Hammer-Ons, Pull-Offs and Slides

Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides let a string keep singing while the note changes. They add notes without adding picking-hand work, and they smooth the sound out. In the tab they carry a small mark and have no picking letter.

The hammer-on (h)

Pick a note, then bring a fingertip down firmly onto a higher fret of the same string, quickly and close to the fret, like a little hammer. The string keeps ringing at the new pitch. The classic banjo hammer-on is the open 3rd string to the 2nd fret: G to A.

The pull-off (p)

The reverse. With a finger on a fret, pick the string, then pull the finger off sideways, toward the floor, so it plucks the string as it leaves. The note drops to the open string (or to another finger that is already down). The classic: 1st string, 2nd fret pulled off to open, E to D.

The slide (sl)

Pick a fretted note and, keeping the finger pressed down, slide it along the string to the new fret. You hear the pitch glide up (or down). A favorite banjo slide is on the 3rd string from the 2nd fret to the 4th, A up to B; the same move on the 4th string goes from E to F♯.

In clawhammer

Clawhammer players use the same moves to fit two notes into one stroke. Strike a note on the beat, and hammer on or pull off on the “and”, where the thumb would usually go. The brush and thumb then follow as usual.

Rook’s Hollow

A modal clawhammer tune of our own in open G, with the F note at the 3rd fret of the 1st and 4th strings. Most bars have a hammer-on or pull-off on the “and” after the strike. Play each part twice.