Legato ExercisesBeta

Legato means smooth and connected. On guitar it means sounding most of the notes with the fretting hand instead of the pick: you pick one note, then hammer-on to higher notes and pull-off to lower ones on the same string. Because only the first note gets a pick attack, the line flows instead of sounding note-by-note. Slides are legato too, but hammer-ons and pull-offs are the core technique and what these exercises drill.

Start with hammer-ons and pull-offs as two separate drills: pick the index finger and hammer each other finger (1h2, 1h3, 1h4), then plant the index and pull off to it from each finger (2p1, 3p1, 4p1). Play them as eighth notes at about 60 BPM until the slurred note is as loud as the picked one. Next, combine them in hammer-pull triplets (1h3p1). Only then move on to four-finger runs, trills and scale runs.

Pick a fretted note, then bring another finger down hard and fast onto a higher fret of the same string, just behind the fret wire. The impact sounds the new note without picking. Hammer with the fingertip from close to the string rather than from a big height, and keep the first finger pressed down. In tab a hammer-on is written with an h, as in 5h7.

Put the lower finger down first, then pick the higher note and pull that finger off the string slightly sideways, toward the floor, so it plucks the string as it leaves. The lower fretted note then sounds on its own. Lifting straight up gives almost no sound; the small flick is the technique. In tab a pull-off is written with a p, as in 7p5.

Usually because the hammer comes from too far away or lands too far from the fret, or the pull-off lifts straight up instead of plucking. Keep fingers close to the strings, hammer just behind the fret, and flick down on pull-offs. Mute the strings you are not playing, because legato exposes noise. A little gain on an electric guitar also evens out the volume, which is why the drills here default to the electric sound. Practise slowly until the slurred notes match the picked ones.

They are opposite approaches to playing fast single notes. Alternate picking gives every note its own pick stroke, down-up-down-up, so the picking hand does the work and the notes are crisp. Legato picks only the first note of each group and lets the fretting hand sound the rest with hammer-ons and pull-offs, so the line is smoother and the picking hand does far less. Most lead players use both. This tool trains legato; the Alternate Picking Exercises tool trains the picking hand.

h means hammer-on and p means pull-off. 5h7 means pick the 5th fret, then hammer onto the 7th without picking. 7p5 means pick the 7th fret with the 5th already held, then pull off to the 5th. 5h7p5 is one pick and three notes. Every drill here is written out this way, and the Copy tab button gives you the plain-text tab.

It is a scale played with exactly three notes on each string: you pick the first note on each string and hammer the other two going up, then pick the highest and pull off twice coming down. Three notes per pick is what makes fast legato runs smooth and even, and it is the standard way to practise legato scales. This tool plays the major and natural minor scales three notes per string in any key, plus a two-notes-per-string minor pentatonic run.

Slowly enough that every slurred note is as loud and as evenly spaced as the picked notes. For most players that is about 56 to 66 BPM at the drill's rhythm, and each drill here suggests a starting tempo. Raise it about 5 BPM at a time once a whole pass is even, or keep the tempo and move from eighth notes to triplets to sixteenths. Short daily sessions build hand strength faster than long ones, and rest if the hand aches.

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