Making Music with Marshall

Hammer-ons, Pull-offs and Trills

Posted: 31 March 2020

Now we’ve gone through the musical basics and you’ve learnt some chords and scales it’s time to get into playing techniques. The first one we’re covering is the hammer-ons, pull-offs and Trills

Read time - 2 mins

You would have heard every type of guitarist use this playing technique probably without noticing what’s happening. The hammer-on and pull-off is a widely used skill where you pick a string and then ‘hammer on’ to the next note with another finger. The pull-off is the same technique in reverse. It’s been used in everything from pop to jazz to metal. It adds flavour, style and speed to your playing an is an essential in any guitarist’s arsenal.

Once you’ve got these down you can perform trills, to do this simply hammer-on and immediately pull off without plucking the string again, you can do many of these to create a fast trill. 

Check out our video tutorial on Hammer-ons, Pull-Offs and Trills below!