Stop 3 of 5
Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides
Sounding notes without the pick and sliding between them.
Loading…
Stop 3 of 5
Sounding notes without the pick and sliding between them.
Until now every note you played was born from a pick stroke. But the guitar can do something hardly any other plucked string instrument can: sound notes with the fretting hand alone. Hammering a string, pulling it or sliding a finger along it produces smooth, connected notes that sound more like a voice than a strike. In this stop you learn the three techniques, the , the and the , and join them into your first .
Listen to the same pair of notes twice, C and D on the third string. In the first bar each note is picked. In the second, only the first one is picked: the second one is born from a finger dropping onto the string.
The difference is subtle but clear: the slurred note has no "click" at the start, it comes in softer and stays joined to the one before. That's the sound of legato, an Italian word meaning "tied together". The notes flow like speech without gaps between the words.
To play a hammer-on from C to D on the third string:
The secret is the speed of the drop, not how hard you squeeze afterwards. A finger that comes down slowly just deadens the string; one that falls fast, from a centimetre or two, sets it vibrating at the new pitch.
A string sounds because it vibrates between two fixed points: the fret you're pressing and the saddle on the bridge. When a finger drops quickly onto a higher fret, the string, already vibrating, is suddenly shortened, and the impact itself adds energy. The string keeps vibrating, now faster, which is why the pitch goes up. If the finger comes down slowly, it presses the string against the fret with no impulse: the vibration is braked and the note dies.
The pull-off is the reverse journey: from a higher note to a lower one on the same string. And here's the most common legato trap: lifting the finger isn't enough. If you lift it straight up, the string is simply no longer fretted there, and the lower note sounds weak or not at all.
For a pull-off from D to C:
The index finger must stay firmly in place the whole time: it's the one that receives the note.
Combining the two techniques lets you play three notes from one pick stroke: go up with a hammer-on and come back with a pull-off. This there-and-back gesture appears in countless blues and rock solos.
In a slide, the finger glides along the string from one fret to another without releasing it. You hear the starting note, the "trip" across the frets in between and the arrival note. Box 1 has natural slides on every string, between its two notes: for example, from G (fret 5) to A (fret 7) on the fourth string.
Tabs show legato with a letter or symbol before the target number (or between the two numbers). In this journey's tabs you'll see the abbreviation above the note that isn't picked:
| Symbol | Technique | Direction | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
h | hammer-on | to a higher note | the finger drops onto the string |
p | pull-off | to a lower note | the finger pulls the string as it leaves |
s or / \ | slide | up or down | the finger glides without letting go |
In many printed tabs you'll see something like 5h7p5 or 5/7. A curved line (a slur) usually joins slurred notes in standard notation too. Remember the golden rule: only the first note of the group is picked.
Try reading this phrase before listening to it, then check with the audio:
A trill is a fast, repeated alternation between two neighbouring notes. On guitar you make it with a single pick stroke and a chain of hammer-ons and pull-offs: hammer, pull, hammer, pull… The picking hand rests; the fretting hand works alone.
Listen to how the trill creates tension and movement, and how that tension resolves when it lands on a long note. The index finger stays put the whole time; the ring (or little) finger moves up and down with small, quick motions.
Start at 50 BPM. First hammer-ons up the box, then pull-offs down. Listen closely to the second note of each pair: if it's quieter, slow down and check your technique. Finish with a minute of hammer-ons without the pick.
Goal: Play the hammer-on (ascending) and pull-off (descending) exercises in box 1 at 70 BPM, with the slurred notes as loud as the picked ones.
Play the third-string trill (fret 5 to 7) for one bar and resolve to the root. Then repeat on the first string (fret 5 to 8, with your little finger). Rest 30 seconds between sets.
Goal: Keep a C-to-D trill in sixteenth notes going for four bars in a row at 60 BPM, even and without fading.
Alternate the there-and-back phrase (hammer-on + pull-off) with the slide phrase that lands on the root. Play one phrase, leave a bar of silence and answer with the other. Once you've got it, invent your own combinations of h, p and s in the box.
Goal: Play a full chorus of the blues in A alternating the there-and-back phrase and the slide phrase, leaving one bar of silence between them.
Practice blocks ticked: 0 · Self-assessments taken: 0