The legato run
Hammer-ons and pull-offs across box 1 so the line pours rather than being struck.
- Style
- rock
- Written in
- A
- Feel
- straight
- Tempo
- ♩=112
- Length
- 1 bar
Numbers are the order you play them, so notes sharing a number sound together. Drop the tempo until it is clean, then bring it back up.
Written in A, and the writing below describes it there. Move it to another key and the shape does not change, only where its root sits — which is the difference between knowing a lick and knowing a fret number.
- 1G · string 4, fret 5
- 2A · string 4, fret 7hammer-on
- 3C · string 3, fret 5
- 4D · string 3, fret 7hammer-on
- 5E · string 2, fret 5
- 6G · string 2, fret 8hammer-on
- 7E · string 2, fret 5pull-off
- 8D · string 3, fret 7
Only the first note on each string is picked; everything else is hammered or pulled. The absence of a pick transient is what makes legato sound different from fast picking — smoother, and slightly further back in the mix.
The whole difficulty is evenness. Hammered notes come out quiet and pulled notes come out loud and sharp unless you work at it, so practise this slowly listening only for equal volume, long before you chase the tempo.
Where this fits
This comes out of week 3 of the rock path — saying it (phrasing, space and legato). The week is where you learn the device; this page is where you come back to it once the week has rolled over.