Vibrato adds a lot of personality to your playing. Most great guitar players have a distinct vibrato. It's a key ingredient for playing good guitar.
A basic Vibrato is performed by vibrating a note rapidly by a bending and releasing of a note with your fret hand. We're not bending it up to a higher pitch per say, just "shaking" the string. It appears in tablature as in the example below.
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A hammer-on is simple technique of "hammering on" the fretboard with one of your fingers to produce a note instead of picking the note.
To perform a hammer-on place the first finger of your fret hand on the D string on the 2nd fret. Play the note then bring the 3rd finger of your fret hand down onto the 4th fret. Do not pick this second note, instead"hammer" it hard with your 3rd finger to produce the second note. See the tab and audio example:
You get two or more notes for the price of one with a hammer-on, because you only pick the note that precedes the hammer-on note. You must bring your hammering finger down hard, fast, and hold it down firmly to get a good hammer-on note. In the audio example see if you can hear the difference between the notes picked or the notes with a hammer-on:
It may be difficult to hammer-on at first. You hand may need a little time to build up enough strength to produce an audible note with a hammer-on. Keep on practicing it and you'll get good soon enough.
Here are some more examples of hammer-ons:
Pull-offs are performed by picking the 1st note and "pulling-off" to sound the 2nd note without picking it. Both fingers are to be placed on the notes to be sounded. Strike the 1st (higher) note, then sound the lower note by pulling the finger off the higher note while keeping the lower note fretted. It's hard to get it to sound right at first, but keep practicing.
In tablature a pull-off is represented by a "P" and a curved line connecting the two notes like in the example below:
Here are some more advanced pull-offs to practice. They're a little tough at first, but as with everything else, it's nothing practice won't cure.
The previous two examples are built off of the pentatonic scale.
Example 1
A trill is performed by quickly hammering on and pulling off two notes. It's usually represented by a "tr" and a squiggle line like seen for a vibrato. In the example below you can see a trill in tablature. Place your 1st finger on the note on the 7th fret and use your 3rd finger to rapidly hammer-on and pull-off on the 9th fret-which is in parenthesis.
Here's a series of 3 trills all in a row.
Tapping is the technique Eddie Van Halen made famous. It involves hammering on the fretboard with your 1st or 2nd finger of your picking hand to produce a note then pulling off to notes fingered by your fret hand. The involvement of the picking hand in this fashion is called a tap. It is usually represented by a "T" in tablature.
In the example below you can see that it is a 3 note pattern repeated. The 1st note is performed by tapping on the fretboard with your picking hand and pulling off onto the 2nd fret which is fingered with the fret hand (we suggest your 1st finger). The last note in the pattern is performed by hammering on the 5th fret with your 3rd or 1st finger of your fret hand.
It's fairly easy to get a simple pattern like this really fast rather quickly-even for a beginner. Practice it until it sounds smooth and then try pumping up the speed.
Here's a variation:
The lick below is similar to the one Eddie Van Halen performed in "Hot For Teacher". It involves all six strings. Give it a try!
[Intro To Kryptonite] [Main
Riff From Enter Sandman]
[Riff From Crazy Train] [Intro
To Redemption Song]
Below is the main riff for the song "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down in tablature. Note the correct fingers to use are included with the tab at the bottom of the tab for your convenience. Practice the riff until you get it to the point where it's starting to sound like it's supposed to. It may take you awhile if you are just learning to play, but don't get frustrated. Practice is the name of the game, if you find yourself getting frustrated put the guitar down for a minute. Anger and frustration will only diminish your playing, not help it.
Let each not ring out as long as you can. To do this you need to hold down the chord voicing of with this riff has 3 as in the picture below. The correct fingerings are below the voicing.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Here is an audio sample of Chris, a GuitarAlliance.com student, practice the riff. He's almost got it down!
Practicing To A Beat
Once you're able to play it all the way through you can practice playing it along with a beat from a metronome or a drum machine. A metronome is a simple device that keeps the time by creating a regular beat, usually by making a clicking noise for every beat. You can get a metronome at any music store. They come in all shapes and sizes, most notable is the traditional piano metronome with it's swinging pendulum. Prices range from about $10 all the way to $100+. There's no need to spend more than $20 for one. Drum machines cost a little bit more, but they're fun to practice with. You should get one or the other, because developing good rhythm is very important. A drum machine or metronome will do wonders for your sense of rhythm.
In the audio example below is the intro to Kryptonite being played in time with a drum machine. Keep practicing until you get it up to speed!
The main riff from the song "Enter Sandman" by Metallica is a fairly easy riff to learn to play even for the novice guitarist.
"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osboure is probablly the signature Randy Rhodes song. Rhodes, who died at a young age in a freak plane crash, was Ozzy's first guitarist in his solo career (Ozzy had been the original lead singer for Black Sabbath). Randy Rhodes was a well schooled guitarist who's music still influences other players today.
While most of "Crazy Train" is a bit difficult to play, the opening riff is rather easy to learn. Here it is:
Fingerings
"Redempiton Song" by the legendary Bob Marley is a beautiful song with a memorable intro that's easy to learn.
