I’m having a crack at a new song and I’m having an issue with a little finger pull-off. It is happening at the 9p 7 pull-off part. I am using my ring finger to play the 7 on the E string and my middle finger to play the 7 on the G string.
The problem I’m having is when I’m pulling of with my little finger it is pulling the string down and off the neck of the guitar. Has anyone got any advice on how I can get enough power in my pull-off to get the note, yet not pull the string off the neck?
I can only really suggest lots of practice. It took me ages to develop a consistent pinkie flick. Are you using the pinkie for all the tone pull offs ?
If so I’d suggest starting at the 10 fret playing both G and e, pick both then repeat with the 12 fret pull off on the e. Don’t worry about the D string drone for now. It may give you a little more control as the frets are closer. Work on getting that working in isolation and not worry about the whole piece. When that 12 to 10 sounds clean, work down 1 fret at a time until its clean at the 7th fret but I’d also repeat at the 5th fret with a much wider gap, which should really test that stretched flick.
Get the technique down, then return to the song and take it real sloooooooow.
Just how I would approach it.
That looks like the intro of ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’ Great song.
I agree with Toby’s @TheMadman_tobyjenner advice. Practice the specific moves you need and then start to put them back together. Go as slow as you need to.
Hi Stefan I gave it a quick go and I would play similar to you, although I am able to do the pull off on the 9th fret with my ring finger if that helps, although small finger seems more comfortable. See below, not sure what song that is and if I play it correctly speed wise (probably not), but hopefully it gives you an idea
To answer your question - as Toby said a matter of practice, just focus on simple pull offs on e string between 1st and 4th finger, you will do it for a few days and it will work you have to be gentle though with e string as the issue of string going beyond the fretboard will repeat itself.
@TheMadman_tobyjenner Toby, yes, I’m using my little finger to do all the pull-offs and it’s only at the 7th when I’m reaching to the 9th that my little finger seems to have more strength than my ring finger. Practice it is then. Thank you for that.
@nhh2oskr David, indeed it is that tune. One of the best Christmas song ever, in my opinion. Thank you for the link, I’ll gibe those exercises a go as well.
@adi_mrok Adi, thank you for the demo video. I can’t use my ring finger to pull-off as it’s playing the B flat. I’ll keep on with the practice. It’s difficult getting the power to make the note ring but not too much that it’s pulling the string off the fretboard.
Flick it upwards instead of downwards but make sure that the b string is muted below fret 7; you could try a bridged barré with your pointer finger on fret 7 but not bridged high enough to let the open string ring out and flick off with your ring finger, that would be my approach, I hate flick offs on the e string with a vengeance
Hey Stefan, look into the grade 3 legato pentatonics lesson if you want practice with little finger pulloffs. Really helped mine a lot (combined with practice)
Great song.
