Slurs and Staccato
When to read this: after Session 23, “Slurs Between Fretted Notes”, “Staccato” (15 minutes). None of this reading is part of a session’s 50 minutes.
What You’ll Learn
Section titled “What You’ll Learn”This handout covers two things. The first is hammer-ons and pull-offs between two fretted notes, with their daily limit. The second is staccato, on a fretted note and on a strummed chord. Session 23 sends you to both sections.
Legato and staccato are opposites, and a note with no mark is played legato.
Slurs Between Fretted Notes
Section titled “Slurs Between Fretted Notes”Slur work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.
Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
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Slur — Two notes on one string joined so that only the first is picked: the fretting hand sounds the second by a hammer-on or a pull-off. In TAB it is written with h or p between the two fret numbers. (Session 23)
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Legato — Played smoothly, each note running into the next with no gap. It needs no mark: a note with no other mark is played legato, for its full length. (Session 23)
Legato means that each note runs into the next with no gap. The fretting hand can join two notes on one string with no second pick stroke in two ways that this course calls slurs: a hammer-on to a higher note and a pull-off to a lower one.
You already have the hammer-on and the pull-off from an open string, and, on string 2, one hammer-on and one pull-off between two fretted notes, fret 1 with finger 1 and fret 3 with finger 3, all from the beginner course. What is new is that every slur here is between two fretted notes, at frets 5 and 7, from finger 1 to finger 3 only. The slurs from an open string are not counted in the daily limit. The two slurred blocks of the beginner course are counted all the same, because each holds a slur between fretted notes on string 2.
The drill is the slur drill of Session 23, one string to a measure. Pick fret 5, hammer on to fret 7, pick fret 7, pull off to fret 5: on string 5, then string 4, then string 3.
Copy of Session 23: “Slur Study in A minor” - the slur drill
"Slur Study in A minor" - the slur drill e|----------------------|-------------------| B|----------------------|-------------------| G|----------------------|-------------------| D|----------------------|---5---h7--7---p5--| A|------5---h7--7---p5--|-------------------| E|----------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Pick: D D D D Finger: 1 3 3 1 1 3 3 1 Notes: D E E D G A A G e|----------------------| B|----------------------| G|------5---h7--7---p5--| D|----------------------| A|----------------------| E|----------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 Pick: D D Finger: 1 3 3 1 Notes: C D D C
This block is for reading here: play it in its session and in the week’s row, not from this handout.
The pick follows the count on every note that is picked: fret 5 on count 1 and fret 7 on count 3, each a downstroke. A note after h or p is not picked.
The hammer-on joins fret 5 to fret 7. Pick fret 5 with finger 1, then bring finger 3 down on fret 7 with no pick stroke.
The hammered note should be clearly audible. On an acoustic guitar it will be a little quieter than a picked note, and that is correct. If it is faint, make the tap quicker and land closer to the fret.
The pull-off joins fret 7 to fret 5. Finger 3 leaves fret 7, and fret 5 sounds with no pick stroke.
As you lift the finger, flick it slightly downward, towards the floor, so that it plucks the string.
Finger 1 stays down at fret 5 before finger 3 leaves.
Every fix for a faint slur is quicker and closer to the fret, never harder.
Play the drill at 50 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes). The picked notes fall on counts 1 and 3, and the slurred notes on counts 2 and 4. The drill is held at 50 BPM all week.
The drill is counted in times through, never in time on a clock. In the “Slurs” row of the week’s plan, play it four times through, with a measure of rest after each: that is 24 slurs.
One check: on your last practice day of Week 23, inside the “Slurs” row, record the drill once through at 50 BPM with the metronome sounding. Listen to the recording and count the slurred notes you can hear. Pass: all 6 slurred notes heard, 3 hammered and 3 pulled off. This is question 1 of Session 23, “Self-Check Questions”. If a slurred note is faint, make the tap quicker and land closer to the fret, or flick the lifting finger a little towards the floor, and try again the next day, inside that day’s slur minutes.
If the hand aches, stop all playing for today, not only the slur work: the pain rule in START HERE says so.
Staccato
Section titled “Staccato”-
Staccato — Played short: the note or chord is stopped at once, so that there is a silence before the next one. A strummed chord is stopped with the rest stop; a single fretted note by relaxing the fretting finger so that it stops pressing and still touches the string. (Session 22)
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Short row — A row labelled “Short:” under a TAB or pattern. A dot in it means that the note or chord above it is played staccato. (Session 22)
A dot in the Short row means that the note or chord above it is played short (staccato): play it, then stop its sound straight away. A note with no dot rings for its full length.
To cut a fretted note short, pick it and at once relax the finger that holds it, so that the finger still touches the string but no longer presses it down. Do not lift the finger off the string. A strummed chord marked short is stopped with the rest stop.
Two hands, two ways. A fretted single note is cut short by the fretting finger, which stops pressing and stays touching the string. A strummed chord is cut short by the strumming hand, with the rest stop of Session 3. No single note on an open string is marked short anywhere in this course.
The drill is the staccato drill of Session 22: the A minor pentatonic notes on strings 5, 4 and 3 at frets 5 and 7, up and back in quarter notes, with fingers 1 and 3.
Copy of Session 22: staccato
e|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| B|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| G|----------------------|---5---7---5-------|-------------------| D|--------------5---7---|---------------7---|---5---------------| A|------5---7-----------|-------------------|-------7---5-------| E|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 (4) Pick: D U D U D U D U D U D Finger: 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 Short: . . . . . . . . . .
It is a scale run with a mark added, so it is picked as a scale is:
In a scale or an arpeggio the pick alternates on every note, down then up, whatever the count: in quarter notes an upstroke falls on counts 2 and 4. In a tune the pick follows the count: down on the numbers, up on the &s.
Its last note has no dot and rings on.
In Week 22 the drill was played at 60 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes), in the “Staccato” row, and the figure was not raised. Week 23 has no Staccato row: the drill is not played from this handout.
One check, question 1 of Session 22, “Self-Check Questions”, taken on your last practice day of Week 22, inside the “Staccato” row: record the drill once through at 60 BPM with the metronome sounding, and listen to the recording. Pass: all 10 dotted notes stop before the next note begins, and no open string sounds between them. If an open string sounds, the finger left the string: let it relax and stay touching, and try again the next day, inside that row. The check is not taken again in Week 23.