Legato Technique - Hammer Time!

Hey there and welcome to this month's follow up tutorial. It's hammer time you lot! Now that you have practiced the basic principles we went over in the previous tutorial, you are ready to take a step forward with your legato technique. The majority, if not all, of you will be familiar with the standard 'slurring' techniques of modern rock guitar which incorporate hammers and pull offs. Well, we will only be requiring hammers with these examples. Pull offs are not required. There are many benefits with this particular technique. I personally find that finger strength and independence is greatly improved. Uniformity of tone is also another byproduct of employing this technique. With the following exercises, it is essential that you have followed the energy exertion exercise in the previous legato tutorial as the best results are usually attained by using a nicely weighted but light contact with the strings by the left hand fingers. At first, it may feel quite unusual especially for the index finger as it is invariably assisted by the right hand much more than any other left hand finger. Practice nice and slowly and you will soon get used to it. I have purposely kept these examples relatively simple so that you can really focus on improving your left hand control. Ok, let's get cracking with the first set of exercises!