Well, I'd like to talk about legato playing. Legato playing goes by different names (ligado, hammer-on, pull-off, slurs, etc) but of course they all sound alike (DUH!), smooth. People like Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen & Allan Holdsworth (to name a few) have taken slurs to unprecedented levels of technical proficiency. I myself gradually left my speed picking (alternate, sweep) in favor of a more fluid, legato style. But to better appreciate this kind of playing, you must first build up the strength and endurance of your left hand (or right if you're a lefty). I'm gonna give you guys several exercises to help go on your way towards smooth heaven.

Ex. 1a is an exercise that most guitarists know. But instead of picking each note, you "hammer" them "on". Ex. 1b is the reverse, hammering-on the first note then pulling-off the rest.

The next sets of exercises are variations of ex.1. Still the same concept but this time use different fingerings. Here are a few of them and feel free to come up with your own.

1,3,2,4 2,4,1,3 3,4,1,2 4,2,3,1

1,4,2,3 2,3,1,4 3,1,2,4 4,1,2,3

1,2,4,3 2,1,3,4 3,2,4,1 4,3,1,2 ...etc...

Practice these, slowly at first while maintaining a steady tempo, all over the fretboard. Try them going up on one string at a time or maybe across the neck or skip to every other string. Whatever works!

Admittedly, these exercises aren't very musical at all (unless you're from the Ornette school of harmolodic chaos). Now when you feel that your hand is strong enough, apply the concept to the scales that you already know. And then the next thing to do is to play your extended solo consisting of only hammers and pulls all over the guitar neck! (Right hand finger taps optional). HEHEHE! J

I'd like to hear from you guys so feel free to email me your comments, suggestions, queries or whatever to . And I promise to try to answer them the best I can.

Hope this helped. Till next time, Happy Slurrin'JJJ

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