Homepage Forums Guitar News Weekly Guitar News Weekly Archive Lead Guitar Techniques for Beginners: Hammer-On-Pull-Off

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    Guitar Expert
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    by Dirk Hagemann
    http://www.blueslessons.net

    Today we take a closer look at one of the most simple lead guitar
    techniques. But if you can play this very fast you´re on the way to
    become a guitar hero. 😉 You can learn this technique and after that
    I have some nice exercises for you.

    Hammer-Ons (abbr. h.o.) you hit a note and after that you use your
    finger to hammer on another string to produce another note.

    E.g.: Use your forefinger to play the note on the 5th fret and hit the
    same string with you ring finger two frets higher on the 7th fret.
    You don t pluck the string again for the second note.

    In a tabfile you can read a hammer-on like this:

    
    |-----------------------|
    |-----------------------|
    |----5^7----or----5h7---|
    |-----------------------|
    |-----------------------|
    |-----------------------|
    
    

    Now we play a hammer-on with more notes.

    Your 1st finger lays on the 5th fret the whole time. Play the e-String
    on the 5th-fret, hammer-on the 8th fret then on the 7th fret with your
    little finger and then remove the finger so that the sound of the 5th
    fret note keeps ringing. This sounds harder as it is.
    Play it slow at first.

    
    |--5^8^7--5-|
    |-----------|
    |-----------|
    |-----------|
    |-----------|
    |-----------|
    
    

    Practise: Play some Hammer-Ons like this (it´s the first pattern of the
    Pentatonic-Scale!):

    
    |--------------------------5^8---|
    |---------------------5^8--------|
    |----------------5^7-------------|
    |-----------5^7------------------|
    |------5^7-----------------------|
    |-5^8----------------------------|
    
    

    Pull-Off

    The Pull-Off technique (abr. p.o.) is quiete the same as the hammer-on,
    just backwards.

    Ex.1
    Put your finger the 5th string of the D-string, pick the
    string and pull of your finger without interrupting the sound.

    Ex.2
    Put two fingers on the 5th and 7th fret, then hit the string and remove
    the finger from the 7th string and let the note from the 5th string ring.

    
      Ex.1     Ex.2 
    |-------|-------|
    |-------|-------|
    |-------|-------|
    |--5p0--|--7p5--|
    |-------|-------|
    |-------|-------|
    

    Hammer-On-Pull-Off Exercise

    
        Exercise 1a - Pentatonic Exercise                Exercise 1b - More notes
    E||--------------------------|--------5h-8----------|--5h-7h-8-----------------|
    B||--------------------------|--5h-7----------------|-----------8p-7p-5--------|
    G||--------------------5h-7--|----------------------|--------------------7p-5--|
    D||--------------5h-7--------|----------------------|--------------------------|
    A||--------5h-7--------------|----------------------|--------------------------|
    E||--5h-8--------------------|----------------------|--------------------------|
    
    

    Exercise 2 – Start slow at first!

      
    |------------------------------5---|-----8------------------------|
    |--7h8p7p5-----------------5h8---8/|--10---10p9p8-------10~-------|
    |----------8p7p5---7---5h7---------|--------------9p8h9-----------|
    |----------------7---7-------------|------------------------------|
    |----------------------------------|------------------------------|
    |----------------------------------|------------------------------|
    
    

    Exercise 3a – For advanced players

    |--8p5h8p5-------------------------|
    |----------8p5h8p5-----------------|
    |------------------7p5h7p5---------|
    |--------------------------7p5h7p5-|
    |----------------------------------|
    |----------------------------------|
    

    Exercise 3b – No Blues anymore 😉

            
           
    --8p7p5h8p7p5-----------------------------------------------------||
    --------------8p7p5h8p7p5-----------------------------------------||
    --------------------------7p6p5h7p6p5-----------------------------||
    --------------------------------------7p5h7p5h7p5-----------------||
    --------------------------------------------------7p6p5h7p6p5-----||
    --------------------------------------------------------------7p5-||
    

    Exercise 4 – Small h.o./p.o. solo

    
    E||--------------------------------------|--5----5-----5h-8------|
    B||-----------------------------5-----5--|----------7------------|
    G||-----------5-----5h-7p-5h-7-----7-----|-----------------------|
    D||--5h-7p-5-----5-----------------------|-----------------------|
    A||--------------------------------------|-----------------------|
    E||--------------------------------------|-----------------------|
                                                                        
    --8p-5--8p-5-----5------------|--------8--------------------------||
    --------------8-----8p-5------|-----5-----------------------------||
    ------------------------------|--5--------5h-7--5h-7-----5h-7-----||
    ------------------------------|-----------------------5--------5--||
    ------------------------------|-----------------------------------||
    ------------------------------|-----------------------------------||
    
    

    For more exercises and GuitarPro files for this lesson visit:
    http://www.blueslessons.net

    http://www.blueslessons.net

    From the 12-Bar-Blues, the Shuffle Rythm and the Blues Turnarounds to
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    lessons and more. For each Lesson there are images or GuitarPro files
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    PLUS: mp3 Blues Backing Tracks/Jam Tracks and Ebooks!

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