Posts tagged: Guitar Technique

September 20, 2010

Guitar Technique Lesson: How to Perform Hammer-ons and Pull-offs

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Have you ever wanted to play those spine-tingling lines that sound super-smooth and oh-so fluid?

The key to playing those super-smooth, spine-tingling passages is to master hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Today we will look at how to perform hammer-ons and pull-offs and a great foundation hammer-on and pull-off exercise.

The Hammer-on

In some contexts, you will want to play notes that sound seamless and fluid.  The term for this is legato.

The best way to play notes in a legato fashion is to use hammer-ons and/or pull-offs.

A hammer-on is produced by striking the lower pitched note and then sounding the higher note with your fret-hand finger.  You do not pick the note that is hammered.

The Pull-off

The pull-off is the opposite of the hammer-on.

To perform a pull-off you pick the higher pitched note and then sound the lower note with your fret-hand.  You “pull” your finger off of the string so that the lower pitched note is sounded.

To perform pull-offs that don’t use open strings, you will need to place the appropriate finger(s) on the notes to be sounded. Next, you pull-off the higher finger so that the lower note is heard.   You do not pick the note that is pulled off.


It is also very common to combine hammer-ons and pull-offs in a passage, so in some cases you will only pick one note and perform a combination of hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Hammer-on Pull-off Exercise

Pick the first note on each string and hammer-on the rest.  Play the descending version of the exercise by picking the first note on the string and sound the remaining notes with pull-offs.

Practice the above exercise on each fret up to the 12th fret.  Once you reach the twelfth fret play the entire exercise backwards to the first fret.

This is a great endurance exercise.  If your hands get fatigued, just play the exercise up to the 7th fret.  Every week our so, make it your goal to add one or more additional frets.

Hammer-on Pull-off Exercise # 1 XDisc 1 Track 9

Pick the first note on each string and hammer-on the rest. Play the descending version of the exercise by picking the first note on the string and sound the remaining notes with pull-offs.

September 15, 2010

Guitar Lesson: The Basics of Alternate Picking

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Alternate picking is the most common and efficient way to play notes on individual strings.

Alternate picking requires that you strike the first note with a down-stroke and the next note with an up-stroke.  The pattern is simply repeated for each successive note.

To get started with this technique we will look at a basic and very effective alternate picking exercise.

Here is how to play the alternate picking exercise shown above…

To start the exercise, begin on the first string, 1st fret.  The number combination 1-2-3-4, represents your fret-hand fingers.

Your fret-hand fingers are numbered from one to four (index to pinkie).

To play this exercise, place your first finger on the 1st fret and pick the note. Pick this note with a down-stroke.

Next, place your second finger on the 2nd fret and pick this note with an up-stroke.

Now place your third finger on the third fret and play this note with a down-stroke.

Finally, position your fourth finger on the fourth fret and pick this note with an up-stroke.

You are now ready to repeat this pattern starting on the second fret.  The exercise 1-2-3-4, should be repeated on each fret until your fourth finger reaches the twelfth fret.

You then play the exercise backwards (4-3-2-1) to the 1st fret.  This exercise should be practiced on two or more strings every time you practice. This exercise will help improve your guitar technique. It’s also a great warm-up exercise.

September 2, 2010

Guitar Lesson: A Fun Alternate Picking Song to Work on This Labour Day Weekend

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For the upcoming Labour Day Weekend I thought I would give you a fun alternate picking song to play.

It’s a piece by J. S. Bach.

I’m sure you’ve heard his name before.

Bach is considered to be one the most important composers of all time.  Although Bach never actually wrote any music for the guitar, many of his pieces have become standard repertoire for guitar players.  His pieces have so much to offer guitarists.

The song we will look at today is Bourree II from Orchestral Suite Number 2.

Like all of Bach’s pieces it sounds great at any tempo.

This piece is for intermediate to advanced guitar players.

In this post, you will find PDF sheet music in tab and standard notation for you to download and print off.  I’ve also included an audio recording of the piece played on electric guitar.

The first thing you should do is click on the following link to download and print off the sheet music.  You can download the PDF for Bach’s Bourree II here –> Bach’s Bourree II

Now let’s dig into the piece.

The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s a nice short little piece.  So it shouldn’t take too long to memorize the song.

This piece consists of 2 sections that each repeat.  This is known as binary form.

Section 1 of the song is in 8th position while section 2 is in 10th position.  Let’s dig a little deeper into this…

In one of my previous posts, I explained how fret-hand positioning works.  If you haven’t read it, or need a quick review, read it here and come back:

Guitar Scale Lesson: How to Read Guitar Scale Diagrams

Now that you understand that scale fingerings are based on the concept of one finger per fret, I can explain the fingering used for this Bach piece.

In section one of this song (measures 1-4), you are in 8th position.  This means that your first finger will play any notes found on the 8th fret.  Your second finger will play notes found on the 9th fret.  Your third finger will play notes on the 10th fret.  And your pinky or 4th finger, will play notes on the 11th fret.

Now there is some stretching involved.  So what happens is your first finger actually performs double duty.  Your first finger will also stretch one fret lower to the 7th fret and play any notes found there.

So lets do a quick recap of the fingering:

So now all you do is play through the first section of this song and simply apply the fingering principles shown above.

In section two of this song you move up to the tenth fret.  Your first finger will play notes on the 10th fret.  Your second finger will play notes on the 11th fret.  Your third finger will play notes on the 12th fret. Your fourth finger has double duty in this section so it will play any notes found on the 13th and 14th frets.

So there you go.  You now know which fingers you need to use.  Other than that, the piece is pretty straight forward.

Here is the audio for the piece:

Bach Bourree II for Guitar

(Depending on your Internet connection speed, it may take a short while to load the audio)

Have fun with this song and have a great Labour Day Weekend!

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