Acquiring a Legato Technique

  A true legato technique can take a lot of effort to develop but the process can be speeded up by the adherence to a few simple precepts. Here follows a short masterclass upon a technique that is often the downfall of many guitarists. This is not intended to be an exhaustive dissertation of the subject and a degree of self-suffiency is assumed.

What is legato technique? The term legato technique is something of a misnomer as the technique requires the player to produce discrete notes in an almost staccato fashion. It is only when the technique is used at speed that the impression of a legato stream of notes is produced. This is distinct from what many players do when they try to legato which is to slur their notes using a combination of hammers and pulls. The sound of a hammer on is very different to a pull-off which inevitably induces some degree of pitch distortion to the note. True legato technique uses hammers only. This is easy enough when producing notes in an ascending order but somewhat problematical when descending as the finger producing the 1st note must release before the 2nd note can be hammered. This requires the type of split second timing that most players simply do not have. This is invariably due to fundamental flaws in their basic technique which have been overlooked or ignored.

The Basics: Here is a simple and methodical exercise to check your ability to legato.

Don't use a pick at all and aim for a consistent tone between the notes. Listen carefully to check that the individual notes are of equal length and volume. Once you have achieved this start to vary the rhythm concentrating on a dotted rhythm. Don't worry about triplets as you'll probably have to work on not playing them! Once comfortable move the exercise around the neck playing it at all registers. Keep the left hand relaxed and in a good position. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the position to aim for. Remember that the exact position of hand will vary according to the proportions of you own hand and fingers.

I have quite short fingers but the palm of my hands is large. I can easily make long stretches on both guitar and piano as long as my position is good. Usually my thumb is parallel to my 2nd finger but this can vary a lot. The analogy I always use is that of a piano hammer mechanism. If you observe a standard overstrung upright piano mechanism the hammers are suspended by the mechanism a short distance from their string. Once the note is struck the hammers return quickly to the same position. The hammers/fingers are aligned in such a way that there is only a short range of travel from resting position to fretting position. The fingers curl gently to the point of contact which is always the fingertip. Each fingertip has it's own "sweet" spot. This where the least effort is required to produce a good clear note free of buzzes and independent of the adjacent strings.  Keeping the finger relaxed allows you to use the weight of the finger to apply leverage to the string. Force is not required. Excessive motion is not required.  I also find it helpful to visualise a line connecting the pad of the thumb to the tip of the finger. Once you can produce a note cleanly experiment to see how little energy you can use whilst still keeping the note viable. 

  The key, as always, is to keep the hand relaxed.

The Right Hand

When using legato technique the right hand requires some adjustment from it's usual role as tone producer. Instead it is mostly used as the initiator of the line and as controller of the rhythmic groupings employed. For the most part the pick attack is minimised wherever possible and so a different technical approach is required. In the normal course of things the pick alternates with up and downstrokes but when legatoing I have found a "resting upstroke" is the most successful tactic to employ. This seems to work for most people but don't let it stop you from trying other approaches.

The Resting Upstroke: Using a gentle upstroke brush past the required string. Come to rest on the string above with the side of the thumb in contact with the strings above. This will help to control those strings not in play. Do not use any force in directing the pick and instead use the dead weight of the index finger. When practicing scales using legato use rhythmic patterns that stress the unpicked therefore forcing you to de-emphasise the picked notes. Ideally you should not be able to distinguish picked and unpicked notes. Eventually the importance of the right hand is decreased to the point where you are hardly using it at all. The picture shows my rest stroke upon completion. I have just played an upstroke on the G string coming to rest on the D string. Note the side of the thumb in contact with the lower strings giving increased muting control. The whole action should be fairly passive with motion along the plane of the strings only. Any motion into the face of the guitar risks noise from the strings "clicking" against the pickups. n.b. neither my guitar or I are blue - my digital camera was doing strange things.

Here is a small exercise to develop a controlled rest stroke. The notes should be their exact written length and not ring on at all. Sempre Resting Upstroke.....

Legato Technique: Part II

Ex.1

Here's a nice little starter for 10! As you work through it you will notice that the intervals of a major 3rd and the augmented 4th are moved through the hand. The hand remains as stationary as possible and the fingers nearest the notes are called into service as and when they are needed. It also makes a very good preliminary sweep picking exercise so I've included the picking notation as well. As always, vary the rhythm and register of this exercise and once mastered introduce a string skip by moving D string notes on the A string. It is possible to play the same physical shapes but using the top and bottom E strings!

Ex.2

Next up we have this little beauty. It progresses up and then down the neck utilising the natural triplet phrasing that results from these kind of fingerings. Remember to practise it with the rhythmic stress shifted to the 2nd note of each three and well as in a dotted rhythm. This also introduces the idea of hammering notes across strings. Remember to swing from position to position rather than using a jerking motion to progress up and down the neck. You can also play it connecting the last two notes of each triplet together to form a passing diad.

Ex.3

Here's a slightly more involved exercise to develop 4th finger accuracy and flexibility of the left hand in general. It can be played entirely without the pick hand. Listen carefully to the quality of the notes. There should be no discernable modulation of pitch and the notes should be of equal volume across all 6 strings.

From this example it would be a good idea to extrapolate further exercises reversing the role of the fingers. For example sustain 4th finger notes whilst hammering stacatto notes with the 1st and 2nd fingers. As always these exercises represent merely a starting point for further exploration.

Scalic exercise using legato technique

Until now we have concentrated on isolated cells of notes in order to get the basic mechanics working but now it is time to look at longer groupings of notes and various typical applications. Most guitarist use 3 note per string fingerings such as the one shown below. There are two main reasons why these form the dominant paradigm within the guitarists lexicon.  The tuning of the instrument is such that once you've played 3 notes on any one string in order to progress through a scale you then move onto the next string either above or below. This works out fine with regard to picking as it enables the crossing of a string to be achieved with either a double up or downstroke. This is very efficient and allows for a good deal of economy of motion and consequently speed. Here's what I mean...

The downside is the tendency for the guitarist improvise using a lot of consecutive notes. The guitarist are not alone in this (listen to any sax solo) but it does result in  "the fingers doing the walking" or put another way "tail wagging the dog". To curb this tendency it is necessary   to practice scales in a less obvious sequence. There are many, many ways to do this and I will notate a few in detail and then summarise with a written description of how you could work through the possibilities in a logical fashion. Here is a very basic two note sequence using the same basic fingering.

Note that the notated fingering starts on the low E string but is essentially the same. Here the interval to be worked through is that of a third. These are very basic concepts and so I'll assume you're familiar with them and will move on to more interesting stuff. Here's something a little more tricky to legato demonstrating the way in which wider intervals can be used. Two 3 note cells are used in both ascending and descending forms. The sequence moves up by step but could move by 3rds, 4ths or any other interval for that matter. Experiment...... Even though it's in 4/4 I've grouped the notes in threes to show the intervallic cells more clearly. This is an example of hemiola rather than an indication to play them in triplets. Of course, once you know the sequence start altering the rhythm and articulation however you want,

A working method for the Systematic Development of Sequences

A single interval cell can be developed in any number of ways to give new and related ideas. Here I will try to list as many as possible so that you can generate your own ideas for practise, improvisation and composition.

The Intervallic Approach.

With a simple 3 note cell such as this there are two factors governing it's development. Firstly it's internal intervals, that is the relationships between the notes of the cell and secondly it's external intervals, these are the intervals between the cells when they are extended into sequences.

Internal intervals: One way or reorganising the basic cell is to take the 5th found between the C & G and by changing the G to a D move it to between the D & A. giving this related figure. The two versions could easily played together to give a cohesive line. With a line of more than 3 notes there are further possibilities for shuffling the intervals within the cell.

Another means of internal intervallic development is to use the technique of octave displacement. This is an old device dating back to Bach and probably before and is to be found in the playing of many different musicians. The concept is simple. Take a line and displace one or more of it's notes by an octave. This retains the integrity of the line whilst giving it a greater interest to the ear. Here is our 3 note cell with some octave displacement.

Here are our octave displaced lines combined with a simple sequence ascending by step. Try continuing the line upwards to ensure you understand the logic.

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Here is a line taken from Bach's Courente in B minor to demonstrate another possible usage of this technique.

The top three bars show the line in it's original form with pairs of notes jumping register to give a greater sense depth. Very useful when you're writing for a solo instrument such as the violin. In the lower version I've removed the octave displacements to reveal that the lines are in fact just two scale fragments. Very clever Mr.Bach.

Combining these different techniques can provide the player with many technically and intellectually challenging ideas to practice.

4 note per String Fingerings

Another important aspect of legato technique is the ability to get away from standard phrasing that occur as a result of playing 3 notes per string all the time. To develop this you must be able to utilise all 4 fingers effectively. This allows greater freedom around the neck and greater choices of fingerings and available notes. Here is one possible way of fingering a two octave C major scale.

In practice these fingerings tend to be a combination of 4 and 3 note per string fingerings as demonstrated here. Experiment to find out which patterns fall under your fingers easily. A more complete discussion of this subject can be found in "The Diatonic Exercise"

Fingerings of this types can be used to play more standard guitar material offering more interesting possibilities than standard "box" fingerings can offer. Pentatonics form the bulk of many guitarist's playing but are usually presented in very cliched ways often as a result of the box fingering mentality.Expanding the hand into 4 note per string fingerings offers fresh ways of using this universal scale. Here is one way I might play a pentatonic line. Note the string skips.

This kind of fingering is the first step to opening the neck up to more creative use of this scale. When used this way the sound tends to be more open. More Bartok than the blues. Here is an example demonstrating the posibilities for repeating notes in legato passages. The hand encompasses the interval of a 4th on each string and as it passes from string to string the 1st finger note repeats the 4th fingers last note. This affords some quite un-guitaristic sounding lines. The line given here is very straightforward and would play well over a V-i progression in B minor. If one listens to any mid period Holdsworth (1978 to 1990 aprox.) it is obvious that these kind of devices were a staple of his style at the time. From then on they are less and less evident in his playing.

More Repeating Note Figures

These are a few simple lines that can be used to create a nice sense of motion within solos. Played at velocity they sound like little swarms of notes rotating round a central tone. The last of them shows how you can combine them with pedal point technique as well as incorporating slides into the equation. Always use the resting upstroke described earlier.

As with all the material presented here these are intending as a starting point so put your brain into gear and get creative......

Graham Mark Young 2002