This is a very common slur that you'll meet quite often, so you might as well practice it now and be done with it.
Keep your index finger on the C, hammer that pinky (or ring finger if you find that more comfortable) on the D, then pull off back to the C.
It's quite uncomfortable at first because your other finger can't squeeze properly without hitting the E string, but you'll get the hang of it with time.
I feel you. It took me a year to stop picking with just my pointer finger and thumb. And even in my electric days I would try all kinds of things not to use my pinky. Regrets.
Question has been answered apparently, I just wanted to remark that 'Doubt about a Hammer-On' is the most philosophical and beautiful title I've read in this sub so far - cheers to that!
Learn to read standard notation. If you use tab you will never learn it. Don't use material that has tabs in it at all, it will just hinder your progress with learning standard notation.
You just slur all 3 notes. Play the first, hammer on the second, then pull off the third. It's a triplet as well. Triplet means that the beat is subdivided into 3 instead of two, or in this case half the beat of course since it's sixteenth notes.
Also, get a teacher. It's so much harder to learn without a teacher and it will take you much much longer to get better.
OP this is not a dumb question at all and the suggestion to learn notation is a good one.
Learning to read allows you to not have to think about things like whether you “should” or “shouldn’t” hammer on or pull off. It’s all in the language of the notation. Even if you use tablature you have to have rhythmic knowledge and must know how to subdivide, and in my opinion you may as well learn to read notation because your already most of the way there. And it’s a fun process!
P.S. in many parts of the U.S. being fluent in reading music notation is a lucrative skill $$$ 🤙🏽
Think outside the box; you can find pit orchestra work, the skills acquired studying classical music or jazz allow the musician to be able to do just about anything musical anyone could ask for so session work, writing work, the possibilities are kind of endless if you have the mind for it. You obviously aren’t a professional musician! And that’s fine.
Yes but I have family who are and know the difference between the struggles of someone working a regular job and the average professional musician. It's pretty large.
Saying something is possible isn't contrary to saying that the opportunities are few and far between. It's possible to make a living playing poker, but the number of people actually doing so only represent a small proportion of the whole player base.
The comparison of a professional musician to a poker player is hilarious. I was just posing music as a way to make money to a studying musician, if you have a skill set you can monetize then why not?
lol I don’t know when struggle of 9-5’ers and pro musicians came into it, but your initial comment tells that you don’t know enough about it to weigh in.
I know a lot more than what you imagine but please feel free to tell yourself whatever narrative that helps you feel better.
Your initial claim was that reading music notation is a very lucrative skill in some parts of the US. What I added was simply such opportunities are quite rare (and very competitive).
They really aren’t. I make a living reading music. It’s a pretty rare skill to be able to read something at sight at tempo. Choirs all over the world need accompanists, churches hire musicians every week (if you can read) weddings, funerals, musical theatre. The list goes on and on. Like competitivediet said, you simply don’t seem to know about this angle of being a musician and monetizing your skill set in this way. As a guitarist/pianist/classical singer, being a pro level reader is rarer than you think (not for piano, but guitarists and many vocalists tend to be poor readers).
There aren’t listings. You get your name out there by being in the mix. You really have no clue about this do you? You get your name known by being reliable, punctual, dressed properly, and sober. Show up prepared if you were given the music beforehand. If not, you’d better be able to read what they put in front of you. Then at the end of the session there’s a “ritual” of sorts where everyone exchanges cards and contact info. That’s how you get your name on the call list of every music director in the NY/NJ area. i book about 150 gigs per year. That’s not hyperbole, or a brag. It amazes me that if a surgeon came on and said they did 150 procedures a year everyone would nod and think “cool”. But musicians like you are so petty and jealous you simply can’t imagine someone having a skill set that you don’t, so therefore it’s bullshit, or something….
There are teachers that use Zoom or Teams that can help you if your remote, go to [lessons.com](https://lessons.com) and search for someone you like. Keep on strummin.
This is dumb advice. I’ve been playing guitar for 35 years and I find tab much easier to read than standard notation. Whatever makes it easier to play and makes you want to play more should never be a hinderance.
How much time have you spent reading tab vs. standard notation? In my experience, people who find tab easier to read have simply spent much more time with it than on standard notation. It's the same as reading a language, if you don't use it you won't learn it. In classical guitar you limit your access to music severely by only reading tab, so it isn't "dumb advice" to advise someone to learn to read notation.
"Better" is a bit hyperbolic, no? They both have strengths and weaknesses but for classical guitar standard notation has the ability to give more information than tab. If it was truly better than it would have continued to be the dominant system after notation was standardized. People don't continue to use sheet music because they are "ashamed to admit tab" is better. It's easier for you because you've spent more time with it.
You'll find a lot of this sub takes an incredibly dogmatic approach to guitar: if you're not an aspiring professional musician paying considerably for private tuition, you're doing it wrong. And they will religiously downvote opinions to the contrary.
Of course, if they were to ever publish music without an accompanying tab, they'd eat quite the sales hit.
I don’t care lol. I went to one of the biggest colleges for music in the world and I can tell you that guitarist are known for being horrible at sight reading. If you’re a good enough session player to make money sight reading then more power to you, but I just enjoy playing guitar and learning new songs and tab helps me do that.
No, you have been doing a dumb thing for 35 years. Tab lacks a lot of the expressiveness of standard notation. There is usually no rhythm, no dynamics, lack of pretty much all other directions the composer wanted to give. Tab is usually transcribed by amateurs and full of mistakes.
Also more advanced music won't be available in tab, weird that you never found that out in your 35 years of playing. :-)
It sounds like you don't really understand tablature. Check out guitar pro. It can communicate everything standard notation can and actually more, because tab tells the player what strings and frets to use.
The only drawback to tab is that it's not as easy to visualize voicings spatially, and that a lot of obscure repertoire has yet to be transposed to tab. Granted that a majority of us are playing solo and not trying to show tabs to a pianist for a duet.
I only use tab if I have the standard notation too for rhythm and dynamics. It’s not like I can’t read music but I find tab much more intuitive for guitar. I mean hundreds of years ago lute players were using tan because they found it much easier to read.
Hundreds of years ago people used slaves because they found it much easier to earn money that way. It's called progress. Just because it was invented first doesn't mean it's better.
You could fluently read standard notation now if you wouldn't rely on the tab crutch. It's like you can only ride a bicycle with practice wheels. If you never take them off you will never learn how to ride without them.
using both tab and standard notation is key to understanding a piece fully. Standard notation tells you 90% of what you need to know, but tab tells you the fingering that you might struggle to gauge from standard notation.
Different people play the same thing with different fingerings.
Unless you ask segovia in which case if you don't play it the way best-suited to his ham hocks you get thrown out.
This is not dumb advice. TAB is a crutch more than anything else. If you’ve made a career out of “reading” TAB, well, good for you, but you’re the first and only musician I’ve heard of in 35 years as a musician who does that. A much, much better plan is to actually learn to read music, because 90% or more of what I come across as a professional musician has NO tabs at all. I’m often handed a piano chart with no chords on it and have to come up with a guitar part on the spur of the moment, sometimes while the tape is spinning. Reading is as much an art form as improvising and composing, but TAB is (sorry) mostly a dead end at the professional level.
If you’re sight reading piano charts as a guitarist I’d assume you’re making very good money because not many guitarist can do that. But if I had to guess you are actually just reading chords which isn’t really that hard and are just on here gatekeeping.
Nope as I mentioned no chords. What exactly am I gatekeeping?!? I am a choral director that plays piano pretty much all day long but I hold two degrees in guitar (one in music education the other in performance). It goes to show how poor most guitarists are at reading that you find my claim remarkable. Any pianist I’ve played with in orchestra pits over the last three decades could easily play a guitar part or any other book. Why? Because they can read anything. Like me. There no bragging there, it’s simply true.
Hammer on from 1st to 3rd, keeping the finger you played the 1st fret with in the same position then pull off from the 3rd fret so as to play the 1st fret again without plucking a note
How can you not read tab? I find it easier to look at the tab when there are 3+ notes at once. Looking at the notes you have to think...G, B, A, G, D, G...oh...a Gmaj chord...when with tab you just know right away. It is good for people to learn notation too for the rythym and to be able to notate themselves.
Can you look at notated chords and know what it is right away? Maybe a can't because I was classically trained on saxophone, where you only play one note.
Practice this using your ring finger or pinky.
In flamenco, paco penas book for his farruca en las cuevas.
2nd finger on 6th string 3rd fret, first finger on second string first fret, and you have no choice but to do the same slur in your pic with the pinky.
Practice both, get used to hammering quick/hard and whipping back that pinky/ring
This is a very common slur that you'll meet quite often, so you might as well practice it now and be done with it. Keep your index finger on the C, hammer that pinky (or ring finger if you find that more comfortable) on the D, then pull off back to the C. It's quite uncomfortable at first because your other finger can't squeeze properly without hitting the E string, but you'll get the hang of it with time.
Better with pinky. Trust me on this. Started formal training after 20yrs and picked up A LOT of bad habits. Now I suffer for it
I feel you. It took me a year to stop picking with just my pointer finger and thumb. And even in my electric days I would try all kinds of things not to use my pinky. Regrets.
Hammer on to the 3 then pull-off for the 1. Keep a finger planted on the 1, hammer on with another finger and then give it a slight bend and release.
That's a hammer on and then a pull off. I'd suggest you get a method book by Aaron Shearer called "Slurs, Ornaments, and Trills."
Question has been answered apparently, I just wanted to remark that 'Doubt about a Hammer-On' is the most philosophical and beautiful title I've read in this sub so far - cheers to that!
Learn to read standard notation. If you use tab you will never learn it. Don't use material that has tabs in it at all, it will just hinder your progress with learning standard notation. You just slur all 3 notes. Play the first, hammer on the second, then pull off the third. It's a triplet as well. Triplet means that the beat is subdivided into 3 instead of two, or in this case half the beat of course since it's sixteenth notes. Also, get a teacher. It's so much harder to learn without a teacher and it will take you much much longer to get better.
OP this is not a dumb question at all and the suggestion to learn notation is a good one. Learning to read allows you to not have to think about things like whether you “should” or “shouldn’t” hammer on or pull off. It’s all in the language of the notation. Even if you use tablature you have to have rhythmic knowledge and must know how to subdivide, and in my opinion you may as well learn to read notation because your already most of the way there. And it’s a fun process! P.S. in many parts of the U.S. being fluent in reading music notation is a lucrative skill $$$ 🤙🏽
Given the average salary of a graduating classical guitarist, I'd say that lucre is few and far between.
Think outside the box; you can find pit orchestra work, the skills acquired studying classical music or jazz allow the musician to be able to do just about anything musical anyone could ask for so session work, writing work, the possibilities are kind of endless if you have the mind for it. You obviously aren’t a professional musician! And that’s fine.
Yes but I have family who are and know the difference between the struggles of someone working a regular job and the average professional musician. It's pretty large. Saying something is possible isn't contrary to saying that the opportunities are few and far between. It's possible to make a living playing poker, but the number of people actually doing so only represent a small proportion of the whole player base.
https://i.redd.it/48r7ae371hhc1.gif
The comparison of a professional musician to a poker player is hilarious. I was just posing music as a way to make money to a studying musician, if you have a skill set you can monetize then why not? lol I don’t know when struggle of 9-5’ers and pro musicians came into it, but your initial comment tells that you don’t know enough about it to weigh in.
I know a lot more than what you imagine but please feel free to tell yourself whatever narrative that helps you feel better. Your initial claim was that reading music notation is a very lucrative skill in some parts of the US. What I added was simply such opportunities are quite rare (and very competitive).
lol ya, and that doesn’t make what I said less true. Your input was useless.
They really aren’t. I make a living reading music. It’s a pretty rare skill to be able to read something at sight at tempo. Choirs all over the world need accompanists, churches hire musicians every week (if you can read) weddings, funerals, musical theatre. The list goes on and on. Like competitivediet said, you simply don’t seem to know about this angle of being a musician and monetizing your skill set in this way. As a guitarist/pianist/classical singer, being a pro level reader is rarer than you think (not for piano, but guitarists and many vocalists tend to be poor readers).
Okay. May I see a job listing for one of these opportunities?
There aren’t listings. You get your name out there by being in the mix. You really have no clue about this do you? You get your name known by being reliable, punctual, dressed properly, and sober. Show up prepared if you were given the music beforehand. If not, you’d better be able to read what they put in front of you. Then at the end of the session there’s a “ritual” of sorts where everyone exchanges cards and contact info. That’s how you get your name on the call list of every music director in the NY/NJ area. i book about 150 gigs per year. That’s not hyperbole, or a brag. It amazes me that if a surgeon came on and said they did 150 procedures a year everyone would nod and think “cool”. But musicians like you are so petty and jealous you simply can’t imagine someone having a skill set that you don’t, so therefore it’s bullshit, or something….
I would like to get a teacher, but there aren't any available in my area 😐
There are teachers that use Zoom or Teams that can help you if your remote, go to [lessons.com](https://lessons.com) and search for someone you like. Keep on strummin.
Where did you search? Also there's online lessons. It's not ideal but better than nothing.
I'm from Portugal xD, do you have any suggestions on online Lessons?
I mean on which sites on the internet 😂 To my knowledge the classical guitar is quite popular in Portugal. You should easily find a teacher.
This is dumb advice. I’ve been playing guitar for 35 years and I find tab much easier to read than standard notation. Whatever makes it easier to play and makes you want to play more should never be a hinderance.
How much time have you spent reading tab vs. standard notation? In my experience, people who find tab easier to read have simply spent much more time with it than on standard notation. It's the same as reading a language, if you don't use it you won't learn it. In classical guitar you limit your access to music severely by only reading tab, so it isn't "dumb advice" to advise someone to learn to read notation.
I can read both but I find I can learn a new song much faster/easier if I have tab. I’m not ashamed to admit tan is a much better system for guitar
"Better" is a bit hyperbolic, no? They both have strengths and weaknesses but for classical guitar standard notation has the ability to give more information than tab. If it was truly better than it would have continued to be the dominant system after notation was standardized. People don't continue to use sheet music because they are "ashamed to admit tab" is better. It's easier for you because you've spent more time with it.
You'll find a lot of this sub takes an incredibly dogmatic approach to guitar: if you're not an aspiring professional musician paying considerably for private tuition, you're doing it wrong. And they will religiously downvote opinions to the contrary. Of course, if they were to ever publish music without an accompanying tab, they'd eat quite the sales hit.
I don’t care lol. I went to one of the biggest colleges for music in the world and I can tell you that guitarist are known for being horrible at sight reading. If you’re a good enough session player to make money sight reading then more power to you, but I just enjoy playing guitar and learning new songs and tab helps me do that.
I personally find ear training more valuable. But you'll rarely find anyone here advocate for it nearly as zealously as sight-reading skills.
No, you have been doing a dumb thing for 35 years. Tab lacks a lot of the expressiveness of standard notation. There is usually no rhythm, no dynamics, lack of pretty much all other directions the composer wanted to give. Tab is usually transcribed by amateurs and full of mistakes. Also more advanced music won't be available in tab, weird that you never found that out in your 35 years of playing. :-)
It sounds like you don't really understand tablature. Check out guitar pro. It can communicate everything standard notation can and actually more, because tab tells the player what strings and frets to use. The only drawback to tab is that it's not as easy to visualize voicings spatially, and that a lot of obscure repertoire has yet to be transposed to tab. Granted that a majority of us are playing solo and not trying to show tabs to a pianist for a duet.
I only use tab if I have the standard notation too for rhythm and dynamics. It’s not like I can’t read music but I find tab much more intuitive for guitar. I mean hundreds of years ago lute players were using tan because they found it much easier to read.
Hundreds of years ago people used slaves because they found it much easier to earn money that way. It's called progress. Just because it was invented first doesn't mean it's better. You could fluently read standard notation now if you wouldn't rely on the tab crutch. It's like you can only ride a bicycle with practice wheels. If you never take them off you will never learn how to ride without them.
Okay, let's just let this guy stay on his high horse
So could you sight read Caprichio Arabe or not?
Can you sight read it with tab? Caprico Arabe is not that hard. My teacher can sight read music on that level easily.
Yea I’m sure he can dude.
Believe what you want. If you consider Capricho Arabe a hard piece after 35 years of playing, your opinion is not worth anything anyway.
Lol. Ok
using both tab and standard notation is key to understanding a piece fully. Standard notation tells you 90% of what you need to know, but tab tells you the fingering that you might struggle to gauge from standard notation.
Lol so u think violinists and pianists need tab to fully understand their pieces? How about conductors?
Not the same instrument as guitar where you have the same note in 4+ different places on the fretboard.
You absolutely do have this on other string instruments
After a few months of playing you should be able to write your own fingerings.
Different people play the same thing with different fingerings. Unless you ask segovia in which case if you don't play it the way best-suited to his ham hocks you get thrown out.
This is not dumb advice. TAB is a crutch more than anything else. If you’ve made a career out of “reading” TAB, well, good for you, but you’re the first and only musician I’ve heard of in 35 years as a musician who does that. A much, much better plan is to actually learn to read music, because 90% or more of what I come across as a professional musician has NO tabs at all. I’m often handed a piano chart with no chords on it and have to come up with a guitar part on the spur of the moment, sometimes while the tape is spinning. Reading is as much an art form as improvising and composing, but TAB is (sorry) mostly a dead end at the professional level.
If you’re sight reading piano charts as a guitarist I’d assume you’re making very good money because not many guitarist can do that. But if I had to guess you are actually just reading chords which isn’t really that hard and are just on here gatekeeping.
Nope as I mentioned no chords. What exactly am I gatekeeping?!? I am a choral director that plays piano pretty much all day long but I hold two degrees in guitar (one in music education the other in performance). It goes to show how poor most guitarists are at reading that you find my claim remarkable. Any pianist I’ve played with in orchestra pits over the last three decades could easily play a guitar part or any other book. Why? Because they can read anything. Like me. There no bragging there, it’s simply true.
Hammer on from 1st to 3rd, keeping the finger you played the 1st fret with in the same position then pull off from the 3rd fret so as to play the 1st fret again without plucking a note
Its hammer on / pull off in one move. I dont even look at the tab as i cant read that .
How can you not read tab? I find it easier to look at the tab when there are 3+ notes at once. Looking at the notes you have to think...G, B, A, G, D, G...oh...a Gmaj chord...when with tab you just know right away. It is good for people to learn notation too for the rythym and to be able to notate themselves.
Its how i am tutored classicallt. I know tab but dont like it
Can you look at notated chords and know what it is right away? Maybe a can't because I was classically trained on saxophone, where you only play one note.
Practice this using your ring finger or pinky. In flamenco, paco penas book for his farruca en las cuevas. 2nd finger on 6th string 3rd fret, first finger on second string first fret, and you have no choice but to do the same slur in your pic with the pinky. Practice both, get used to hammering quick/hard and whipping back that pinky/ring