Hammer ONs and Pull OFFs!!! :-)

EVERY single player I've ever heard... at least everyone I heard that could actually play... used hammer-ons & pull-offs. When you really learn how to hammer onto a note and pull off to another note... and then when you learn how to get that picking hand involved... DUDE... it just opens up whole new worlds!

Okay, enough talk... let's get to it! In this lesson I'm going to give you 5 licks that TOTALY rely upon hammer-ons &/or pull-offs.

THE TRILL...
A "trill" is a rapid hammer-on/pull-off lick. In general, it involves two fingers (usually the index/ring or index/pinky), and it just sound cool!

IMPORTANT: When you play a trill you only pick the FIRST note... if that.

I'm showing you these licks in only ONE PLACE on the neck... but you can play them ANY WHERE!

1) TRILL ONE: Index/ring fingers...
E--------------------------------- On this one, go ahead
A--------------------------------- and pick the 1st note,
D--------------------------------- but then hammer and
G--5--7--5--7--5--7--5--7--5~~~~ pull everything else!
B---------------------------------
E---------------------------------
i r i r i r i r


2) TRILL TWO: Index/pinky fingers...
iE---------------------------------
A---------------------------------
D---------------------------------
G---------------------------------
B---------------------------------
E---5--8--5--8--5--8--5--8--5~~~~
i p i p i p i p i


THE CASCADE
To be totally honest, I don't know what the name of this lick is... but I use it A LOT and when I think of it... it just feels like a "cascading water fall"...you'll see...

TWO NOTES:
1) there is a little more PICKING involved here... This is actually a lick that COULD be picked all the way through. However, for our purposes here--ONLY pick the notes that call for it... hammer/pull everything else!!!!!

2) I only wrote this out to the G String--but you can carry it right on down to the LOW E String... If follows the "pentatonic scale" pattern.

THE NOTES TO BE PICKED will be pink. I will also put a "u" or "d" under the picked notes to indicate the direction you should pick each note.

3) The Cascade...
E--------------------------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------14------14--12---
B---------------15------15--12--15--12-------12-------------
E----15--12--------12----------------------------------------------
p i p i p i p i r i r i
d u d u d u d u


The Eddie Van Halen thing...
Actually bazillons of players use these two-hand tapping licks... but Eddie really popularized them with ERUPTION (Van Halen 1). I'm going to show you a couple versions of this lick... there are thousands of "spin-off" things you can do with this... but mastering these two basic patterns will set the foundation for you!

NOTE: NO PICKING on these... Hold your pick between your index finger thumb---and HAMMER the first note with the MIDDLE finger of your picking hand and immediately release (pull off) to the next note--which is fretted with your other hand.

***Again---I'm showing you these licks in one postion, on one string... you can... and if you stick with it.... YOU WILL move these ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!!

4) Eddie's preferred pattern...
I don't really like the way Eddie plays these--not that it doesn't sound awesome... I just prefer the second pattern (Randy Rhoads did too!!!). Anyway... Here's Eddie's Pattern.

E--------------------------------------------- THE PATTERN: Right hand
A--------------------------------------------- hammer on @ 12, pull-off to
D--------------------------------------------- 5, hammer onto 8. Then
G---12----5-----8-----(REPEAT...)--- repeat as many times as
B--------------------------------------------- you want. Sounds very cool
E--------------------------------------------- when played fast!
m i p
Picking
Hand


My preferred way...
What you'll notice is that Eddie's way involves more HAMMERING ON and my ways involves more PULLING OFF... Both are cool.

E---------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------
G---12-----8-----5-----(REPEAT)----
B---------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------
m p i
Picking
Hand




REMEMBER: Do EVERYTHING slowly and precisely at first... make sure you can hear each note clearly... then... progressively work are building speed. A METRONOME is VERY HELPFUL here... but tappying your foot will help too... just something to set a tempo to play with.

Happy practicing! Remember to email me if you have any questions. pastorbrad@aol.com


80s metal blessings!
Pastor Brad