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 12^th 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 7^th fret.  Every week our so, make it your goal to add one or more additional frets.