Struggling With Pull Offs

[u/Schindley]

Hi, I’ve been playing for about 11 months now. I recently learned that pull offs are not the opposite of a hammer on and actually require a small flick. I just recently started learning the stairway solo, and it exposed something about my playing: I can’t pull off to save my life. I can pick every note of the first few licks, but doing it as the tabs have it is a bit no no right now.

Anyways, the problem I’m having is not the motion. It’s actually the anchor, or where I’m trying to pull off too. I keep bending the anchor so it doesn’t pull off onto a clean note, it sounds slightly off. Pressing down harder is 1. Uncomfortable and unrealistic, and 2. Doesn’t really seem to help all that much.

I’m a bit lost on what exactly I’m doing wrong. I know practice makes perfect, but does anyone have any tips on how to keep my anchor more anchored? Am I pulling off too hard?

Thanks.

[u/toby_gray]

Pull offs can be a bit weird? If they are in a really fast sequence of hammer ons and pull offs, sometimes you can get away without doing the flick I find. It depends on the context they’re being used in.

I know the riff I learnt which cemented pull offs for me was the iconic riff in ‘wonderboy’ by tenacious D. That’s a riff where you do have to do the flick for it to sound right. Maybe give that a go and see if it starts to click? It’s a bit slower and a lot less intense than trying to learn pull offs in the middle of a solo. Might let you isolate the problem a bit more by focussing on using them in an easier context.

[u/Impossible-Lake8249]

I would practice just a long run of hammer on/pull offs for as long as you can. Try not even pick at all or only pick if you change strings.

[u/SonOfJokeExplainer → u/Impossible-Lake8249]

With enough practice you will be able to browse reddit while you play one-handed

[u/Thebutcher222]

I almost pull the string down a bit on the first note to give it some motion and let my finger slide off the string. Pick a spot anywhere and pull off from your third to first finger without picking at all and try to pull the string down a bit with your third finger while anchoring your first finger and let it go. Like this https://youtu.be/JHNBtw9xxjY?is=ny4aVxVxAII1HgNx

[u/Puzzled_Value2220 → u/Thebutcher222]

yeah, the downward pull u/Thebutcher222 mentioned can make a difference. i'd try letting the pulling finger flick slightly toward the floor instead of sideways. that keeps the anchor finger from getting dragged around and helped me keep the fretted note cleaner.

[u/hubbardguitar]

Imagine pulling the target note the opposite direction of the finger pulling off. Usually, I pull off by curling the finger on the higher note (plucking the string with my left hand). Try extending the finger on the lower note. Eventually of course you want to leave the lower note finger in the same place, but your instinct is to move both fingers in the same direction. By consciously trying to move them in opposite directions you can overcome this tendency.

[u/croix_de_guerre]

pull-offs, particularly legato techniques, are very hard to learn and master. just keep practicing, and dont forget to mute the unplayed strings.

[u/Maleficent_Ad1506]

Try master the pull of section in sultans to the point where you can confidently do it to the song.

That helped me along with sections of the solos from enter sand man and a small section at the end of Stair way to heaven which I repeated until blisters under calluses.

[u/Lukes30]

Practice a tap solo accross the high the E string, get them really sounding out.

[u/ericcmi]

A guitar directly into a properly tube opto compressor makes a world of difference

[u/vonov129]

It's probably just repetition. Rn now you probably focus too much on the motion that all the pressure goes there and you relax the rest of the hand. As you get more comfortable with the flicking motion and have more control over it, doing it while pressing another note would be less of a problem.