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Getting Started with Hammer-Ons, Pull-Offs, and Bends

Lesson #520 • Oct 11, 2023

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Lesson Description

I got a recent question from Song Notes member Alan, who asked for general tips when it comes to learning tricky “articulation” bits such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, and so forth. I recorded this casual Q&A reply, where I talk through each of these techniques and give some general advice for each. To be clear, these are all techniques that can take a while to get comfortable with. Sometimes they come easier, while in other circumstances they’re quite difficult. Fear not, as I’ll walk you through how to think about & practice them, big-picture.

  • 0:00 Lesson Summary
  • 2:32 Hammer-Ons
  • 8:38 Pull-Offs
  • 18:45 Bends

The Question that Inspired This Video

Special thanks to Alan for sending this in via the Song Notes community forum.

Hi David, Back again. Do You have any place where you specifically go into articulation. I would love some tips on more effective ways to hammer-on, pull-off, bend, and so forth. It seems particularly challenging with an acoustic guitar. Thanks as always!

Other Lessons I Reference

Here’s the playlist of suggested lessons that I reference at the beginning of my video. Click any lesson below to view my video tutorial, as well as all other lesson resources.

Hammer-On Practice with G and Cadd9 (feat. "Southside of Heaven")

Blues Bends: A Getting Started Guide

★ Instructional PDF

"Millionaire" by Chris Stapleton

$ Song Sheet Available

Using Slides to Connect Pentatonic Scale Shapes

★ Instructional PDF

Major Pentatonic Scales in Open Position

★ Instructional PDF

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