TC-01 Hammer Ons and Pull Offs (Legato Playing)

Techniques Course

Definitions

Legato: A style of music in which notes are played without breaks between them; smoothly.
Hammer On: Technique in which a finger is 'hammered' on or firmly presses a fret higher up on the fretboard, changing the pitch without having to re-pick the string.
Pull Off: Technique in which a finger is removed from the fretboard, changing the pitch without having to re-pick the string.

Guitar Finger Notation

Finger Notation Focus on the left hand for this article. The right hand (pimad) notation is used for learning classical guitar. Try writing the numbers on your fingers if your having trouble keeping things straight.

Other Tablature Notation

Hammer ons and Pull offs can also be shown as notes with ties between them.

The Hammer On

How to play a hammer on

A hammer on is played by 'hammering' or striking a fretting hand finger onto a higher fret. On electrics this vibrates the string enough to produce a sound without needing to pick the string first (as seen in the video). On acoustics and in classical guitar, however, the string is generally plucked or picked first because this allows for a louder sound.

Hammer-On Tablature Notation

e|----------| B|----------| G|----5h7---| D|----------| A|----------| E|----------|

Hammer ons are signified with an h in tab.

How to Play Hammer Ons

To peform a hammer on fret the 5th fret, G-String with 1, your index finger (see Finger Notation to the right). Pick that note, then hammer (Push down) on the 7th fret with 3, without re-picking. What you should hear is a note that suddenly changes to a higher pitch.

Hammer ons are a little tougher on acoustics. You want to change the length of the vibrating portion of the string without dampening or muting your sound. So come down fast and strong on the string with your finger. Try hammer ons with and without plucking the string first to see why hammer ons are louder when you pluck first.

e|----------| B|----------| G|--5h6h7---| D|----------| A|----------| E|----------|

You can also hammer on twice in a row. Again, the string is only struck once, but this time we use two fingers to hammer on adjacent frets successively. The tab above indicates that you should hammer onto fret 6 and then fret 7.

This can be accomplished by using 1 on the 5th fret, and hammering using 2 on the 6th fret and finally using 3 on the 7th fret.

It's possible to do four hammer ons in a row* - giving you four note changes if you pluck the string first. Try it!

e|----------| B|----------| G|-5h6h7h8--| D|----------| A|----------| E|----------|

The Pull Off

The pull off is the opposite of a hammer-on. Unlike hammer ons, you must strike the string first and then remove one or more fretting hand fingers, lowering the pitch. Often times, a pull off is performed following a hammer on.

Pull-Off Tablature Notation

e|------------| B|------------| G|---7p5------| D|------------| A|------------| E|------------|

Pull offs are signified with a p in tablature

How to play a pull off

A typical pull off (as shown in tab) would require you to use 3 to fret the 7th string as well as using 1 to fret the 5th string (even though at this point it has no effect on the pitch). After picking the G string you remove 3 and leave 1 on the 5th fret, as shown in the above tablature.

This produces a change in the pitch to lower notes by lengthening the vibrating portion of the string.

It's also possible to pull off all your fingers and dropping to an open note. This is shown in the tab below. Give it a try.

e|------------| B|------------| G|---7p0------| D|------------| A|------------| E|------------|

You can perform four successive pull offs with one hand as show below. Give it a try.

e|------------| B|------------| G|-7p6p5p4p0--| D|------------| A|------------| E|------------|

*You can actually perform more than four successive hammer ons in a row. You can certainly use your right handed fingers to perform hammer ons, as well as your thumbs if you can manage.