Guitar trill exercise: hammer-ons and pull-offs
Hammer-ons and pull-offs between the 1st finger and each of the others in turn, four notes to a beat. Legato builds fretting-hand strength and lets you play smooth, fast lines without picking every note; the 1-4 trill works the little finger, usually the weakest. Aim for every slurred note to be as loud as the picked one.
Opens in the player looped and counted in, with the metronome on, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 90 bpm. No account or microphone needed.
- Goal tempo
- 90 bpm
- Starts at
- 54 bpm
- Length
- 3 bars, looped
- Tuning
- E standard
How to play it
Pick only the first note of each beat; hammer from above the fret, pull off slightly downwards.
Put the 1st finger on the 5th fret of the G string and leave it there. Pick that note, hammer on with the 2nd finger at the 6th fret, pull off back to the 5th and hammer on again: four notes for one pick stroke. After a bar, the 3rd finger takes over at the 7th fret, then the 4th at the 8th.
Hammer from a short distance with the very tip of the finger, right behind the fret. The pull-off isn't just a lift: pull the string slightly downwards as the finger leaves it, which plucks the lower note.
Mistakes to watch for
- The slurred notes dying away so only the picked note is clearly heard.
- The 1st finger letting go during the trill: it has to hold its note the whole time.
- Pulling off so hard that the string bends out of tune or the next string sounds.
A speed plan
The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:
- 54
- 59
- 63
- 68
- 72
- 77
- 81
- 86
- 90
That's 16 loops and about 3 minutes before you're playing at 90 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one.
Questions
How fast should I play Trills 1-2, 1-3, 1-4?
The goal is 90 bpm in 16th notes, which is 6 notes a second. Start wherever every note is clean: the player begins at 54 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.
Why does the 1-4 trill feel so much harder?
The little finger is the weakest and the least used. It's normal for it to need a slower tempo. Practising it on its own for a minute after the full exercise helps.
Can I trill without picking at all?
Yes: hammering the first note too, with no pick stroke, is called a hammer-on from nowhere. Try it once the exercise is clean as written.