Here’s a guest post from guitartricks.com. If you want to start playing pull-offs and hammer-ons, check this out:
The Pull-Off
Playing lead guitar like your heroes can be hard if you don’t master key techniques like the pull-off. A pull-off (and a hammer-on) is a way of changing between two notes smoothly. This guitar lesson for beginners introduces you to the technique and shows you how it can be put into practice. Even if you’re just learning, the pull-off can bring a run of notes to life.
Performing a Pull-Off
Pull-offs are an easy guitar technique for beginners. Fret any string at the fifth fret using your ring finger, and place your index finger on string’s third fret. Pluck the string, and as the note rings out take your ring finger away, leaving only your index finger. The first note makes a smooth transition to the second one without you having to pluck the string again.
Fun With Pull-Offs
Now you’re ready to work through some guitar pull-off exercises. These are just examples; in practice you can use pull-offs in any run of notes. A pull-off is shown with a “p” between the notes in tabs.
E————————————-
B————————————-
G————————————-
D-7-p-5-7—-7-p-5——————
A———————7-p-5————
E—————————-8-p-5—-
E-14-p-12-15-p-12——————-
B——————-13—————
G————————14-p-12——
D———————————14-
A————————————-
E————————————-
In the second example, use your pinky for the pull-off on the 15th fret. This makes it much easier to play.
The Hammer-On
The hammer-on is a reverse pull-off. It’s really easy: choose two frets on the same string. Pluck the string, and then perform the hammer-on while the string is still vibrating by pushing your ring finger down at a higher fret. The note changes in the same way as it does in a pull-off, except the pitch gets higher. Hammer-ons are shown with a “h” between the two notes.
Here’s a guitar exercise with both hammer-ons and pull-offs.
E——————————————-
B——————————————-
G——————————————-
D——————————————-
A—————-9—-11———————
E—9-h-11-h-12———-12-p-11-p-9——-
Conclusion
Now you’ve learned to play hammer-ons and pull-offs, adding vital techniques in your arsenal. You can also move on to additional techniques such as trills from the basics you’ve picked up here.
