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Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
Realistically, things needn't be as black and white as the Marshall Harrison Vs Satch (traditional) legato approaches, as you can actually combine the two approaches as the mechanics are not mutually exclusive.
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
Some of my basic advice is - play everything lighter. You're not actually aiming to generate velocity with the pick, more kind of feather the note to try and keep the hammers and pulls at a similar volume ton the picked note.
And practice playing in even 4s, this will help you to smooth out lines across string transitions.
Excellent stuff as usual John Cordy.
Hammer on's only style descending.
This quote was enlightening:
"There are a few conceptual difficulties people often have when they first hear of descending hammers, and how it can be physically possible. This can be dispelled via physical reasoning.
Suppose we are performing an ascending hammer on. Suppose for the sake of discussion that we fret a note with the index finger, pluck it and hammer a whole tone above with the ring finger. There is a very brief, imperceptible period of time between the moment when the flesh of the ring finger makes contact with the string and the moment when the string makes contact with the fret. During this period, the original note (with the index finger) has been damped by the contact with the flesh of the ring finger, and the higher note cannot be ringing, as it has not yet been fretted with the ring finger. Thus, by simple physical reasoning, there absolutely must be a “gap” between the original note and the hammered note.
We should not think the gap being eliminated, as this is impossible. Instead, we should think of the gap as having been shrunk to the point where it is imperceptible. This is relatively easy to ensure with an ascending hammer, and so the gap is not perceived.
Suppose instead we wish to perform a descending hammer. Again, for discussion, we fret a note with the ring finger and pluck. If we are to descend without pulling off, we must lift the ring finger and hammer below with the index finger in a concerted movement.
Let us examine the gaps in this instance. There is a brief period between the moment when the string stops contacting the fret under the ring finger and the moment when the ring finger stops contacting the string. During this period, the original note with the ring finger is not ringing, as it is not fretted. Further, the string must be damped, as the ring finger is still in contact with the string.
There is another brief period where between the moment the index finger contacts the string and the moment the string make contact with the lower fret. Again, during this period the lower note cannot be ringing, as it has not yet been fretted.
Let t denote the time variable. Let a and b be the initial and terminal time values of the first period mentioned above. Let c and d be the initial and terminal time values of the second period mentioned above.
We have three distinct scenarios:
The ring finger ceases to be in contact with the string before the index finger makes contact. That is, a<b<c<d. In this case, there is a period where neither finger is in contact with the string, and thus the string cannot be damped. Unless the lifting of the ring finger was performed perfectly, this will result in a noise caused by the brief ringing of the open string.
The index finger frets the lower note before the ring finger ceases to be in contact with the string. That is, a<c<d<b. In this case, the energy of the index finger hammer is wasted. The index hammer cannot sound the lower note as the ring finger is still in contact with the string, damping it. Thus, the lower note will be silent unless the lifting of the ring finger was performed poorly, which would be a very weak an ineffective pull-off.
The string ceases to be in contact with the higher fret under the ring finger, the index finger makes initial contact with the string, the ring finger ceases to be in contact with the string and the string makes contact the lower fret, in that order. That is a<c<b<d. In this case, the string ceases to make contact with the higher fret, and is damped by the ring finger. There is a brief period where the ring and index finger both contact the string, but no note is fretted. Then, finally the lower note is fretted by the index finger and rings due to the energy of the index hammer. That is, we achieve a descending hammer. The if the period of simultaneous finger contact is made as short as possible (a<c=b<d is the limiting case), the index hammer imparts more energy into string vibration.
Scenario 3 is the only correct descending hammer. If the total time period a to d were made imperceptible, then it would indistinguishable from the ascending hammer, which necessarily also has a gap by previous argument.
Scenarios 1 and 2 are mistakes, with scenario 2 being the worst possible outcome.
Scenario 3, the true descending hammer, is very difficult to execute, but it is possible, both in theory and in practice.
Now, the above should convince you that the descending hammer is possible. But how do you begin to teach yourself to do it? I can only share what worked for me.
What worked for me was to intentionally begin with scenario 1, and attempt to refine until scenario 3 is achieved. Beginning with scenario 1 is very beneficial, as it prevents you from fretting the lower note before the higher finder ceases to be in contact with the string. That is, this approach prevents scenario 2, which is the worst possible outcome (silence or a bad pull-off).
As we’re usually (and should be) familiar with pull-offs before we attempt to learn descending hammers, there is a natural tendency to “load” the index finger into fretting the lower note, but this is a recipe for scenario 2.
The correct descending hammer is valuable as the tone difference between ascending and descending hammers is more consistent than when using pull offs.
If you perform a descending hammer correctly when unplugged, you will hear the noise of the string vibrating between the nut and the lower finger (index in my previous discussion), similar to the unplugged performance of a hammer from nowhere. This parasitic noise is of little concern on an electric guitar, as it will not be heard when plugged in, however it makes the technique impractical on an acoustic."
Just seen the video demonstration. Mind blowing! Didn't understand the "all hammer on" approach until this!
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep