Now in Right Forum: Technique Help

Mllerrin · Feb 14, 2007

Hi guys,

Well in the midst of writing a song for my band. There is a part where I'm just hitting notes by pressing down on the board with my left hand kind of like with tapping, but I'm more basically doing a bunch of hammer ons. The problem is since I'm not actually picking the notes they come out a lot quieter. Is there anyway with my technique to make this louder? Or should I try a volume boost pedal?

I've tried actually picking the notes and it doesn't come out sounding right and is awkward.

Can anyone help me out?

GuitarStv · Feb 14, 2007

Re: Might be Wrong Forum but: Technique Help

Re: Might be Wrong Forum but: Technique Help

This should probably be in the Tips and Clips part of the forum, but I'll see if I can give you a hand . . . I had a similar problem when I was trying to play the lick to 'Thunderstruck'.

There are a couple of things that can help you with your problem:
1. When you're practicing this lick, start slow with a metronome and work up to speed. Make sure that you can do it slowly (and loudly). It's not so important to hit the strings hard, but make sure that you hit exactly the right spot on the fretboard (and it should ring out properly). When you remove your finger from the string make sure that you pull off a little bit to keep the string ringing.

2. Now for the easy part: If you use more distortion (or if you use a compressor) it will boost the volume of quieter notes and reduce the volume of louder notes so that things even out a bit. This is why you usually see people who are doing fast legato passages using a fair bit of gain.

Loserchief · Feb 14, 2007

Re: Now in Right Forum: Technique Help

there's a very simple exercise to build up strengh(therefore also loudness) when just hammering on with the lfet hand. I adopted it from John Myung's bass instructional video but it will also work on guitar. I'd suggest practicing it on the low E
Fret the Low E wherever you want and then start doing trills, do this with all possible combinations of your four fingers and try to keep each position up as long as you can(a minute would be great). Just stay in one position, but you can stretch out of position if you feel the need to practice your stretch
Combinations are:

Index= I
Middle = M
Ring = R
Pinky = P

I/M, I/R, I/P
M/R, M/P
R/P

if you practice this consequently you'll notice a huge buildup in strength and control. At least it worked for me: i can now hammer on perfectly clear basslines on my extended scale six-string bass.

fingerace · Feb 14, 2007

Re: Now in Right Forum: Technique Help

big + 1 on loserchief. If you have a bass practice on the bass also.

I found that if I bend some strings (with the meddle, the ring and the pinky) just before I start hammering on, I have more strenght.

For example before I start playing thunderstuck like guitarstv said, I do some 2 step bends with my pinky just to warm it up and stretch the muscles a bit.

liquidtension · Feb 14, 2007

Re: Now in Right Forum: Technique Help

I've faced this same kind of issue before, and I can definitely relate to the frustration, especially the feeling of wanting to do an exercise or two for a few weeks and, presto! problem solved.

Isolated exercises are great, but there's another complimentary approach I'd recommend that I picked up from a guitarist I recently started to get into. When you are playing any solo, scale, exercise, etc., mash the crap out of the strings. I know it sounds absurd, but it really does work. Try to use the hardest possible finger attack that you can, regardless whether you are picking or hammering. The hardest thing about the exercise is not being lazy and saying, "eh, I'll just play normal today".

I really like this approach because you don't just sit down for 15 minutes and practice one exercise, but you are actually working on this area of technique every time you play a note. It's more of a long-term corrective, but the results are worth it.

Pink Unicorn Horsey · Feb 14, 2007

Re: Now in Right Forum: Technique Help

FYI, all the notes in "Thunderstruck" are picked. However, that riff does make a good exercise when solely hammering and pulling off.

- Keith

fingerace · Feb 14, 2007