Beginner Guitar Lessons #4 - Pull offs & Hammer ons

I suppose we can try something different. Past the bare basics, something a little more fun to play with. I'll explain this as throughly and basic as i can.

Pull offs

Pull offs are a simple technique in which a picked note can be "pulled off" to a lower note. The technique is rather self explanatory.

For this lesson we'll use the 5th fret of the high E string to pull off to the 3rd fret. Pick the note on the 5th fret [A] with your middle finger. Now quickly and sharply, pull the note off, using your pointer finger, onto the 3rd fret. The result should be the note sharply changing from A to G.

It's as simple as it sounds. This technique can played very fast and is extremely common in guitar music. Far more "economic" than picking the notes quickly.

Hammer ons

Hammer ons basically are the opposite of pull offs. They are a technique in which one picked note can be hammered on, or sharply hit to a higher note. Like the lesson for pull offs, we'll start at the 5th fret of the High E string again. but instead, the hammer on will be done to the 7th fret [B]. Pick the notes at the 5th fret [A] with your pointer finger now. Use your middle finger now, to sharply hit the 7th fret. You should try and hit note sharp and firm in order to achieve the note change. After your middle finger has hit the 7th fret, you can lift your pointer finger.

Combination

Pull offs and Hammer ons go together like spokes and wheels. They can be used together to achieve fast smooth and flowing licks. Try Hammering on a note and then pulling it back off. You only have to pick once to achieve the sound of three notes.

Hammer ons and pull offs can be used anywhere on the fretboard and can be played with more than 2 notes. Try hammering on 3 notes in a row, or pulling off 3 notes in a row.

When used together, you can play far faster than all picked notes.

Pulling off open strings

I'm sure it has become obvious already that this can be done. But if it hasn't, there's still not much to explain. Pick any note on the fretboard. Now "flick" the note off sharply of course, until it plays the open string of that note. All you're simply doing is using your finger as a guitar pick to flick the note off, just as a guitar pick flicks the string.

That's just about it, have fun!

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Beginner Guitar Lesson #3 Tuning

B3: Tuning

Possibly the most important thing to know about playing the guitar, is of course tuning it. Unless you somehow make up your own tuning, you wont be able to play guitar without tuning.

First off, there's two main ways to tune the guitar. You can tune the guitar to itself, or to the exact Pitch. I recommend tuning to the exact note and pitch, this way you'll be able to play along with songs you may want to learn. Tuning the guitar to it self means tuning from the E string in what ever key it may be. In tune or not.

But we will just go from what i recommend. In this lesson I'll start off by telling you how to tune in Standard, I'll explain a few other tunings later on.

First you're going to have to make sure your low E string (6th string) is tuned perfectly. You can do this with a keyboard or even an online tuner. Just tune the string until it matches the note on the keyboard etc.

Now we will go over the basic process of tuning your guitar in standard...

1. Place your finger on the 5th fret of your low E string
2. Play the A string open and tune till it matches the note played on the low E string
3. Place your finger on the 5th fret of the A string and repeat step 1 and 2 with the open D string
4. Repeat for 5th fret on D string and Open G string
5. Place your finger on the 4th fret of the G string and play the open B string
6. Tune the B string to the note played on the G string
7. Place your finger on the 5th fret of the B string and play the open high E string
8. Tune to the high E string to the note played on the B string

Follow the steps carefully and with a good ear you should have your guitar tuned in Standard EADGBe.

Now i'll explain alternate tunings. Alternate tunings is when the notes of your strings are tuned differently, usually to achieve a lower pitch or to make certain chords and progressions easier.

The two most common are Drop D and Eb (Also called Half step tuning and even Jimi Hendrix tuning)

Drop D is a tuning in which your Low E string is tuned down to match your D string. The configuration would like this

DADGBe

The reason it's called drop D is because the top 3 bass strings when played together, play a D5 power chord. This also means you can bar the top three strings on any fret and get a power chord.

To get this tuning is very easy. First tune your guitar to standard as provided above. Play your Low E and D both open and tune the low E to match your D.

Now i'll explain Half step. Half step is the same configuration as Standard yet all the strings are tuned down half a step. The result looks like this

Eb Ab Db Gb Bb eb

This tuning is something referred to as Hendrix tuning since Jimi Hendrix was famous for tuning down a half step. To get this tuning is a little harder than Drop D. First tune to standard.

Play the sixth fret of your fifth string and tune your low E string to match the fretted note. When in tune, your sixth string should be one octave lower than the sixth fret of the fifth string.Continue to tune your guitar in the standard way once your low E string is in tune. Fret the fifth string of your low E and match the open fifth string of your guitar to the fretted note. Continue this process up each new string. The only exception to this rule in standard tuning is the B string. To tune the B string, fret the fourth string of the prior string instead of the fifth.

This tuning gives a lower tone than standard yet the ability to play the same way you do in standard.

Here's a brief table of some other common alternate tunings and a description.

Drop Db Dropped D tuning tuned down a half step

Drop C Same as Drop D but transposed a whole step. Popular in Metal bands

Drop B A whole step lower than Drop C. Very low tuning, requires thicker gauge strings

Drop A Extremely low tuning, One step down from Drop B. Heavy metal bands such as Slipknot use this tuning.

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Beginner Guitar lesson #2

Well it's been a while so here's the second entry for my Guitar lessons. I've written this lesson many times before. This should be a better version ;D

B-2 Tablature
I'm going to explain guitar tablature now. I will be as simple as i can be about it. Though it is simple to begin with. Guitar tablature (Tab for short) is a method of writing music, for the guitar. It is similar in appearance to that of sheet music, but works a bit differently. A tab for a common, 6 string guitar has 6 lines. Each line corresponds to the strings on the guitar. They are placed horizontally. From the top row down in standard tuning, The strings are in the following order: e B G D A E

Here's is an example of a blank Tab
E-------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------

As you may tell, it represents the fretboard. Tabs are marked by numbers. These numbers correspond to which fret you should play, as well as on which string. For example, the following tab line:


E-------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------
D----------------5--------------------
A-------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------

This tells us to play the 5Th Fret on the D string. If the number 0 is used, play that string open. Sometimes numbers will appear as the following:


E-----------1------------------------
B-----------3------------------------
G-----------2-----------------------
D------------------------------------
A------------------------------------
E------------------------------------

The numbers are now Directly above one another. This denotes a Chord. In this case, a D major chord. In addition to this basics you have just learned, Tabs also have special symbols and ways of denoting. Most tabs will come with a legend of special symbols. But in case, here's a list of what some of those symbols Commonly are. Note that some people may use notations differently.

. Palm mute
pm Palm mute
b Bend string
^ Bend string
( ) Bend string to-
/ Slide note
\ Slide note
h Hammer on
p Pull off
T Tap
+ Harmonic
ah Artificial harmonic
pH Pinch Harmonic
ps Pick scrape
\\ Pick scrape
// Pick scrape
x May mean Dead note or mute note

The above list is not a complete list of notations.

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