Hammer-On Exercise

The following hammer-on exercise is one of the exercises I give to my students who want to learn lead style playing. Hammer-on's require that a note sounds without the string being plucked with your picking hand. Instead, the fretting hand fingers must hammer the fretboard hard enough for the note to sound. This technique allows the guitarist to play notes a little bit faster since the picking hand doesn't have to hit every note being played. Notice in the example below that I show you what fingers to use on your fretting hand. (I = Index, M = Middle, R = Ring, P = Pinky) I also show you when to pluck the string. (D = Downstroke, U = Upstroke) When you do the following exercise, start out slowly making sure that every note sounds. It is a good idea to work with a metronome on this to keep a steady pace going. Once you sound good at one speed move it up a little faster. Keep increasing the speed and pushing yourself. Have fun. 


E------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------
E-1^2--1^3--1^4--2^3--2^4--2^5--...--9^10--9^11--9^12--
  I M  I R  I P  I M  I R  I P       I M   I R   I P
  D    D    D    D    D    D         D     D     D
Do this pattern on all strings.

You probably noticed that I did not give you any Upstrokes. I do this for a guitarist just starting out so they can concentrate on the hammer-ons only. Once they have the hammer-on's down pretty well, I tell them to alternate the downstrokes with upstrokes. This makes the job a bit harder but they'll notice that they can go faster since their picking hand is doing half the work. (The downstroke/upstroke habit is a good one to get into for all lead playing) Another useful thing to keep in mind is the fingering I had you use for your fretting hand. Notice that your index finger did not move from its location and stayed anchored for a short time. Whenever your solos are in the same location on the fretboard, you should try to keep the same fingers over certain frets. For example: If most of your solo is between the 5th and 8th fret, anchor your index finger on the 5th fret, middle finger on 6, etc. This will make you a little faster in those ripping solos. After you feel comfortable with the above exercise, make up some exercises for yourself with different patterns. You might come up with a great lick for a solo!


Back Home


Back to Lesson 5(No Frames)

Guitar Lessons / Guitar Links / Eric's MP3's / Eric's GuitArt /
Sign Guestbook / View Guestbook / E-Mail Eric
1