Trouble with pull-offs

I am not sure what it is that I am doing incorrectly here, but my pull-off's stink. Either they are so muffled that you can't hear them (same with most of my hammers too) or they buzz.

I have read and re-read the instructions on how to make them happen and have seen countless other players do them seemingly without effort. But these durn PlaySkool fingers of mine can't seem to make it work.

Any ideas?

well...

For hammering on, make sure your first finger is up close to the fret so you get a good tone, and then bring your third finger down hard enough to get the same volume from the hammer as you did from the picked note... again, with your finger landing close to the fret, but not so close you get buzz from that.

Pull offs - you need to kind of 'flick' your finger off the string, so with your first finger on fret 5 of the B string, and third finger on the seventh, instead of lifting your finger straight off, pull the string down a little with your third finger and almost slide it off the string downwards...

You could also practice trilling which would help - repeatedly hammering on and pulling off the same pair of notes. You can use this as an exercise and repeat it with all pairs of fingers to build strength and dexterity... :cool:

Thanks Ren. I apologize for not responding sooner. Christmas and all that. I will try what you suggest. I think I have decent finger strength as I can usually bend a note one to one and half octaves with just one finger but there is something seriously lacking in my hammer and pull-off's. Maybe I'm just hitting it too close to the fret. Again, thanks for the response. It is appreciated. :)

The way I practice a trill is to stretch a full step up, and try to hit dead center between the frets. It's much easier as you get higher on the fretboard, but go slow at first. What you want is a clean tone from each note.

Pull-offs are actually real easy once you get the hang of them. You sort of pull down away from the string but at an angle so you sort of pluck the string to get a good tone.

With hammer-ons you have to put your finger down on the string with some force behind it so when you hit the string it vibrates more. Be careful to hit the string with the tip of your finger else you'll probably hit one of the other strings.

When you master these two skills they're really useful to apply to your playing as it allows you to play faster.

Hey Hunter, check out Schmange's video on pull-offs. I`m sure it can help you out.

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9368&s_id=171