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Violin artificial harmonics are an advanced technique that should be practiced primarily by violinists who are already comfortable on the instrument. If you want to learn violin artificial harmonics, just keep this in mind and be ready for a decent amount of frustration as they can be very difficult, especially if you have only just started mastering the basics! That said, here are the steps you need to take to play them.
For a violin artificial harmonic, you are going to play a note with your first and fourth finger. Your first finger will be the base and will hold the string down. Your fourth finger will be the harmonic finger and will lightly press the string in order to produce the harmonic note you desire. Combining these two will create a new harmonic on a string that didn't previously exist. Sound complex? It is challenging, but practicing it will make it easier and easier.
Harmonics happen at points of perfect intervals. So when we play a violin artificial harmonic, you are going to target the only perfect interval you can really play with the first and fourth finger: a perfect fourth. The distance between them should remain exactly 3 steps.
So start by placing your first finger in first position on D string and playing an E. Then place your fourth finger down in a harmonic position for an A, right where the A string is. You can play an open A to test the note. This creates a violin artificial harmonic where the fourth finger is. You will notice an entirely new harmonic has formed where originally the harmonic would have been at a different position.
You can shift this violin artificial harmonic position up as well to test new harmonic sounds and see what results. This creates more new harmonic sounds where previously there were only a select handful. What you are doing is simply tricking the string into thinking it is a different note by playing the first finger, then relying on the fourth finger to find the new harmonic note that has been formed from the artificial harmonic therein. It is a very tricky technique, but one that gets easier with practice.
Overall if you are truly serious about learning violin artificial harmonics or any other violin techniques, you need to get yourself a good teacher. Having a good teacher makes a tremendous difference in violin playing ability, so don't ever underestimate this!
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