Hendrix Style: Hammer Ons, Pull Offs

Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs were central to the Jimi Hendrix style. These simple tricks allow for a more fluid "slur" between the notes, adding style and variation to your articulation. If you watch old videos, you might notice that sometimes Jimi's picking hand was doing everything BUT picking the notes. That is because he was a master of legato, sometimes letting his fretting hand do all the work. This would leave his picking hand free to work the whammy bar, or to just swing it around for dramatic emphasis (never underestimate the power of visual performance!). This technique creates some interesting possibilities, and we'll explore a few of them here.