Guitar Lessons: Legato

Continuing this weeks series on the guitar exercises from the website, this post is about legato technique. If you don’t know what legato is, it’s what’s commonly referred to in “guitar slang” as “hammer-ons and pull-offs”- a name that should give you an idea of how this technique is performed.

The Italian word “legato” means smooth sounding (and I believe Italian is used by musicians to make it sound more clever and obscure than it really is), and hammer-ons and pull-offs on guitar do sound smoother than alternated picking, for example. However, the term “legato” really refers to the type of sound -rather than the guitar technique- so you could equally describe two handed tapping or sweep picking as “legato”.

In the video I concentrate exclusively on the fretting hand; this is because in classical guitar technique is is standard to play musical passages marked “legato” with hammer-ons and pull-offs (remember classical technique doesn’t use guitar tab, so the music will just tell you “legato”- marked with a slur).

Click here if you can’t see the video

Legato Technique

Using only the fretting hand in this way requires a fair amount of finger strength, as you are literally hammering your fingertips onto the strings to sound them (and then plucking the string with the same finger for the “pull-off”). To hammer on to the string, make sure the movement comes from the finger itself; I don’t want to see you using your hand or arm for “extra force”- no matter how tempting it may be, this will only injure you in the long run.

Aim your finger at the part of the string right next to the fret- the closer the better (this will take practice getting it accurate- oh and you’re fingers can get sore if they’re not used to it!). This is, as I mentioned in a previous post, almost the same action as you might do when you’re bored. You know, when you’re tapping your fingers on the table? If you don’t believe me, try it right now and watch your fingers. Is your hand or arm moving? No (well, to be fair, you would look a bit odd if you started thrashing your arms around to hit your fingers on a table top in the middle of that boring meeting…).

Slowly Stretch

Next, you want to start at a relatively high fret, say the 10th where the distance between the frets is about the same as the distance between your fingers anyway. In the video I use the 10th fret because it’s easy for me, and the body of my acoustic gets in the way if I go higher, but if you have an electric or acoustic with a cutaway body then you should be able to start even higher if necessary.

You really want to start in a position where you’re not struggling (in any way) to reach the notes- and I can’t stress that enough! Don’t start of by playing something that’s already difficult; start off with something that’s easy, get it perfect, and then gradually push yourself, bit by bit. Be warned: this will take patience and dedication- but in the end it’s so worth it!

As I move further down the neck (I.E. towards the first fret), where the frets are further apart, my technique doesn’t change; my hand is in the same position, just on a different part of the neck. I achieve the stretch that this needs just by moving my fingers apart- and I developed my muscles to do that by practising and slowly moving down from a fret that I could reach without stretching. Now the first fret isn’t a stretch for me.

Slow Motion

So, lower frets are harder, yes. Also, playing slower is harder; you have less momentum when playing slowly, and if you’re thinking “oh, but I want to play as fast as possible” you should realise that the point of legato isn’t about speed. The point of legato is to sound “smooth” and “fluid”- that’s why we use the Italian word “legato”

So, in conclusion, start these exercises off at a medium pace (one that you can play easily), and on a set of frets that’s a comfortable width apart. Then gradually slow the exercise down and move it down to the first fret (you may want to do the slowing down and moving separately).

Eventually you should start to get comfortable all over the neck and at all different speeds- slow or fast.

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Thanks,
Rob.

January 26, 2010 at 1:09 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises | No comments