# A few tips on legato playing...



## GJaunz (Sep 14, 2011)

Hey everybody,

I'm going to be taking a bit of a hiatus from posting instructional guitar vids now, but I really wanted to post a lesson on legato playing before I take a break. It's not a "here's a lick, now you try playing it" sort of lesson as much as it's a collection of tips on developing strong legato technique in your fretting hand. Hopefully those of you working on your legato technique find it helpful!

-Gianmarc


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## SirMyghin (Sep 15, 2011)

Good lesson (big surprise there ). This is especially important, not only for really smooth legato, but also if you plan to branch into touch style. Pulloffs really ruin the whole consistancy of timbre between left and right hands. The hardest part is learning not to anchor your index finger. I oddly find this easier with my left than right hand though (probably as I never really taught it to pull off). It may actually have a bit to do with thumb position too, as the thumb is at the edge of the board.


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## GJaunz (Sep 15, 2011)

Thanks a lot . You bring up a really good point about not anchoring the index finger. I meant to say something about that in the video, but I forgot haha. Breaking the habit of anchoring my index finger took a good bit of practice for me, ended up really my playing overall, not just when using legato.


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## SirMyghin (Sep 15, 2011)

GJaunz said:


> Thanks a lot . You bring up a really good point about not anchoring the index finger. I meant to say something about that in the video, but I forgot haha. Breaking the habit of anchoring my index finger took a good bit of practice for me, ended up really my playing overall, not just when using legato.



It is by far the hardest part (at least for me). The thing is you are so much more agile overall once you break that nasty habit too. I am still hit or miss there  The not having to wait on being done to anticipate some movement from string to string too, it helps all around playing. Sort of a never be fretting a note you don't need approach.

Now if only I could play like you... In time I am sure.


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## Winspear (Sep 15, 2011)

Brilliant lesson - thanks!


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## GJaunz (Sep 16, 2011)

It's true, the better you get at resisting the temptation to anchor your index finger to the fretboard, the better you'll be able to move around on the fretboard.

No problem EtherealEntity, thank you for the feedback


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## Cabinet (Sep 17, 2011)

F*ck me that's hard!


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## GJaunz (Sep 17, 2011)

lol, it is really hard! I think legato is one of those techniques that's pretty easy to do in a sloppy way, but really hard to do well. I've been focusing most of my practice time on it for the past couple months, so don't feel bad if it takes you a little while to develop it.


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## Alberto7 (Sep 17, 2011)

Thanks so much for this lesson! I've been looking for more legato lessons of this kind, but they're hard to find...

Also, it must be noted that this specific type of legato helps your rhythm and right hand/left hand synchronization a whole lot! One has to be so accurate with the fretting hand to make sure every note sounds clear and even with the rest. Even Guthrie Govan himself recommends practicing this technique, even if you're not going to use it regularly... It just helps with your overall technique and playing.


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## TimothyLeary (Sep 17, 2011)

being practicing this myself. nice tips btw. do you pick one time per string, or never pick? It's very hard for me make a sequence like 4-3-1 and still have a good/even sound on the 1st finger

guthrie has a video too where he explains the difference from legato with pull offs and the "holdsworth" legato with just hammer ons. 

It's a difficult technique but after try it it's hard to go back and use pull offs, cause it sounds much worst, at least to my ears.


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## GJaunz (Sep 18, 2011)

> Thanks so much for this lesson! I've been looking for more legato lessons of this kind, but they're hard to find...



No problem, glad you like it! You're absolutely right about this technique helping the rest of your playing sound cleaner.



> being practicing this myself. nice tips btw. do you pick one time per string, or never pick? It's very hard for me make a sequence like 4-3-1 and still have a good/even sound on the 1st finger



Thanks, yeah, I've been practicing this in such a way where I almost never pick. I started doing it that way because I wanted to work on developing really strong hammer ons on all of my fingers, but then I ended up preferring the sound of it that way. So now I try to not pick at all when playing this sort of legato. I agree with what you said about going back to using pull offs, they just don't sound right anymore once you start using the all hammer ons style like Holdsworth. Guthrie Govan is the man, I'm really looking forward to seeing him with his new band, The Aristocrats, in January!


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## SirMyghin (Sep 18, 2011)

I need to go back to playing 10s if I am going to do this. I can't get ringing legato on clean channels with 9s. I really don't understand how I can hear unplugged legato on my bass but a dinky freaking string does near nothing. 

Anyone else find legato easier on bigger strings?


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## Azure (Sep 18, 2011)

Yes, I think it's because that bigger strings have a bigger surface area so you hit more of it and are ultimately giving it more power. I can't ring out the thin strings at all haha.


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## Alberto7 (Sep 18, 2011)

Yeah, same here. I use .010's and my hammer-on legato sucks on the higher strings  but it's fine on the lower ones. Still a looong way to go!


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## GJaunz (Sep 19, 2011)

Yup, heavier strings are definitely easier for doing this sort of legato playing. I believe the added mass of the strings leads to increased momentum ultimately leading to the vibration of the stings persisting for a longer period of time. I had a super light custom set on my guitar (something like what Yngwie uses), but switched to regular .009s once I started doing more legato playing, definitely helped.


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## edsped (Sep 19, 2011)

Weird, I got a Strat that came with 10s and my legato and tapping were much improved after getting it strung with 9s.


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## revlover (Sep 20, 2011)

Thanks man, I've been thinking of taking up legato for some time but never really got to it. This lesson put me over the edge though. Getting the timing right is really hard but to my ashtonishment I had no trouble at all with un-anchoring my index finger 
I will check out your other lessons as well.


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## GJaunz (Sep 21, 2011)

@edsped: Interesting, I guess everyone is different! 

@revlover: Awesome, I'm glad to hear this cleared things up for you! That's great you don't have to break the bad habit of anchoring your index finger. That was something I really had to work at to "unlearn." Thanks for checking out my other vids, I've got all sorts of guitar and vocal lessons, as well as some of my original music and a few covers posted on my channel.


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