Legato
Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides; how to sound notes without picking them while keeping volume and control.
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Content under musical review. It may contain inaccuracies.
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Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides; how to sound notes without picking them while keeping volume and control.
Applied
Legato sounds a new note without picking the string again: the fretting hand makes the sound. Going up it's a hammer-on; going down, a pull-off. The result is smoother and more singing than picking every note.
Two notes on the 1st string: the first is picked and the second comes from a hammer-on. Then the reverse with a pull-off:
Step 1 of 3 · First note
String 1, Fret 5: A4 · 1 · Root
Alternate hammer-ons and pull-offs non-stop between two frets. Start slowly and aim for both notes to sound equally loud:
Picking & articulationLegato (hammer-ons & pull-offs)Even-volume slurred notes that don't rely on the pick. Metronome in sixteenthsThe key to a pull-off is that the lower finger is already in place before the upper one leaves. Otherwise you'll hear the open string.
With three-notes-per-string patterns you can pick only the first note on each string and slur the other two. Going up you play two hammer-ons; coming down, two pull-offs. Practise with the metronome in triplets so the beat always lands on the picked note.
Legato notes lose volume if the finger lands weakly or far from the fret. With distortion, the opposite problem is noise: strings you aren't playing ring in sympathy. Mute the low strings with the palm of your picking hand and the high ones with the pads of your fretting fingers. For very fast legato, each finger's accuracy matters more than its strength: let it land on the same spot every time, right behind the fret. This control prepares you for tapping, which spreads legato across both hands.