Slurs, not against anyone...

kgarkie

Been living the blues.
And when you do a pull off, you do need to pull, i.e., you need to flick the string with your fret finger to get the same volume as picking. 

And once again, it's practice.  It does help if your guitar has good sustain especially for slides. 
 

luckylarry

Student Of The Blues
Welcome back Griff. Interesting take on the hammer ons. I have not been having a problem with them but it is good to know what should be happening in case things go south. Not that it would happen to me say with chords I haven't practiced in awhile. ;)
 
M

mw1954

Guest
I don't know , hammer ons don't seem all that hard . Pull offs , that's another story . Especially after you get off the high  E string and onto the lower strings  .
 

SunnyOne

Blues Newbie
Thanks Griff.

(and glad you are feeling better too!) I posted that message about you feeling better in the lounge. I don't know if we knew you were even sick. At least I sure didn't. I thought you were just BUSY! 

Anyway, thank  you for taking the time and get to 100%!
 
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Lame_Pinky

Guest
Glad you're back Griff & feeling better mate  :)
mw1954 I know what you are going through atm. I & I'm sure most went through it when 1st trying to get pull offs to sound half decent.I recommend looking at the DVD of Griff explaining it - ofcourse I'm assuming you have BGU - it may be on one of his extra's too , not sure someone will answer that.The thing with a pull off is not to just lift the finger directly up from the string it more of a flicking action downward - hard to explain i know - & that gives it the extra ring.Justin Sandercoe even calls them flick offs.
Like everything else it will develop over time & practice.
I am still working on mine as after 20 odd yrs of not playing it doesn't come back to you after a week or so been at it now for 8 months & getting there - should be pretty dangerous i reckon in about 5 yrs time !

LP
 

wgabree

Blues Newbie
yep i watched Griff's lesson, of course!  :p
i am thinking it is an amp issue as i keep it on the down low.

I'm sorry to break it to you - it's not the amp!  You just haven't got the technique down yet.  Once you get it down, you'll have not problem on any guitar or bass - amp or no amp.

It's a hammer on - you have to rapidly snap your finger down onto the string to get it to ring out.  If you don't move it quickly and firmly, it will just dampen the string and stop it from ringing.

And it really just comes down to repetitions - like weight training, the muscles have to develop before it start to happen.

Keep at it and it will happen.  :cool:
 
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mw1954

Guest
Glad you're back Griff & feeling better mate  :)
mw1954 I know what you are going through atm. I & I'm sure most went through it when 1st trying to get pull offs to sound half decent.I recommend looking at the DVD of Griff explaining it - ofcourse I'm assuming you have BGU - it may be on one of his extra's too , not sure someone will answer that.The thing with a pull off is not to just lift the finger directly up from the string it more of a flicking action downward - hard to explain i know - & that gives it the extra ring.Justin Sandercoe even calls them flick offs.
Like everything else it will develop over time & practice.
I am still working on mine as after 20 odd yrs of not playing it doesn't come back to you after a week or so been at it now for 8 months & getting there - should be pretty dangerous i reckon in about 5 yrs time !

LP
Thanks LP . I know, practice is the answer . I reviewed Griff BGU and I've posted a you tube link to some exercises for hammer ons and pull offs /flick offs by Justin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7OTbl__aU
 

TonyS

Blues Newbie
Just like all techniques....it takes practice.  Just have fun and keep playing. Things will fall into place and you will wonder what all the fuss was about.  After saying that, I'm still having trouble with pull offs and I've been playing for years including classical guitar.  I'm not as bad as i was when I started though.

Welcome back Griff.  Glad to see you are on the mend. 
 

Alexander Blue

Surfers Rule !!!
Hey Tater,
   Glad you are feeling better ...
        Don't know why but hammer-ons and pull-offs and tweedles have come rather easy to me ... I am not having much trouble with bends so far either, only hitting the proper pitch which will come with : all at once : PRACTICE  :) ...
         OK, having said that , I MUST be doing something wrong ... I tend to feel that way when things click !  :cool:
 
B

beauxPatrick

Guest
I bought a "Philosopher's Tone" by Pigtronics to give me more sustain... and it makes a BIG difference in being able to slur, especially with the pull offs....

beaux
 

wgabree

Blues Newbie
there is a danger with effects - they can mask poor technique and make you sound "better" than you actually are

with some effects, you can literally throw your fingers around on the fretboard and it sounds awesome!

turn the effect off, and  :-[
 
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MandyC

Guest
there is a danger with effects - they can mask poor technique and make you sound "better" than you actually are

with some effects, you can literally throw your fingers around on the fretboard and it sounds awesome!

turn the effect off, and  :-[
Sounds like a good idea!!!! ;)
Just joking
 

Alexander Blue

Surfers Rule !!!
there is a danger with effects - they can mask poor technique and make you sound "better" than you actually are

with some effects, you can literally throw your fingers around on the fretboard and it sounds awesome!

turn the effect off, and  :-[
Hey Wayne,
 What "effects" could "I" literally throw my fingers around the fretboard and sound awesome ? ... I need those effects  :)  , because ,  I do not think in ANY stretch of the imagination that even I could call anything I play "awesome" ... that would be nice ...  :cool:
 

Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
The "to use effects/overdrive" vs. "to not use effects/overdrive" when practicing discussion is a lengthy one in all instances.

In my opinion, you have to do both. You have to play dry so you can hear exactly what you're doing... but effects are an integral part of your sound and you have to play with them sometimes as well to get used to having control over the sounds. This is particularly true with fuzz or a lot of distortion. It's almost like you wrangle that type of tone - not play it.

All the sounds have their place for sure, just make sure you can play the notes first.

Griff
 
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Lame_Pinky

Guest
You have to be able to do it with the same spped & accuracy without any effects, you may not have the sound or tone you want or even the volume but you know that your technique is there & not merely " effects " doing it for you.

LP
 

TonyS

Blues Newbie
I find that I learn to play something clean without any effects then when I turn things on to get the sound I want I sometimes get lots of other rings buzzes and such from the other strings or the way I finger the notes or move my hand.  This means I have to adjust how I am playing to get it sounding good again.  So I think it is important to play with the sound you are wanting to use otherwise when you play in front of somebody to try and impress with your new found skills you are going to fall flat on your face.
 
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