How To Use Bends, Hammer-ons, Pull-offs, Slides and Vibrato

December 12th, 2005 Print Tip E-mail Tip

So how do you get your guitar to talk? I'm not referring to "talking" guitar, say as played by Steve Vai in David Lee Roth's "Yankee Rose", the "laughing" guitar of Robbie Krieger in The Doors' "Moonlight Drive", or the innovative combo slide and wah-wah work of Mac Gayden in J. J. Cale's " Crazy Mama". What we're talking about is making your playing more soulful, expressive and vocal by the use of slurs, articulations or embellishments---whatever you want to call them.

Try playing a lick just straight or "dry" with no articulations. Now play the same lick again by judiciously adding a bend, hammer-on, pull-off, slide and/or vibrato. Hear how the lick comes to life, jumps off the fretboard and sounds so much more professional. As in all things, taste rules the day---do it, but don't overdo it.

Below is a capsule summary of how to execute each of these five life-giving techniques that can really make your guitar sing.

1) The Bend: Certainly one of the most vocal and well-used techniques in a guitarist's arsenal. The majority of bends are usually executed with the fretting hand's ring finger supported by the index and middle fingers. But you can use any of your fingers to play a bend depending on certain factors. Bends are always easiest to execute on the B and (unwound) G-strings. Also, the nearer you are to the 12th fret, the more "elasticity" the string has, and thus easier "bendability".

Basically, put your finger slightly under the string and push it up toward the ceiling until you reach the desired pitch. For the lower E, A and D-strings you'll usually have to pull the bend down towards the floor to prevent the string from slipping off the top of the fretboard. Hitting the pitch you want is the key, and a good practice habit is to play the target pitch without bending, and then bend a lower note up to that target pitch. Alternate comparitively between the two, and your ear will soon tell you the degree of bending necessary to create a frequency match. When you get good, you can try "pre-bending" or bending the note up to pitch silently and then picking it.

2) The Hammer-On: A standard hammer-on is executed by picking a fretted note, say the A at the 5th fret of the first string and fretted by your index finger, and then "hammering down" with another finger onto a higher fret, say your ring finger onto the 7th fret, first string. You don't pick the second note.

You can, of course, also hammer-on to a fret after plucking an open (not fretted) string. Or you can "hammer-on from nowhere", by just hammering a string that hasn't been picked at all onto a given fret.

3) The Pull-Off: No, this has nothing to do with groupies (well, not directly at least). With this technique, you have two fret fingers at the ready. Sort of opposite to the hammer-on, you could finger the 7th fret with your ring finger, while simultaneously fretting the 5th with your index. Pick the note at the 7th fret and then "pull-off" your ring finger, thus sounding the note held at the 5th fret by your index. You only pick the first note. Pull-off with your ring finger by "plucking" or flicking the string downward with the tip of your finger/callous. Of course, you can pull-off to an open string, or do a double or triple pull-off. While bends and hammer-ons, create a net rise in pitch, a pull-off is a way to travel to a lower note.

4) The Slide: A slide can be your ticket to a higher or lower note. Generally you slide by playing a fretted note and then moving the fretting finger up or down the string to another fret. You could do a legato slide and not pick the destination note, or you could pick the note just as your finger arrives there. I usually find it helpful not to make any fretting hand contact at all as you slide, other than just the tip of your sliding finger. Having your palm dragging on the back of the guitar neck makes the slide problematic. Also, for long slides look directly at the target fret (where the slide is headed to), as this should help your finger to stop at the right spot.

5) Vibrato: Everybody has their own style and take on vibrato (a repeated fluctuation in pitch), from Eric Clapton to B. B. King to Steve Vai. I'll cover two basic approaches.

One is usually called "classical" vibrato and consists of your fretting finger "pushing and pulling" a fretted note back and forth horizontally along the fretboard ( from headstock to pickups and back repeatedly). This creates quite a subtle, yet effective vibrato that both raises and lowers a note's pitch. You can use vibrato at different speeds depending on your intended effect. Just ask "Slowhand" (Eric Clapton, known for his slow, soulful vibrato).

The other vibrato ( a rock or blues vibrato) bends the string up and down vertically (floor-to-ceiling) on the fretboard. This technique can only create a rise in pitch. Like the slide, I find it easier to keep most of my fretting hand off of the guitar neck when playing this type of vibrato, but I'm sure others prefer to keep their hand on.

GuitarNote!
For even more pizzazz, try combining two or more techniques. For example, you could perform a double- or triple-hammer-on or pull-off (for example, you could either play a double hammer-on along a single string or on two separate strings simultaneously). Bend a string and then add vibrato to the bend. Slide up to a note and then pull-off back to the original note. With a bit of ingenuity you could use all five embellishments in all sorts of combinations in just one lick. Mathematically, there are 120 possible different orderings using those five articulations (and that's without considering a given technique could be repeated in a single lick).