Harmonics Masterclass
Expanding Guitar's Harmonic Vocabulary with Artificial Harmonics p. I
About this masterclass
Brazilian jazz guitarist Genil Castro makes his Mike's Master Classes debut with the first of two videos on artificial harmonics — the dreamy, harp-like Lenny Breau technique that influenced players from Chet Atkins to Ted Greene. The focus isn't just how to play the harmonics, but how to apply them musically and use them to expand your harmonic vocabulary beyond typical drop-voicing sounds.
What's covered
- The two essential aspects of the technique: mixing harmonics with regular notes, and playing simultaneous groups of three or four notes
- The orthodox Lenny Breau technique — thumb, index, and pinky roles — with Genil's first-hand story of seeing Larry Coryell and Lenny Breau play it live in 1983-84
- Scale runs with harp harmonics: pentatonic, chromatic, and full scales up and down
- Moving harmonics around the fingerboard, mirroring chord shapes 12 frets up
- The "Breaurio" chord — a Scriabin-style voicing Joe Diorio showed Genil, mixed with harmonics
- Musical applications on Stella By Starlight and Ivan Lins' Setembro
- Dave Liebman's five-phase schema for integrating new material into your playing
Includes 17 pages of PDF materials in standard notation and TAB, plus Soundslice-enhanced versions of all written examples so you can loop and slow down each one as you study. Full video is 30 minutes.
Lessons in this masterclass
Lessons
- 13 Notes or 4 Notes1m 26s
- 2All PDF examples (Synthetic Audio) - Soundslice15m 5s
- 3Expanding Guitar's Harmonic Vocabulary with Artificial Harmonics Part I30m 48s
- 4Introduction - Larry Coryell and Lenny Breau Story2m 21s
- 5Ivan Lins Song and Scalar Idea3m 11s
- 6Linear Scanners and Conclusion4m 14s
- 7Moving it Around3m 44s
- 8Opening Performance - Stella By Starlight1m 12s
- 9Scriabin and Joe Diorio Chord1m 44s
- 10The Breaurio Chord (Real Audio/Video) - Soundslice14s
- 11The Dave Liebman Schema3m 14s
- 12The Intellect and An Interesting Effect3m 6s
- 13The Orthodox Lenny Breau Technique1m 11s
- 14The Scale Run2m 33s
- 15The Two Aspects2m 51s
Reviews & Ratings
"Some good angles"
I think many of us grasp the basic idea of artificial harmonics but seek a little more in terms of how to practice and to see additional possibilities. Genil is a very articulate teacher and I was more impressed with several insights that he provided than he basic technique (e.g., how we acquire musical knowledge). One thing that is included here are 3 and 4 note simultaneous (as opposed to the "waterfall") voicings that include artificial harmonics. You can find the basic technique elsewhere but this is a good treatment of it.
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