Major scale 16th note triplets pull offs and hammer ons

Aim of the exercise: Practice pull offs and hammer ons on cool major scale licks, focusing on 16th note triplets.
Exercise type: Legato
Starting tempo: 40 beats per minute
Duration: 10 minutes

Sounds a bit like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai

In this exercise you'll be performing pull-offs and hammer-ons on 16h note triplets. You will start on a single string and then play across the whole scale ascending and descending.

Playing 16th note triplets means that you have to put 6 notes into one beat - that's quite fast, so you'll start with the metronome on a slow setting.

A hammer-on is a way you play a certain note on a guitar. You perform a hammer-on by sharply bringing down a fretting finger on a string so that a note sounds without picking it with your picking hand.

The opposite of a hammer-on is a pull-off. You are fretting two notes on the same string and then strike the string. After the sound is made you pull the string with the finger that frets the higher note and lift it off the fretboard. The lower note on the same string and fretted by a different finger will sound afterwards!

You will practice three licks on different modes of the C major scale.

D - Dorian

Check out the scale diagram. This is what you'll be playing the next three licks.

D
E
F
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

The first lick is only played on one string. No need to do anything with the picking hand, it's all in the hammer ons and pull offs!

2nd mode, lick 1

The second lick is a descending lick that is built from the first lick but conforms to the scale.

2nd mode, lick 2

The final lick is very similar to the second one, you just go in a different direction.

2nd mode, lick 3

« Select a different variation!

Start practicing! How much time do you have? In minutes.

GO!