Fretting Notes is when you press one of your fingertips onto a string so it gently presses slightly to the left of one of your frets. When you pluck a string, it will vibrate from the saddle up to the where you have fretted your note. Fretting a note shortens the vibrating length of the string which you pluck, which raises that strings pitch.

The Hammer-On (h?m?r- ??n) technique is when notes are played on the neck of the guitar by pressing the fingers on the strings behind a fret, then removing them quickly, as if the strings were being “hammered”. It is the opposite of the “pull off”, which is when the guitar player rapidly presses his/her fingers on the strings and then lifts them off resulting in their ability to speedily play notes and expand their sound. The sound of the hammer-on notes will not be as vibrant as those that are plucked with the strumming hand. The hammer-on is typically used in metal music but it can also be found in rock or bluegrass.

The Harmonic (harm??n?k) is a unique sound produced on the guitar by touching a string very lightly over certain frets with your left hand while your right hand plucks the strings. To allow harmonics to ring you must quickly removing your left hand as you pluck. Producing harmonics on the guitar string requires practice, as the finger pressure and timing must both be accurate.

The term harmonic is sometimes used equivalently with the term overtone, as both sounds are created when the guitar or other instrument produces multiple frequencies known as partials. The primary difference is that harmonics and overtones are counted slightly differently when you are determining where on the string to touch to create the sound you are looking for.

Hybrid Picking (h

Legato (l?g?to) is a musical direction where the notes that are played are smoothly connected together. This is the opposite of “staccato”, in which the notes are sharp and disconnected. With guitar legato, musical phrases are more played with pull-off and hammer-ons, instead of finger picking, which creates a more disconnected sound between notes. When first learning how to play legato lines on an electric guitar, the notes played will be close together and on the same string to keep the sound smooth and connected. However, as more skill is gained in the techniques of legato, more complex phrases can be played.

The Palm Mute (p??m my

Pattern Picking (p?t?rn p??k??) is a style of playing guitar in which a player uses their fingers to pluck each of the strings respectively. Fingers are used with the corresponding strings to pluck in a pattern so as to produce notes that belong to a certain chord. Styles range from being very complex to extremely simplistic. There are special picks and devices that can be worn on the hand in order to assist the guitar player in plucking the strings and often a player will grow their nails longer in order to make the picking easier.

Pattern picking is often practiced slowly at first gradually increasing speed to increase muscle memory. It is a versatile way of playing guitar that can be attributed to a wide variety of styles of music. Pattern picking styles are very rhythmic and are often used within folk music and flamenco music.

Picado (picado) is a technique where a guitar player plays a scale by alternating the middle and index fingers on the right hand to provoke an emotional response from the listener. Picado is normally used for playing melodies and is performed using rest strokes. To play this technique, slide the flesh of the fingertip on the string and pluck with the nail and then rest on the next string. It is very important to maintain the posture of the wrist and the hand being used to play. Moving the middle and index fingers from the knuckles is also important to mastering this technique.

A Pick Slide (p??k sl