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hammer ons
I need help with hammer ons. They are so soft sounding when I do them. you can barely hear them. What can I do to strengthen my sing and pinky fingers? also what can I do to stretch my grasp when using the index finger to the pinky?
thanks
Dee
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2 Replies
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Hey Dee hammer ons are tricky and take a lot of practice. Takes accuracy and lots of finger strength to get them to sound out. Be as religious about your strenghtening exercises as you are about practicing them. lots of repetition so even when you dont have a guitar with you keep on working those fingers eg practice on your leg while watching tv. Building up your strength will get your volume up. While its important to be able to hammer with all four fingers lots of songs require only the pointer and the middle so dont be too hard on yourself if your ring and pinky are quieter. I think the pointer and middle are naturally stronger so easier to get a good tone with them. Embrace that…but keep on working the ring and pinky too. And likewise with the stretch/reach on the fretboard…lots of finger stretching every day will help and youll see results. Hammerons are a great embellishment and add a lot of colour to your playing so keep at it sister and you’ll get better. This is vry common for lots of players at the beginning, especially the ring and pinky, so dont get discouraged. Hope this helps.
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When you are performing a hammer on, what happens is you are changing the note that a ringing string is producing by shortening the anchor points. If you touch a string that is ringing you stop the vibration which deadens the sound. However, you can short circuit this muting effect with quickness.
Hammer ons are just that: hammers. Your fingers must move like a hammer does. If you hit a nail with a hammer that isn’t moving fast – not much happens, the nail will probably fall over but it won’t penetrate the wood.
The 2 keys to hammers:
1. speed
2. hit close to the fret
The second key helps shorten the distance before the string gets pinned. If the action on the guitar is too high, you may also struggle with hammering for the same reason, so check that.
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