I’m pretty much a beginner so go easy on me! I have been playing Nashville Blues Scruggs and at the very end there is 5th fret chimes or harmonics. My question is how to get the chime ring? I have lightly bar on the fret it self and sounds muffled I put pressure and it rings as if I was fretting normal on the 5th. Am I’m approaching this wrong or is my set up in correct? My bridge is measuring out correct and I’m tuned correct via open and 12th!! Hmmm oh I’m picking this on a Deering good time if that makes any difference.
12 Comments |
 | WayneConrad says:
1/27/2018 2:27:39 PM
Hello, welcome to the practice group! This is probably a good subject for a forum post, not really practice group stuff, but that's alright. I'd like to take a shot at answering it.
Let's forget the fifth fret for a minute and make a chime at the 12th fret, which is easier. Start by chiming just one string. Don't make a bar, but lightly--very lightly--touch a string at the 12th fret. Now pluck the string and at the exact moment you pluck it, lift your finger off of the string. When you get this right, you'll hear a distinct chime that is more bell-liked than the string normally sounds.
If you can't get a chime, try moving your finger slightly up or down relative to the fret. You shouldn't have to go very far from the fret--say, within 1/2 a fret should do it. But since your intonation is correct, you should be able to chime right over the fret.
When you can make individual chimes this way, then you can try making a chime using a bar and striking all the strings. I think this is a little harder, but that may just be me.
Now move your finger up and down a string and find the other places you can make a chime. The internet will tell you, but it's more fun to just find them.
The 5th fret is one of the harder places for me to make a chime, but once you can make one at the 12th fret, give the 5th fret a try.
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 | Midnight Special says:
1/27/2018 3:01:25 PM
Thanks for the input I researched and no where did anyone say to lift off a little, one more question for ya. You mentioned if no chime move up down relative to the fret call me dumb do you mean up or down the neck no more than 1/2 the thickness of the fret I’m sure these are not the proper terms I’m using
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| WayneConrad says:
1/27/2018 3:43:16 PM
Actually, what I wrote was ambiguous. Here's what I meant:
If you can't get a chime right over the fret, then it could be that the fret is not at the right place (or, more likely, the bridge isn't). In that case, move up or down the neck a little to find where the sweet spot is. I took 1/2 the distance between frets as the amount you might try moving, since I couldn't imagine a banjo's intonation being more off than that. But since you've checked your intonation and it seems to be correct, then you can probably chime right over the fret and disregard my instruction to try moving up and down the neck.
I don't lift off a little when I make a chime. I lift off all the way and completely stop touching the string. I start by very lightly touching the string, then at the instant--or possibly just slightly after--I pluck or strike the string, I lift that finger all the way off.
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| Midnight Special says:
1/27/2018 4:01:34 PM
Thanks a million Wayne been picking all day when I wrote about this fingers where and are sore was going to try your theory in the morning, but I sucked it up and I got chimes going at the twelve as you said 5th is going to be a struggle also use a bar position but practice make perfect I recon thanks again for input
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| WayneConrad says:
1/27/2018 4:08:04 PM
Woohoo! I'm glad you got the chimes going.
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 | AndyW says:
1/29/2018 9:55:31 AM
I'm now gonna have to google 'chimes'. I know how to touch a string and get a harmonic on guitar. I also know a slide/bottle on top of a fretwire can produce a different sound to a finger behind the fret. I'm guessing this is something between the two.
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| WayneConrad says:
1/29/2018 9:58:06 AM
@AndyW - I assumed that "chime" was another name for "harmonic," but I don't actually know that. I think I need to do the same google search.
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| WayneConrad says:
1/29/2018 10:02:12 AM
books.google.com/books?id=wSvf...t&f=false
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| Midnight Special says:
1/29/2018 2:26:19 PM
Chime is another term for harmonic you ring the string like a door bell sound octave higher than fretted note. I have seached for lesson about this on web but with no luck or ways to practice to remember all possible positions that can be chimed like cord progression but find very little information on the method
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 | n1wr says:
1/30/2018 7:39:18 PM
Here you go - complements of John Boulding. Guess who prompted this video?
youtube.com/watch?v=T9dII7_-GIA
Enjoy
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| AndyW says:
1/31/2018 8:10:21 AM
Hi I've had a google. A chime seems a different way of playing a harmonic than I would on guitar.
On guitar you don't normally play a lightly fretted note and lift. Instead you would ring the open string then lightly touch the ringing string at 12th fret etc.
Of course, possibly both techniques can be employed on both instruments and I am missing something, but I imagine they might be played differently due to sustain levels?
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| AndyW says:
1/31/2018 8:36:33 AM
Ok. A further google shows I know nothing about guitar. There are indeed 'chimes' on guitar in the same method as banjo. But in heavy rock guitar they are taken to a whole new level in a variety of ways.
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