Hey Norman,

As a suggestion, think of it a slight plucking action.
Fret the 3rd fret on, let's say, G and with a slight downward (or upward depending on your fancy) pull release the string.
It's the same principle as pulling off to a fretted note.

Hope this helps.

Me first: practice! ?

Seriously though, the technique for open-string pull-offs is a bit different to pull-offs to a fretted note, as you've noted.

Firstly, I find it helps to have a certain amount of lateral movement of your finger across the string, as with any pull-off, rather than the purely vertical or perpendicular movement of lifting off the fingerboard. My natural tendency is to pull the string "down", almost like using a plucking motion with the fingers of your left hand, but you can go "up" too. Hope that makes sense.

One very good way to develop this technique:

Work a regular 12 bar blues in E into your practice routine. This means that the first pentatonic position which we all know and love is based in the open string position. Practice improvising with lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs in the open position, and you'll find you see lots of progress in your open-string techniques pretty quickly.

I think part of the problem here is that lots of us start our (epic) solo aspirations in the key of A, with the first pentatonic position starting at the fifth fret (A). You tend to learn your first licks in those sorts of fretted positions, and then struggle to come back to the good old open strings.

Once you get the hang of tooling around in E in the open position, you can incorporate more notes higher up the fretboard and still get away with pulling off back to the open strings, because all the notes fit! 8)

EDIT: Arjun can like to be too fast for me! ???

thanks guys...

would i be correct in saying that the pluc bends the string slightly, whether up or down, before release?
its the only way i can get the note to ring true?! :-[

Norman86 wrote: thanks guys...

would i be correct in saying that the pluc bends the string slightly, whether up or down, before release?
its the only way i can get the note to ring true?! :-[

Yes, you're effectively plucking the string with your fretting hand. It needs to be a strong-ish motion because there's no way of getting an open string to keep ringing on beyond the initial energy you put into it
(barring the use of effects like compressors, of course). With a fretted note, you can apply vibrato to aid sustain.

The reason this is difficult to pick up from watching people play is because experienced players have learned to economise their motions over time, so it looks like their fingers are just flying around the strings when actually they're performing very subtle little movements to aid making each note clear and audible. When you're starting out, it helps to accentuate those movements at first to get the idea down.

Overexaggerate first, economise later...
i get it! thanks! ?

Warren wrote: EDIT: Arjun can like to be too fast for me! ???

? Your post was much better thought out and well put.

Yea it's always come quite easy to me, like plucking with the fret hand. I find it adds a lot of depth, speeds things up, almost like having an extra finger. Fretted or not. Just keep at it, it'll come naturally.

One thing to consider is muting as well, when I do open note pull offs I normally stop one of my unused fingers on the higher strings and use my palm of my right hand to mute the lower notes, you can also use the pinky or third finger on your right hand - just gently rest them on the strings you don't want to ring out, learning to move them around like this can be tricky so I like to stop each of my fingers on an individual string so that if I need to let that string ring I only need to lift one finger. When ascending notes the same applies, you've just got to lift them gently before the left hand comes down on the string and then place them down gently again when you don't want them to ring anymore. It's a bit like silent hybrid picking I guess, it's hybrid muting ?

Thanks very much guys!!!
Much appreciated!
I will just keep at it! ?

Pull off's -_- uhh my mortal enemy, that and molded bread. haha ok it's not that bad. Just not really fond of practicing them. ATM

So norman... how are your pull-off's sounding now?

evolucian wrote: So norman... how are your pull-off's sounding now?

and can you pull off the perfect hammeron? (in no way mentioning the person....)

they're better thanks... need to practice them more though, especially with my pinky and ring fingers!

plain hammerons or pull offs are easier to do, but the hammeron pull off... still working at it!!