Most guitarists are familiar with legato playing on guitar (i.e. hammer-ons and pull-offs). What most guitarists aren't
familiar with is playing long lines that span all six strings without ever picking a single note. This is the technique that
we'll focus on in this lesson. The example below is a 3 note per string sequence in E minor. Since all the notes in the
exercise are played legato, the important thing to pay attention to is hammering on to the first note of each string hard
enough that those notes are the same volume as the rest of the notes in the exercise. For those of you who aren't
familiar with this kind of idea, muting is essential. To do this without strings ringing out, the flesh of you left hand (fret
hand) index finger must mute all of the strings above the one you're playing on while the palm of you right hand (pick
hand) mutes the string below the one you're playing on. For example, while you're playing the notes on the 3rd string,
your left hand index finger is muting strings 1 and 2 while your right hand palm is muting strings 4, 5 and 6. Remember,
once you get the run down in E minor, don't forget to transpose it to the other 11 keys.
familiar with is playing long lines that span all six strings without ever picking a single note. This is the technique that
we'll focus on in this lesson. The example below is a 3 note per string sequence in E minor. Since all the notes in the
exercise are played legato, the important thing to pay attention to is hammering on to the first note of each string hard
enough that those notes are the same volume as the rest of the notes in the exercise. For those of you who aren't
familiar with this kind of idea, muting is essential. To do this without strings ringing out, the flesh of you left hand (fret
hand) index finger must mute all of the strings above the one you're playing on while the palm of you right hand (pick
hand) mutes the string below the one you're playing on. For example, while you're playing the notes on the 3rd string,
your left hand index finger is muting strings 1 and 2 while your right hand palm is muting strings 4, 5 and 6. Remember,
once you get the run down in E minor, don't forget to transpose it to the other 11 keys.
Now let's try the descending version of this pattern. You'll probably notice that it's much harder to pull-off than it is to
hammer-on, so go slow, make sure every note is precise and make sure no strings are ringing out.
hammer-on, so go slow, make sure every note is precise and make sure no strings are ringing out.
Now that you've got the ascending and descending versions down, it's time to connect them. This is pretty
self-explanatory. The thing to watch out for is keeping the notes on the top and bottom strings at the same tempo as
the notes on the middle strings.
self-explanatory. The thing to watch out for is keeping the notes on the top and bottom strings at the same tempo as
the notes on the middle strings.
Now that you've got the basic idea, try this concept in all positions on the neck, in all the different scales you know
and in all the possible permutations you can think of (Like string-skipping, for example).
and in all the possible permutations you can think of (Like string-skipping, for example).