emphasizing a high overtone.
Free for the first 3 songs.
What it is
Pinch harmonics are a signature sound in metal and hard rock soloing. The harmonic note that sounds is determined by where along the string the pinch occurs, so the same fretted note can produce different pinch harmonics depending on picking-hand position. Players use this as an expressive accent on long held notes or on the peak of a phrase.
How to read it
Pinch harmonics are notated with 'P.H.' above the affected note in tab. Sometimes the resulting harmonic pitch is written in parentheses as the actual sounding note.
See the full guide to reading guitar tab for the complete symbol reference, or browse the glossary for related terminology.
How audio2guitar detects it
Pinch harmonics shift the perceived pitch upward by a fixed interval (an octave plus a fifth or a fourth, depending on pick position) while suppressing the fundamental. The pipeline detects pinch harmonics by identifying notes where the fundamental is unusually weak relative to the overtone series and the upper harmonic dominates.
Where it shows up
The tab shows the fretted fret with the P.H. marker. The actual sounding pitch is implied by the technique and is usually higher than the fret would suggest.
Every pinch harmonics our pipeline detects gets marked in the tab automatically. First 3 songs free.