Interstellar question

[tim0721]

Hello Andrew, Sammy, or anyone else who might know the answer to my question…

In the performance of Interstellar (which, by the way, is fantastic), Sammy ends the piece on a harmonic that appears to be at the 7th fret while fretting the two bottom notes on the 5th fret. This last note is not in the tablature nor in the taught lesson.

Am I missing something? I’ve tried all the techniques I know and cannot come anywhere close to achieving this sound. How does he play this last harmonic?!?!?!

Thank you kindly in advance,
Tim

[4stringboy]

Hey Tim!

I’m actually playing harmonics on both the E and A strings (open) on the 7th fret – the sound you’re hearing is just both of them together 😅

I call it a ‘harmonic strum’ and use it a lot in my playing where I will quickly sweep the harmonics rather than pluck one at a time.

It’s a horribly difficult technique and took me many many months of failure to see if it was even possible, but it is!

Hope that helps 😊

[tim0721]

@4stringboy

Ahhh…yes, the ol’ harmonic strum.

Thanks Sammy for getting back to me. And, yes, that does help. At least now I can quit banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how you played a “fretted” harmonic. It does sound really cool though. And as with a lot of the cool stuff to learn on the ukulele, it’s not surprising it takes many many months of practice to achieve.

But I’m glad to see/hear it is achievable. I’ll get started on figuring it out.

Thanks again. Take it easy.

[Author]

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