Glynn1
Verified buyer
03/20/26
Happy i can now use these to solo
Guitar Gym: Hammers and Pull-Off Workouts
Hammering exercises to take your playing to the next level
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About this course
In this edition of Guitar Gym, Chris Buono focuses on developing your legato technique with an emphasis on stamina, accuracy, clarity and speed. Buono will guide you through 27 Workouts across 3 levels. In Level 1 play through various finger and slur combinations within simple chromatic ideas with Workouts ranging from 40 BPM to 100 BPM. In Level 2 the established fingering and slur combos are further developed becoming more challenging as they expand to all six strings as the tempos increase to 50 BPM through 110 BPM. Level 3 delves deep into the realm of the all-important three-note-per-string sequences within all possible fingering options at a tempo range of 60 BPM and 120 BPM.
Each Guitar Gym course focuses on a specific guitar technique by guiding the student through a deliberately prescribed series of optimized workouts, organized across a series of levels with increasing intensity. Buono demonstrates each of the workouts by explaining how the workout is engineered and then showing you how to play the workout correctly.
The workouts are ALL interactive video playalongs -- Buono performs each workout with you, for the correct amount of time, at all of the prescribed tempos. You will not be alone in the shed!
All of the workouts also include text guides, PDF charts, Guitar Pro files and all of the practice metronome tracks, at all of the prescribed tempos. Everything you need to develop monster chops by practicing correctly is included.
Practice does NOT make perfect -- "perfect" practice does. We've heard this time and again from our instructors and we get it; practice the wrong thing, or practice the wrong way, and you'll learn how to play it perfectly wrong. Makes "perfect" sense but what exactly do we practice, and how specifically do we practice it? TrueFire's resident Professor of the Deep, Chris Buono has invested the last couple of decades coming up with the answer.
Developing solid guitar techniques is particularly subject to the quality and intensity of your practice regimens -- you'll only get so far relying on repetition and frequency alone. Chris Buono's Guitar Gym workouts will take you the rest of the way with 12 collections of tried, tested and proven intensive workouts for Triad Arpeggios, Tapping, Hybrid Picking, Alternate Picking, Hammers & Pull-Offs, Power Chords, Scales, Speed Picking,Triads, Harmonic Minor Triad Chord Scales, Major Triad Chord Scales and Melodic Minor Triad Chord Scales
Guitar Gym -- your path to "perfect" chops!
Each Guitar Gym course focuses on a specific guitar technique by guiding the student through a deliberately prescribed series of optimized workouts, organized across a series of levels with increasing intensity. Buono demonstrates each of the workouts by explaining how the workout is engineered and then showing you how to play the workout correctly.
The workouts are ALL interactive video playalongs -- Buono performs each workout with you, for the correct amount of time, at all of the prescribed tempos. You will not be alone in the shed!
All of the workouts also include text guides, PDF charts, Guitar Pro files and all of the practice metronome tracks, at all of the prescribed tempos. Everything you need to develop monster chops by practicing correctly is included.
Practice does NOT make perfect -- "perfect" practice does. We've heard this time and again from our instructors and we get it; practice the wrong thing, or practice the wrong way, and you'll learn how to play it perfectly wrong. Makes "perfect" sense but what exactly do we practice, and how specifically do we practice it? TrueFire's resident Professor of the Deep, Chris Buono has invested the last couple of decades coming up with the answer.
Developing solid guitar techniques is particularly subject to the quality and intensity of your practice regimens -- you'll only get so far relying on repetition and frequency alone. Chris Buono's Guitar Gym workouts will take you the rest of the way with 12 collections of tried, tested and proven intensive workouts for Triad Arpeggios, Tapping, Hybrid Picking, Alternate Picking, Hammers & Pull-Offs, Power Chords, Scales, Speed Picking,Triads, Harmonic Minor Triad Chord Scales, Major Triad Chord Scales and Melodic Minor Triad Chord Scales
Guitar Gym -- your path to "perfect" chops!
What you'll learn
- Coordinate picking direction with legato technique (downstrokes with hammer-ons, upstrokes with pull-offs)
- Understand how to structure an effective practice schedule
- Learn the importance of starting at slow tempos and building gradually
- Develop awareness of physical limits to prevent injury
- Develop even dynamics between picked notes and legato notes
Release date: 10/21/2012 • 2h 24m runtime
Sample lessons
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 1
Workout #3: Overview
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 1
Workout #3: 40 BPM
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 2
Workout #1: Overview
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 2
Workout #1: 80 BPM
What's included
42 lessons • 27 charts • 36 Jam Tracks
GG: Hammers & Pulloffs
Chops: Our heroes have them and we all want them. In order to get them you gotta do what any other person training to better themselves in some way would do - get to the gym! Well, that's exactly what you’re going to do - welcome to the Guitar Gym series. No matter what level you're at or if you have various strong and weak points in your technique, Guitar Gym has you covered. Each course is comprised of a collection of leveled workouts waiting for you to dig into.
Here in Guitar Gym: Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs the ever-important legato technique that is made up of these two crucial components. Split into three leveled sections Guitar Gym Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs doles out a comprehensive, rigorous game plan for you to get your hammer-ons and pull-offs together. Each level is split up into three workouts made up of 13 video segments starting with the overview where I'll give you a quick synopsis of what's in store. The following 12 videos are the three workouts further split up into three tempos - slow, medium, fast - that all have an accompanying introduction video where I explain the ins and outs on how to play the workout. Each workout is clearly laid out for you in Power Tab and will be readily available for you to download right from the TrueFire player. In the three actual workout videos I will play through the workout for the amount of time I prescribe in the overview and introduction videos so you always have me right there with you (in various views) as you sweat it all out here in Guitar Gym.
At the heart of any drilling regimen including this one is precise timing. It not only keeps things orderly in all aspects of music, but it also serves as a guide and indicator as to how you're progressing. What's more, anyone who has been in the chops shed knows that one of the most important practices is to increase the tempo incrementally one-by-one. While the three parts of each workout will be presented in a slow-medium-fast fashion in regards to tempo, it's up to you to take the workout into your own shed and incrementally up the tempo while you practice, preparing you for the next tempo mark. Dig?
Ready!?
Let's do it to it!
Here in Guitar Gym: Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs the ever-important legato technique that is made up of these two crucial components. Split into three leveled sections Guitar Gym Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs doles out a comprehensive, rigorous game plan for you to get your hammer-ons and pull-offs together. Each level is split up into three workouts made up of 13 video segments starting with the overview where I'll give you a quick synopsis of what's in store. The following 12 videos are the three workouts further split up into three tempos - slow, medium, fast - that all have an accompanying introduction video where I explain the ins and outs on how to play the workout. Each workout is clearly laid out for you in Power Tab and will be readily available for you to download right from the TrueFire player. In the three actual workout videos I will play through the workout for the amount of time I prescribe in the overview and introduction videos so you always have me right there with you (in various views) as you sweat it all out here in Guitar Gym.
At the heart of any drilling regimen including this one is precise timing. It not only keeps things orderly in all aspects of music, but it also serves as a guide and indicator as to how you're progressing. What's more, anyone who has been in the chops shed knows that one of the most important practices is to increase the tempo incrementally one-by-one. While the three parts of each workout will be presented in a slow-medium-fast fashion in regards to tempo, it's up to you to take the workout into your own shed and incrementally up the tempo while you practice, preparing you for the next tempo mark. Dig?
Ready!?
Let's do it to it!
Working Out in the Gym
Developing great chops is not about just mindlessly drilling an exercise over and over. There has to be a method to the madness...
First and foremost you need to create what I call in my Guitar Gym Sherpa classroom a Workout Schedule. My Workout Schedules carve out a set amount of time on set days of the week that slot out precisely what it your going to play. This helps big time and results are inspiring to say the least! And, this is not as much time as you might expect. If you're working on just one skill such as the one here in this course you need but 15-30 minutes a day depending on how many workouts you want to drill down. That said, you could set it up so you do a morning and evening session. The key is focused, disciplined practice time with a metronome. Just stick to your "WS" and let your fingers do the rest!
Speaking of focus and discipline when starting to put together your own WS keep this mantra in mind: You absolutely must start out playing the Workouts slow and gradually climb up the tempo ladder to the top tempo tier. No ifs, ands or lazy butts about it. Even if you think you can play the workout at the medium tempo, trust me, knock it down to the lowest tier and build. You may be masking playing anomalies you don't even know are there by jumping into passages at a medium to high tempo. Slowing down what you're playing will reveal what you may need to work on. Do it!
Not only does starting out at the lowest tempo tier ensure you'll get the most out of your practice time, but it will also help to prevent any injuries. Notice I mentioned 15-30 minute workout schedules, spaced out if you want to do more, and not marathon sessions. Playing in reasonable blocks of time is much safer way to build your muscle memory as well as help you attain the ultimate skill in playing proficiently on the guitar: The art of relaxation. If you're relaxed and keeping your practice time calculated and spaced out, you'll be safely successful.
First and foremost you need to create what I call in my Guitar Gym Sherpa classroom a Workout Schedule. My Workout Schedules carve out a set amount of time on set days of the week that slot out precisely what it your going to play. This helps big time and results are inspiring to say the least! And, this is not as much time as you might expect. If you're working on just one skill such as the one here in this course you need but 15-30 minutes a day depending on how many workouts you want to drill down. That said, you could set it up so you do a morning and evening session. The key is focused, disciplined practice time with a metronome. Just stick to your "WS" and let your fingers do the rest!
Speaking of focus and discipline when starting to put together your own WS keep this mantra in mind: You absolutely must start out playing the Workouts slow and gradually climb up the tempo ladder to the top tempo tier. No ifs, ands or lazy butts about it. Even if you think you can play the workout at the medium tempo, trust me, knock it down to the lowest tier and build. You may be masking playing anomalies you don't even know are there by jumping into passages at a medium to high tempo. Slowing down what you're playing will reveal what you may need to work on. Do it!
Not only does starting out at the lowest tempo tier ensure you'll get the most out of your practice time, but it will also help to prevent any injuries. Notice I mentioned 15-30 minute workout schedules, spaced out if you want to do more, and not marathon sessions. Playing in reasonable blocks of time is much safer way to build your muscle memory as well as help you attain the ultimate skill in playing proficiently on the guitar: The art of relaxation. If you're relaxed and keeping your practice time calculated and spaced out, you'll be safely successful.
Hammers & Pulloffs
If you're a frequent visitor to a gym or you've played sports at some point you already know how important it is to approach learning a new physical activity gradually through simple drills. Take note of the key word here: Simple. It's essential to the success of your chops-building quest, your first level drills are easily playable or you're defeating the purpose. Dig?
The three Level 1 Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs Workouts have an underlying chromatic approach throughout. Taking simple chromatic ideas and expanding them into various slur combinations these workouts make use of myriad fret hand finger combinations option. For those of you new to the term "slur" it simply means to play a series of notes without separation. For guitarists that's achieved by employing the legato techniques at hand. Feel free to play to shift all the workouts to other positions when you're ready. But remember, this is just the beginning. If you're not up to making any changes, no problem.
The three Level 1 Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs Workouts have an underlying chromatic approach throughout. Taking simple chromatic ideas and expanding them into various slur combinations these workouts make use of myriad fret hand finger combinations option. For those of you new to the term "slur" it simply means to play a series of notes without separation. For guitarists that's achieved by employing the legato techniques at hand. Feel free to play to shift all the workouts to other positions when you're ready. But remember, this is just the beginning. If you're not up to making any changes, no problem.
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 1
Kicking things off is a workout where you'll play a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs up the neck on a single string. You're going to work through playing both legato techniques on the B string in an ascending chromatic fashion. You'll start off playing hammers in the 1st position then switch to pull-offs in the 2nd position and continue that pattern up the neck. Once you get to where your 1st finger is fretting the 8th fret (8th position) you'll jump back down to the 1st fret (1st position). That said, on your own feel free to take it even higher!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 1
Kicking things off is a workout where you'll play a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs up the neck on a single string. You're going to work through playing both legato techniques on the B string in an ascending chromatic fashion. You'll start off playing hammers in the 1st position then switch to pull-offs in the 2nd position and continue that pattern up the neck. Once you get to where your 1st finger is fretting the 8th fret (8th position) you'll jump back down to the 1st fret (1st position). That said, on your own feel free to take it even higher!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 1
Kicking things off is a workout where you'll play a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs up the neck on a single string. You're going to work through playing both legato techniques on the B string in an ascending chromatic fashion. You'll start off playing hammers in the 1st position then switch to pull-offs in the 2nd position and continue that pattern up the neck. Once you get to where your 1st finger is fretting the 8th fret (8th position) you'll jump back down to the 1st fret (1st position). That said, on your own feel free to take it even higher!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Hammers & Pulloffs: Level 1
Kicking things off is a workout where you'll play a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs up the neck on a single string. You're going to work through playing both legato techniques on the B string in an ascending chromatic fashion. You'll start off playing hammers in the 1st position then switch to pull-offs in the 2nd position and continue that pattern up the neck. Once you get to where your 1st finger is fretting the 8th fret (8th position) you'll jump back down to the 1st fret (1st position). That said, on your own feel free to take it even higher!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
Be sure to play every "single-instance" with the suggested down or upstroke, but try not to play it with an accent. The point here is to produce strong hammer-ons and pull-offs that sound equal in volume to the picked note. While you'll pick every fretted note you may later feel your hands getting strong enough where you can make this a totally legato workout eschewing any sort of picking and just using hammer-ons and pull-offs throughout. But, don't be hasty. Make sure you focus on the task at hand - building strong hammer-ons and pull-offs!
+ 35 more lessons
Reviews
16 results
dwa79
Verified buyer
06/26/23
Great workout!
By one of my favorite teachers
mrivers3
Verified buyer
01/09/21
Impressed
I've always "used" hammer ons and pulls but never spent the time to run through structured exercises like these. This course was a huge eye opener for me, and I've already seen massive improvement in finger strength and technique within the first weeks of consistently following this program.
wholmer
12/23/20
Cured my issues with trying to play fast
Guitar Gym has a great selection of workouts that just like its counterpart will give you a great targeted work-out. These Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs lessons cured my issues with trying to play fast. He figured out a systematic approach broken down into the steps needed to do it right in the shortest time posable.
Andrescob
Verified buyer
10/12/20
Great tool to develop your technique
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