Some cool tricks

PunkStar · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:43 pm Post subject: Some cool tricks

G'day and welcome to another of PunkStar's lessons.

There are a lot of really cool tricks you can do on a guitar. Today I thought I should outline a few that you may be able to use. By the way, I'm not talking about guitar windmills, guitar jumps, or air guitar. I'm going to show you how to do hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends, and vibrato. Keep in mind there may be others, but these are just the ones I know.

Hammer-on: This is easy. Basically, you play a note normally then you slam down a finger on another fret higher up on the fretboard. But make sure you don't play the string with your strumming hand, just use your fretboard hand. This is what it looks like in tab.

E|----5h7-------

This tab says to play the fifth fret on the bass E string normally, then to hammer-on the seventh fret on the same string. But you can also do the same basic trick without playing a note on the same string before the hammer on, like this

A|----h7--------
E|---5----------

This tab says to play the fifth fret on the bass E normally, then to hammer-on the seventh fret on the a string.

Pull-offs: This is reasonably similar to the hammer-on. But a pull-off is just the opposite. It's slightly harder though. Because to play it you have to think about both notes you want to make. But a pull-off involves putting your finger on a note then yanking it off. But you have to yank it off on an angle, otherwise you don't get anything. Check out the tab.

E|---7p5-----------

This says you have to put your fingers down on the 7th and 5th frets. Now you play the 7th fret normally, then "pull-off" the finger at the 7th fret. This will give you the lower note at the fifth fret in a more interestinfg way.

My thanks to the people who write the back-page learning articles in Total Guitar magazine for teaching me that stuff. (I like to give credit where credit is due.)

Slides: Slides are a pretty cool trick. Basically you put your finger on a string, then you slide your finger up or down that string. Making sure you don't lift your finger off the string, otherwise it ruins the effect. Also, don't play the string when you are sliding. It again ruins the effect. Here is an example in tab.

G|------5/7----------------

This tab says to play the fifth fret normally, then to slide down to the seventh fret. If the second number is lower than the first number, then you just slide up.

Bends: These are just cool. You put your finger at a fret. Then you push the string up or down toward one of the other strings. I'm not exactly sure how this looks in tab. Just watch out, this can break strings. You can achieve a similar effect by using a tremolo. You just push the arm down or up a bit and leave it there.

Vibrato: Remember that bending technique. Well vibrato basically the same. Except that you just keep bending the string up and down. You can achieve a similar effect by using a tremolo, you just keep yanking the arm up and down. You can get effect units that will do this.

Hope this helps you. If you can learn these tricks, it will make you a better player, but a lot of this is rock guitar technique. So it might not help if you are classical. But it's always good to know. Don't hesitate to post a message if you don't get any of my long-winded explanations. We're all willing to help. Thanks for listening.

Ardious

By the way,

Guitar Windmills: You have the guitar strapped on and take your strumming hand and swing it around from the shoulder in a windmill type motion.

Guitar Jump: When you have the guitar strapped on and hold the guitar normally. Then you just simply jump in the air and pull the fretboard up in the direction of your head (but don't hit yourself). Then make sure you have the guitar back in normal position before you land. Most people keep their legs straight as they jumps. The really good guitar jumpers will play a chord in the air and they will also pull their lower legs up so it looks like they are in a kneeling position while in the air as well as pulling the fretboard up. Then some will get back to a standing position or some will even land on their knees and stay on the ground playing for a while. Angus Young of ACDC was famous for putting one leg in the air and hopping around the stage on one leg while playing guitar. It was an alright trick. But remember just keeping your legs straight looks pretty dorky though, and only cool performers on stage can get away with that. So if you aren't so popular, better to use the more complicated method. But make sure you warm up first. I don't believe the effects of guitar jumping are completely known to science, so do it at own risk. You've been warned, so now you can't sue me if you hurt yourself.

Air Guitar: I do this all the time. This is just playing guitar without actually having a guitar in your hands. So you are essentially pretending. But air guitars are great. They never go out of tune, you always play the right notes. And you can bash it around on stage as much as you want and it never breaks. I am the master of many air instruments. Air Guitar, Air Bass, Air Keyboards, Air Drums, actually I play air everything.

Bates15 · Moderator Joined: 19 Feb 2002 Posts: 1084

Shaggy · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:48 am Post subject:

Hey Punkstar, fellow Aussie, yay!
Do you do all that throwing guitar around stuff?
have you ever tried it live???? Smile

PunkStar · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:05 pm Post subject:

Nah, I haven't gone throwing my guitars around. Although they do get a few bumps and knocks because I don't watch where I'm going.

And I haven't actually tried any of those tricks live. I've just seen a lot of music video clips from rock bands and learned how to do them from those. I've never used them live because the only live work I do is playing at church. So I never need them. But they are good tricks.

pretty.rock.machine · Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 12:34 pm Post subject:

I think I've got the air guitar down. lol. I've experimented with a little bending but I really don't wanna push it since I'm borrowing the guitar neway... Which do you think is better tremelo or regular...?

Ferrari 1 · Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 12:55 pm Post subject:

Punkstar,
Great post. Really glad to see someone taking the point on technical instruction on this site. Being a product of the 70's-80's rock n' roll hair band era, I did plenty of windmills, and left plenty of flesh on my bridge and strings. Hard on the knuckles, man!

The hammer and pull off technique you discussed are a great tool for speed, as well as conveying emotion (speaking through your instrument).

I graduated Berklee College of Music in '81, and we learned lots of this kind of stuff in Berklee, but unless someone shows it to you, or tells you how to do it, as you did, guys just don' t know how. They hear it, but they can't translate it to their axe.

Looking forward to your next lesson, bro. Thanks.
Blessings,
Ferrari 1

jeff_osu · Tiger Joined: 17 Sep 2003 Posts: 839 Location: Oklahoma

Nice post, Punkstar.

I need help with harmonics and such, any wisdom out there? I probaly just need a better guitar... Confused

PunkStar · Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 4:03 pm Post subject:

pretty.rock.machine · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:39 am Post subject:

My guitar has a tremelo but I don't keep it on there. I'm indecisive about them. It's kind of a good-bad situation. Produces good sound, bad on the strings.

shardy53 · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:05 pm Post subject:

I always took the wammy bar off of my strats with trem and tightened the springs so it was effectively disabled.

Steve

pretty.rock.machine · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:12 pm Post subject:

Hey Punkstar, could you put up a topic on power chords. I've played around with 'em and read stuff, but I'd like to get some real explainations/opinions on them.

PunkStar · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 10:13 pm Post subject:

Yeah, no problem. I might even go into a bit of theory for you. I'll see what I can do.

pretty.rock.machine · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 2:50 pm Post subject:

Thanks, it'll be much appreciated. Theory always helps too. Smile

tommyd · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 7:26 pm Post subject:

The right way to achieve vibrato is to finger bend... it sounds better than that trem bar unless you are going for that "strange" tremolo sound. And with practice its easier.

PunkStar · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 11:36 pm Post subject:

Absolutely, the bend is a much better way to get vibrato. Quicker for me to pull off too.