Pull offs.

I would appreciate some practical advice on pull off technique. The second note is always very quite when I do it, but listening to pro guitarists, they manage to play whole strings of hammer ons and pull offs with losing volume.

Cheers
JE

I'm assuming (though I could be wrong) is that what you're currently doing is trying to lift your finger off the string at right angles to the fret board. This will result in a quieter second note like you described. A correct pull off is a bit more of an active process. Try pulling down (towards the floor) a bit more while you are pulling off (almost plucking the string with your fretting finger). This will probably seem strange, but you'll get a second note which is as loud as the first. With practice you'll find the amount of pull down that you have to do to make the second note ring out.

Some exercises you can try are - fret the fifth fret of the high e string (the thinnest string) with your 1st finger then fret the 7th fret with your 3rd finger. Hit the string and pull off to the 1st finger. Once you have managed that with no loss of volume then hammer back on with the 3rd finger then pull off, hammer on etc.. until you can get a constant steam of notes without having to hit the string again. You should try doing this using different fingers in different combinations on different strings in different positions of the fret board. This idea is the basis for a lot of guitar exercises and time spent doing this is well worth it (you should try and spend some time on this every time you pick up the guitar.)
Hope this helps. If not then give us a shout.
AndyP

yeah you have to pull down not straight out.

it also takes practice.
Ive been playing for a while and i still cant get used to that finger tapping thing.

Yeah, that makes some sense. I thought Pull offs were supposed to give a more legato sound. Well, I guess this technique kinda does.

I've been trying to incorperate them into me scales. Now, I find that I catch the string below the one I'm pull off from, but no doubt further practice will sort this out.

Cheers for your help guys

JE

pull offs only give a legato sound if you want them to, and try hard enough to achieve it. Me, i do pulloff triplets, and it sounds semi-legato, semi alternate picked, which is a really cool feeling.

but first, you have to learn to pull of single notes before you can do doubles or triplets.

in my opinion, alot of it has to do with your dexterity and how strong your fingers are, if you have nice callouses, etc, if you want a really groovy pulloff. you will notice they get better the more you play.

I thought just by asking, I'd suddenly become an expert. Ha - all I get is advice to 'practise'. Well, I s'pose if I didn't spend to much time on this site looking for shortcut ways to be a great guitarist I might have some time to practise!

JE