Legato is a term that you will hear a lot once you start getting
into lead guitar playing, but what exactly does it mean? The literal
meaning of legato is 'tied together' but in musical terms it means that
you should play the notes in a smooth manner, not leaving any space
between one note and the next. The opposite of 'staccato', whereby the
notes are played abruptly and percussively, legato gives a smooth,
flowing sound to the music
.
On every instrument this is achieved in different ways. On a woodwind instrument, for example, the notes would all be played under one breath. On a cello legato is played by using a single or continuous bow stroke to play the notes. On the guitar legato is achieved by minimizing (or doing away with altogether) picking. To do this you need to use 'hammer ons' and 'pull offs', and this kind of playing is what is generally meant when you hear the term legato being used in relation to the guitar.
So, when playing legato on the guitar these are the two techniques you will need to master. By using the two techniques together it becomes easy to play melodic lines that flow, at high speeds, that sound much smoother than if you were to pick them.
First of all we'll look at playing hammer-ons. Hammer-ons are used to go from one note to a higher note on the same string without picking the new note. You can use a pick to play the very first note, but the subsequent notes will be played by 'hammering-on' to the string with your fretting fingers. So for example, suppose you are playing the note E on the fifth fret of the B string with your first finger, and the next note you want to play is an F# two frets above. What you need to do is 'hammer' the string at the seventh fret with the very tip of your third finger to produce the sound. Your 'hammering' finger needs to hit the fretboard at about ninety degrees in order to produce the required volume, and should be done with a good amount of force. That covers the basics of using 'hammer-ons'.
If you want to go down to lower notes on a string you will need to use pull-offs. A common misconception is that a pull-off is just the opposite motion to a hammer-on, but it's slightly more complicated than that. If you simply lift your finger off the string, in the opposite manner to a hammer-on, you won't produce adequate volume, or you may not get any sound at all. Your 'pull-off' finger needs to really 'pluck' the string, downwards towards the floor, in order to get the note to sound. So for example, if you play the note F# with your third finger on the seventh fret of the B string, and you then want to play the note E on the fifth fret of the same string, you firstly need to make sure that your first finger is already fretting that note on the fifth fret. Then you need to 'pluck', or 'pull-off' with your third finger in order to sound the note on the fifth fret. If you don't pluck enough you won't get enough volume, but if you pluck too much you can end up bending the note sharp, and it will sound horrible.You'll have to play around with this technique until you find the right balance.
That covers the two basic techniques of legato playing, but I should mention two others that you should also be aware of. The first is closely related to the 'hammer-ons' we looked at above but doesn't involve picking a note first. This is called a 'hammer on from nowhere', and it means you can do away with picking altogether, and play entirely with just one hand. Instead of picking the first note on a new string you simply hammer on with the fretting hand. It can be quite difficult to get the hang of - you need to be very careful with muting, and make sure your hammer-ons are accurate and powerful - but once you have it down you can play melodic lines exclusively with one hand, which not only gives a much smoother sound, but also looks pretty cool as well.
One other technique you can use for legato playing is 'tapping'.This technique uses the ideas of left hand legato and applies them to the right hand. The 'tapping' hand can use one or more fingers to 'tap' extra notes that the fretting hand can't reach, allowing you to play many more notes on one string for very fast scale runs, or lets you reach very wide intervals that you couldn't do with just one hand, great for playing very fast arpeggios as a smoother alternative to sweep picking.
So now that you are clear on the concept of legato playing let's take a look as some basic ways to go about practicing it. Let's begin by taking the concept to its simplest form - using hammer-ons and pull-off between two notes. Alternating rapidly between two notes like this is called a trill, however to begin with we will be doing this very slowly. Start by playing any note using your index finger, then play the note on the next fret by hammering-on with your middle finger. Make sure the note sounds clean and the volume is even. After this play the first note again by using a pull-off, taking care that this new note is of the same volume of the first two. Keep alternating back and forth between the two notes slowly to begin with (like a fire engine, or the Jaws theme). Your intention at this point should primarily be to produce clear and even notes, with no unwanted noise, and also to begin building up strength in your fingers over a period of time.You should aim to play this exercise non-stop for at least five minutes, and be sure to use a metronome to keep time.
Once you've done this you next need to try the same exercise with all possible finger combinations. You've just done it with your index and middle fingers, so now try it with your index and ring fingers.Play any note with your index finger, then use you third finger for hammering-on two frets up. Keep playing back and forth between these two notes for as long as you can. After that, try it with your first and fourth fingers. Then fingers two and three, two and four, and finally three and four. Some of these fingers combinations will be easier than others - most people struggle the most with those involving the pinky - so pay more attention to these.
After you have got a handle on playing trills, you should move on to three-note patterns. Keeping one finger per fret you should experiment with finger patterns using fingers 1 2 4, 1 3 4, and the stretch fingering 1 2 (or 3) 4 with a fret in between each finger (for example first finger on the fifth fret, second on the seventh, and fourth on the ninth). There are many different pattern you can try but here are a few to get you started: 1-4-3-4, 1-3-1-4, and 4-1-3-4-3-1. Play these using all the fingerings looked at above, and try them on one string, as well over two or more strings. Try moving up and down the fretboard as you play them. Once you are comfortable playing different patterns like this you can begin to apply them to 3-note-per-string scale shapes. This is where they turn from unmusical exercises into usable musical ideas.
Hopefully you can see the general idea of this.Continuing on from here you can apply the same concepts to more complicated scale fragments, with four notes, five notes, six, seven etc.Combine different patterns to make even bigger ones, and try some string skipping as well. Get your right hand involved in some tapping. The possibilities are endless, so have fun with it.
Before concluding this article I want to briefly cover some common technical difficulties that arise when first encountering legato playing. The primary difficulty is due to a lack of strength and stamina in the fingers. In order to play legato, especially for extended periods of time requires a lot of endurance and strength - not things that you can develop in a short space of time. This is developed over time. Practice regularly, and don't overdo it. After a while you will get better, and it will become much easier. Playing legato can also be quite tough on the tips of your fingers - a lot more than normal fretting. Once again there is no quick fix here, just keep practicing regularly and the skin on your fingers will get tougher and it will no longer be a problem.
I normally recommend that a clean guitar tone should be used when practicing legato. Distortion can hide a lot of mistakes and especially covers up inconsistencies in dynamics. When you use a clean sound you can hear much more clearly how even you playing is, and this should always be your primary objective. Having said that, I'd also recommend that every now and again you crank up the distortion just to check you're not creating lots of unwanted noise, or letting strings ring out when they shouldn't be, so keep an eye on your muting technique when doing this.
As usual you should practice slowly at first. Over time the strength in your fingers will improve, and then you can start increasing the speed at which you practice, but your main concern should always be accuracy. Don't just chase speed -speed comes as a by-product of accuracy and stamina. As I mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to spend more time working on the fingers that are weaker, so that eventually all fingers will be more or less equal.
So, we've reached the end of this article on legato playing. Hopefully it has shown you that legato playing is something you should add to your toolbox, as a way of producing a smooth, flowing sound that picking just can't give you. I also hope that I've given you some ideas about how to learn, practice, and apply this technique, so get practicing and start incorporating legato into your own playing.
.
On every instrument this is achieved in different ways. On a woodwind instrument, for example, the notes would all be played under one breath. On a cello legato is played by using a single or continuous bow stroke to play the notes. On the guitar legato is achieved by minimizing (or doing away with altogether) picking. To do this you need to use 'hammer ons' and 'pull offs', and this kind of playing is what is generally meant when you hear the term legato being used in relation to the guitar.
So, when playing legato on the guitar these are the two techniques you will need to master. By using the two techniques together it becomes easy to play melodic lines that flow, at high speeds, that sound much smoother than if you were to pick them.
First of all we'll look at playing hammer-ons. Hammer-ons are used to go from one note to a higher note on the same string without picking the new note. You can use a pick to play the very first note, but the subsequent notes will be played by 'hammering-on' to the string with your fretting fingers. So for example, suppose you are playing the note E on the fifth fret of the B string with your first finger, and the next note you want to play is an F# two frets above. What you need to do is 'hammer' the string at the seventh fret with the very tip of your third finger to produce the sound. Your 'hammering' finger needs to hit the fretboard at about ninety degrees in order to produce the required volume, and should be done with a good amount of force. That covers the basics of using 'hammer-ons'.
If you want to go down to lower notes on a string you will need to use pull-offs. A common misconception is that a pull-off is just the opposite motion to a hammer-on, but it's slightly more complicated than that. If you simply lift your finger off the string, in the opposite manner to a hammer-on, you won't produce adequate volume, or you may not get any sound at all. Your 'pull-off' finger needs to really 'pluck' the string, downwards towards the floor, in order to get the note to sound. So for example, if you play the note F# with your third finger on the seventh fret of the B string, and you then want to play the note E on the fifth fret of the same string, you firstly need to make sure that your first finger is already fretting that note on the fifth fret. Then you need to 'pluck', or 'pull-off' with your third finger in order to sound the note on the fifth fret. If you don't pluck enough you won't get enough volume, but if you pluck too much you can end up bending the note sharp, and it will sound horrible.You'll have to play around with this technique until you find the right balance.
That covers the two basic techniques of legato playing, but I should mention two others that you should also be aware of. The first is closely related to the 'hammer-ons' we looked at above but doesn't involve picking a note first. This is called a 'hammer on from nowhere', and it means you can do away with picking altogether, and play entirely with just one hand. Instead of picking the first note on a new string you simply hammer on with the fretting hand. It can be quite difficult to get the hang of - you need to be very careful with muting, and make sure your hammer-ons are accurate and powerful - but once you have it down you can play melodic lines exclusively with one hand, which not only gives a much smoother sound, but also looks pretty cool as well.
One other technique you can use for legato playing is 'tapping'.This technique uses the ideas of left hand legato and applies them to the right hand. The 'tapping' hand can use one or more fingers to 'tap' extra notes that the fretting hand can't reach, allowing you to play many more notes on one string for very fast scale runs, or lets you reach very wide intervals that you couldn't do with just one hand, great for playing very fast arpeggios as a smoother alternative to sweep picking.
So now that you are clear on the concept of legato playing let's take a look as some basic ways to go about practicing it. Let's begin by taking the concept to its simplest form - using hammer-ons and pull-off between two notes. Alternating rapidly between two notes like this is called a trill, however to begin with we will be doing this very slowly. Start by playing any note using your index finger, then play the note on the next fret by hammering-on with your middle finger. Make sure the note sounds clean and the volume is even. After this play the first note again by using a pull-off, taking care that this new note is of the same volume of the first two. Keep alternating back and forth between the two notes slowly to begin with (like a fire engine, or the Jaws theme). Your intention at this point should primarily be to produce clear and even notes, with no unwanted noise, and also to begin building up strength in your fingers over a period of time.You should aim to play this exercise non-stop for at least five minutes, and be sure to use a metronome to keep time.
Once you've done this you next need to try the same exercise with all possible finger combinations. You've just done it with your index and middle fingers, so now try it with your index and ring fingers.Play any note with your index finger, then use you third finger for hammering-on two frets up. Keep playing back and forth between these two notes for as long as you can. After that, try it with your first and fourth fingers. Then fingers two and three, two and four, and finally three and four. Some of these fingers combinations will be easier than others - most people struggle the most with those involving the pinky - so pay more attention to these.
After you have got a handle on playing trills, you should move on to three-note patterns. Keeping one finger per fret you should experiment with finger patterns using fingers 1 2 4, 1 3 4, and the stretch fingering 1 2 (or 3) 4 with a fret in between each finger (for example first finger on the fifth fret, second on the seventh, and fourth on the ninth). There are many different pattern you can try but here are a few to get you started: 1-4-3-4, 1-3-1-4, and 4-1-3-4-3-1. Play these using all the fingerings looked at above, and try them on one string, as well over two or more strings. Try moving up and down the fretboard as you play them. Once you are comfortable playing different patterns like this you can begin to apply them to 3-note-per-string scale shapes. This is where they turn from unmusical exercises into usable musical ideas.
Hopefully you can see the general idea of this.Continuing on from here you can apply the same concepts to more complicated scale fragments, with four notes, five notes, six, seven etc.Combine different patterns to make even bigger ones, and try some string skipping as well. Get your right hand involved in some tapping. The possibilities are endless, so have fun with it.
Before concluding this article I want to briefly cover some common technical difficulties that arise when first encountering legato playing. The primary difficulty is due to a lack of strength and stamina in the fingers. In order to play legato, especially for extended periods of time requires a lot of endurance and strength - not things that you can develop in a short space of time. This is developed over time. Practice regularly, and don't overdo it. After a while you will get better, and it will become much easier. Playing legato can also be quite tough on the tips of your fingers - a lot more than normal fretting. Once again there is no quick fix here, just keep practicing regularly and the skin on your fingers will get tougher and it will no longer be a problem.
I normally recommend that a clean guitar tone should be used when practicing legato. Distortion can hide a lot of mistakes and especially covers up inconsistencies in dynamics. When you use a clean sound you can hear much more clearly how even you playing is, and this should always be your primary objective. Having said that, I'd also recommend that every now and again you crank up the distortion just to check you're not creating lots of unwanted noise, or letting strings ring out when they shouldn't be, so keep an eye on your muting technique when doing this.
As usual you should practice slowly at first. Over time the strength in your fingers will improve, and then you can start increasing the speed at which you practice, but your main concern should always be accuracy. Don't just chase speed -speed comes as a by-product of accuracy and stamina. As I mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to spend more time working on the fingers that are weaker, so that eventually all fingers will be more or less equal.
So, we've reached the end of this article on legato playing. Hopefully it has shown you that legato playing is something you should add to your toolbox, as a way of producing a smooth, flowing sound that picking just can't give you. I also hope that I've given you some ideas about how to learn, practice, and apply this technique, so get practicing and start incorporating legato into your own playing.
This article was written by Chris Lake, a professional guitarist
and teacher of over 25 years. If you would like more help with all
aspects of learning the guitar may I suggest you head over to Chris's
website where you can get a free copy of his latest eBook about playing
the guitar - The-Guitar-Guide.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_W_Lake
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