Advanced Guitar Techniques

This section will describe the five advanced guitar techniques: Hammer Ons, Pull offs, Palm Muting, Vibrato and Trills.   

Looking to advance your guitar playing skills, ask your guitar teacher to teach you how to play these advanced guitar techniques.  

Hammer On - Advanced Guitar Techniques:   

Ÿ   This technique is performed by slamming your finger down on the

     required fret.   

Ÿ   It is also described as playing a note and playing another note on a higher

    string without repicking.  This should be done with enough force that both

    notes on both frets should sound at the same time.    

Pull off - Advanced Guitar Techniques:   

Ÿ   This technique is a reverse Hammer On. This is performed by picking your

    finger up off the second note while leaving your finger down and forecfully

    pulling back your previous finger. As you do this, make a downward

    strumming motion.  The trick is to do this quickly so it does not muffle

    string vibration.    

Palm Muting - Advanced Guitar Techniques:

Ÿ   Palm Muting is simply touching the strings with the palm of your hand while

    strumming or picking up the strings.   This should produce a flat thumping 

    sound.     

Vibrato - Advanced Guitar Techniques:

Ÿ   Vibrato is performed by rapidly wiggling your finger on any note or

    fret. Wiggle your finger up down and sideways. This is easy to perform and

    many famous guitar players, like B.B.King, have created their own

    trademark vibrato. You have the creative freedom to try your own technique

    on this one.    

Side Note: Some tablatures mark hammer ons and pull offs with arcs linking the frets. High arcs above the numbers usually represent hammer ons, while arcs underneath numbers will generally represent pull offs.     

Trills - Advanced Guitar Techniques:

Ÿ   Trills are combinations of hammer ons and pull pffs and can be linked 

    several times in a row.