Question on "hammer-ons"

[Ram]

I really enjoy Griff's videos and tips. I'm currently learning classical guitar and would like to pickup blues soloing, but am wary of DVD instruction. My concern is picking up the wrong technique with no feedback from an instructor. For example, I tried to practice pull-offs from B string but keep striking the E string as well. I know it is a technique, but do you have any means of providing specific tips?

 

[luckylarry]

Ram in my opinion you have a difficult road ahead. Classical and steel string guitars have vastly different techniques. Just one example is finger position in classical is to have the fingers high and in Blues the fingers often touch the strings below and with Blues (pentatonic scales as an example) you drag your fore finger down to the next string which is not the correct technique for classical.
You may want to consider learning one technique or the other at first , not both at the same time.
Also, why not go to the Introduction section and say hello to everyone.

 

[Marv]

I really enjoy Griff's videos and tips. I'm currently learning classical guitar and would like to pickup blues soloing, but am wary of DVD instruction. My concern is picking up the wrong technique with no feedback from an instructor. For example, I tried to practice pull-offs from B string but keep striking the E string as well. I know it is a technique, but do you have any means of providing specific tips?

With an electric guitar, you don't have to do a "big" pull-off get the note to ring.  A little flick that stops short of the high-e string will do just fine. 

An alterative, which should also work with acoustic, is to hammer the note with the pad of your finger and actually use a little of the pad on the top side of the string so it is plucked when you pull the finger up and away from the B.  This should keep your finger well clear of the e-string.

Also OK to mute the e-string with an unused finger as the pull-off is taking place.  Flatten out your fretting hand a little more than you otherwise might. (As Larry pointed out.)

As always, practice will naturally guide you to ways that prevent making noises you don't want to make.

 

[wgabree]

Remember - the original blues guitarist didn't have instructors correcting their mistakes!

Classical is a different ball game from blues, and you don't have to worry as much about "bad" technique.

All popular guitar playing would be considered BAD technique by a classically trained guitarist! ;-)

Just watch the DVDs and emulate the way Griff demonstrates.

 

[Ram]

Thanks for your comments and encouragement! I've been experimenting with the "muting" technique that Marv mentioned and it seems to work fairly well. I was really concerned about the technique, since classical guitar is all about that! Thanks to Wayne's feedback, I won't worry about it too much.
Appreciate LuckyLarry's comments as well, since I had no idea that Blues and Classical have different techniques. I'll keep this in mind as I practice. I'm too deep into classical instruction to give it up, and love the blues too much to abandon the dabbling. Thanks to the forum, I'll keep coming back for tips!

 

[Lame_Pinkey]

As Wayne mentioned a lot of it would be considered "bad" technique & in many cases this is deliberate - so it sounds "bad"  :-? - but thats what blues is & early rock 'n roll ain't nothing wrong with learning classical guitar then transferring what you have learnt to Blues, Rock guitar etc (Ritchie did !)
Practice the 'hammer-on' from open hi-E string to the 2nd or 3rd fret to get a handle on the sound then move up the frets & try to get that same sound happening.

LP