I think the concept of "artificial harmonic" referred to elsewhere in the comments to this entry is synonymous, or at least closely related to my flageolet tones.
Ah! (I'd thought you meant tones from an actual flageolet; I hadn't heard that term applied to stringed instruments before.)
That's what I'm talking about when I say "play a harmonic" (guitar jargon; I think it applies to other stringed instruments in English as well) -- for a "natural harmonic", you touch the string lightly with one hand at a spot that will be a node of the standing wave you want to produce and pluck it with the other hand, resulting in a more bell-like tone on a guitar than a stopped string (or an open one) produces. For an "artificial harmonic", you stop (fret) the string with the left hand as you would when playing a normal note, and with the right hand you gently touch the string at a node with one digit and pluck with another (e.g. touch with index finger and pluck with thumb), or for a "pick harmonic" you pluck the note sharply (nearly always with a plectrum) and immediately brush against it at the node on the follow-through. On a fretted instrument, finding the right spot is easy: count up the same number of frets from where you touch for the natural harmonic, as the number of frets away from the nut your left hand is.
(no subject)
(no subject)
That's what I'm talking about when I say "play a harmonic" (guitar jargon; I think it applies to other stringed instruments in English as well) -- for a "natural harmonic", you touch the string lightly with one hand at a spot that will be a node of the standing wave you want to produce and pluck it with the other hand, resulting in a more bell-like tone on a guitar than a stopped string (or an open one) produces. For an "artificial harmonic", you stop (fret) the string with the left hand as you would when playing a normal note, and with the right hand you gently touch the string at a node with one digit and pluck with another (e.g. touch with index finger and pluck with thumb), or for a "pick harmonic" you pluck the note sharply (nearly always with a plectrum) and immediately brush against it at the node on the follow-through. On a fretted instrument, finding the right spot is easy: count up the same number of frets from where you touch for the natural harmonic, as the number of frets away from the nut your left hand is.