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As with my proposal for notating fingerings, there is nothing radical here. The proposed notation for artificial harmonics is really just the way most editors have done it, except that here they would be fingered rigorously according to my fingering proposal.
The proposal here for notating natural harmonics should be seen as a vast improvement over the many and haphazard ways it has been done in the past. Still, the system uses only familiar notational elements and requires no "getting used to."
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Artificial harmonics
As mentioned in in the introduction above, this proposal for the notation of artificial harmonics is in general agreement with the way they have been notated by most editors. The rules for artificial harmonics are:
1. They are notated with diamond-shaped note-heads.
2. They are notated at the fretted pitch, not the sounding pitch.
3. They are fingered according to the rules for normal notes.
And that is all. No other indication is supplied.
In the past, editors have occasionally notated artificial harmonics at the higher octave. And in some cases editors have used a regular note head plus a symbol such as "+" or "o" above the note head to indicate an artificial harmonic. These practices are hereby declared obsolete.
Stating the obvious (to a guitarist), the philosophy is that the notehead and its fingering will tell the guitarist where to go with the left hand on the fingerboard, and the diamond shape will tell him to invoke the special right-hand, artificial harmonic plucking action.
If an editor is concerned about a non-guitarist looking at the music, he should explain in a prominent note that the diamond-shaped notes must sound an octave above the notated pitch.
Rules for natural harmonics
The idea for natural harmonics is that the player will be shown the fret number at which the harmonic is found. (Most notation systems have done this by printing something like "Harm. 7", for example.) From there, the player makes a quick, mental assessment of which string the harmonic is on. When the harmonics are notated at the pitches proposed here, this is very easy to do. [For the sake of completeness, this proposal covers some very rarely used harmonics. Discussion of these harmonics is kept in brackets like this. You may safely ignore anything presented here in brackets.] Here are the proposed rules.
1. A natural harmonic is notated with a diamond-shaped note-head.
2. A natural harmonic is shown at the sounding pitch or transposed down 1 or more octaves according to the chart below.
3. A natural harmonic is indicated by the letter H followed by the fret number at which the harmonic is found, e.g. H7. This is generally printed above the staff, over the note, but could be forced to other locations, such as below the staff if there are normal notes above the natural harmonic.
To determine which string to play, the
Natural Note player thinks about how he would play
harmonic lowered the printed note at...
-------- ---------- ---------------------------------------
H12 -- fret 12 (See Note 1.)
H12 1 octave open string (See Note 1.)
H5 2 octaves open string
H24 2 octaves open string (H24 = H5)
H7 1 octave fret 7
H19 1 octave fret 7 (H19 = H7)
H3 2 octaves fret 7 (H3 = 1 octave above H7)
H4 2 octaves fret 4
H9 2 octaves fret 4 (H9 = H4)
H16 2 octaves fret 4 (H16 = H4)
[ H10- 2 octaves fret 10 (See Note 2.) ]
[ H6- 2 octaves fret 10 (H6- = H10-) ]
[ H2.7 2 octaves fret 10 (H2.7 = H10-) ]
In an ascii approximation, here's how the natural harmonics will always look.
H12 _ _
H10 H6 H2.7
-<>-
H7 H19 H3 <> <> <>
---- ---- ---- ----
<> <> <> <> H4 H9 H16
---- H12 H5 H24 ____ ____ ____ -<>- -<>- -<>-
<> #<> <> <>
|------|----------------|-#<>---<>---<>--|----------------|--<>---<>---<>--|
| | <> <> <> | | | |
|--<>--|----------------|--<>---<>---<>--|-#<>---<>---<>--|----------------|
| | | | | <> <> <> |
|------|--<>---<>---<>--|----------------|--<>---<>---<>--|----------------|
| <> | | <> <> <> | | |
|------|--<>---<>---<>--|----------------|----------------|--<>---<>---<>--|
| | | | #<> <> <> | |
|--<>--|----------------|--<>---<>---<>--|----------------|----------------|
<> <> <> <> <> <>
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -#<>- -<>- -<>-
<> <> <>
-<>- -<>- -<>- ---- ---- ----
#<> <> <>
---- ---- ----
<> <> <>
Note 1. The H12 harmonic is the only one that presents a choice. It is best written at the sounding pitch if it is part of a note-stack containing a normal note, or, more generally, if it appears in a passage containing normal notes. If it is part of a strictly harmonic passage, it is best notated at the lower octave.
[Note 2. The H10- harmonic is 31.2 cents flat of the notated natural, equal-tempered note. It is found at .694 of the distance from the 9th to the 10th fret; thus, H9.7 may be a better indication. Likewise, H6- is .829 of the distance from the 5th to the 6th fret, so H5.8 may be better. H2.7 is, in fact, found at .675 of the distance from the 2nd to the 3rd fret.]
4. As with the position indication (e.g. C5), the natural harmonic indication (e.g. H7) remains in effect until another one (e.g. H5) is shown, or the passage of natural harmonics ends.
5. A left-hand fingering is generally supplied. This is not applicable, of course, if the harmonic is a "right-hand" natural harmonic.
6. Right-hand natural harmonics are indicated by "rh" above the natural harmonic indication, for example:
rh
H24
Discussion of natural harmonic notation
The above proposal for natural harmonics eliminates the 2 biggest stumbling blocks faced by guitarists struggling to read them: 1) the complete lack of consistency among editors regarding staff placement of the harmonic note, and 2) the often unwieldy number of leger lines.
Notice that there are several natural "groups" of natural harmonics. When you get familiar with these groups, it is easy to quickly determine, "What string would I play the notated note on if I were at such and such a fret?"
H12, H5 and H24 are related. Think open string.
H7, H3 and H19 are related. Think fret 7.
H4, H9 and H16 are related. Think fret 4.
[H10-, H6- and H2.7 are related. Think fret 10.]
Notice that H7 and H4 natural harmonics are "freebies" when notated as proposed here. Likewise with H12, when notated at the sounding pitch. [Likewise with H10-.] Just shoot for the string/fret intersection indicated by the printed note.
H5 and H24 and H12 (when notated an octave below) are pieces of cake, too. You're told the fret number, and the open string to use is shown by the note.
That hardly leaves any of the most commonly used natural harmonics to worry about at all. Just remember that H3 is the daughter of H7; and H9 is the twin of H4. Like I said - child's play.
Notice that the natural harmonic indications follow the same convention proposed for position indications - a letter/number combination. How elegant...
A nice fringe benefit of using the standardized pitches proposed here is that they are all "in the ballpark", if not right on, the pitch you would get from the normal note you would get from the spot where you play the harmonic. I know that's confusing, but the point is, when natural harmonics and normal notes occur together in the same note-stack or passage, the harmonic "fits in", rather than sticking out. Visualize a 5th string harmonic a sitting on the staff a few octaves above a 4th string normal note.
If an editor is uncomfortable with natural harmonics not written at pitch, a simple solution is to describe these octave displacements one time in explanatory notes. If he doesn't think that's acceptable, he could indicate 8va or 15ma above the harmonic indications throughout the piece. The natural harmonics would then be shown as follows:
8va 15ma 15ma | 8va 8va 15ma | 15ma 15ma 15ma | 15ma 15ma 15ma
H12 H5 H24 | H7 H19 H3 | H4 H9 H16 | H10- H6- H2.7
If a guitar player finds that unnecessary and annoying, he can easily white out the octave displacements. See, it's not hard to make everybody happy.
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