Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Pull-off

The opposite of a hammer-on: a legato move down to a lower note. You pick the higher note, then pull your finger off with a slight pluck, which sounds the note below. Descending lines get smooth and fast, with one pick stroke for two notes or more.

Notation
p (7p5)
Hand
Fretting hand
Difficulty
Beginner
Style
All styles

Listen

e|-8p5---------|
B|-----8p5-----|
G|---------7p5-|
D|-------------|
A|-------------|
E|-------------|

What it’s for

A pull-off sounds a lower note without picking it: the finger leaving the string plucks it on the way, like a pick would. The second note comes in with no attack, as a continuation of the first. Descending phrases take on a liquid sound, and your picking hand gets a break.

It’s the move behind descending pentatonic runs in blues and rock solos, often cascading from one string to the next. In folk and country, you do it around chord shapes, down to open strings. In metal, the finger pulls off to the open low E for very fast riffs. In classical guitar, hammer-ons and pull-offs are called “ligados,” and players practice them every day. Together with the hammer-on, it makes up legato and the trill.

How to do it

Here’s the move from the example at the top of the page, on the high E string.

  1. Put both fingers down ahead of time: your index on the target note (5th fret), your pinky on the starting note (8th fret).
  2. Play the higher note, the one at the 8th fret.
  3. Pull your pinky off, tugging the string slightly toward the floor, like a little flick. That motion plucks the string and sounds the note below.
  4. Keep your index pressed down throughout the whole motion: it takes the pull.
  5. Think “pull,” not “lift.” Your fingertip drags along the string before letting it go, just a few millimeters.
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The pull-off

  1. Your index is already in place on the target note and keeps pressing.
  2. Your pinky comes off by pulling the string toward the floor, like a little flick.

Drawn like tab: high E at the top, low E at the bottom.

In tab, 8p5 reads: play the 8th fret, then pull off to the 5th. The p is sometimes replaced by a small arc. 3p0 means: pull off to the open string.

Examples

The example at the top of the page comes back down the A minor pentatonic on the three high strings: 8p5 on the high E, 8p5 on the B, then 7p5 on the G string. It’s the hammer-on example in reverse.

Here, every pull-off lands on an open string: one finger on the neck, and the open string plays the target note. You go down the E minor pentatonic from the high E to the low E, all the way to an E5 chord.

e|-3p0-----------------------|
B|-----3p0-------------------|
G|---------2p0---------------|
D|-------------2p0---------2-|
A|-----------------2p0-----2-|
E|---------------------3p0-0-|

The A minor pentatonic cascade: one pull-off, then the note on the next string, twice, and you move down a string. Six notes per beat, two pick strokes for every three notes. Your pinky and ring finger do the work while your index holds the 5th fret.

e|-8p5---8p5------------------------------------|
B|-----8-----8-8p5---8p5------------------------|
G|-----------------7-----7-7p5---7p5------------|
D|-----------------------------7-----7-7p5---7~-|
A|-----------------------------------------7----|
E|----------------------------------------------|

Licks

A metal riff in E minor, in sixteenth notes: the low E palm-muted, with pull-offs from the 3rd or 2nd fret to the open string. At the end, a double pull-off (5p3p0) right before the chord.

Loop it in the Studio →
   PM--    PM--    PM--        PM--    PM--          PM
e|-------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------------|
D|-------------------------5-7-------------------------2-|
A|-------------------------5-7-------------------------2-|
E|-0-0-3p0-0-0-2p0-0-0-3p0-3-5-0-0-3p0-0-0-2p0-5p3p0-0-0-|

A folk lick in D, on an acoustic: the bass on the open D string, and pull-offs to the open B and high E strings, around a D chord shape. The second bar chains two pull-offs (3p2p0) on the high E.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|---2p0-----------3p2p0---|
B|-------3p0---3---------3-|
G|-----------2-------------|
D|-0-------------0---------|
A|-------------------------|
E|-------------------------|

A blues lick in A, with a shuffle feel: the blues scale tumbles down in pull-offs, with the flat fifth (E♭, 8th fret of the G string) grinding just before it falls back onto A.

Loop it in the Studio →
e|-8p5----------------------|
B|-----8p5------------------|
G|---------8p7p5------------|
D|---------------7-5---5-7~-|
A|-------------------7------|
E|--------------------------|

Practice routine

Go down position 1 of the A minor pentatonic with one pull-off per string, from the high E to the low E: 8p5 on the high E and B, 7p5 on the G, D and A strings, 8p5 on the low E.

  • Start at 60 bpm, in eighth notes: the picked note on the click, the pulled-off note between clicks.
  • Go up 5 bpm each time you play the run three times in a row with both notes at the same volume.
  • Goal: 120 bpm in eighth notes.

Then move on to the cascade from the advanced example, in triplets (three notes per click) at 60 bpm. Work up 5 bpm at a time until you reach 90 bpm in sextuplets (six notes per click): that’s the speed of the example.

Common mistakes

Target note not sounding? You’re lifting your finger instead of pulling it. It should catch the string slightly on its way off, sideways, toward the floor.

Other strings starting to ring? When you pull, your finger hits the next string. Let it land on that string at the end of the motion: it mutes it on the way.

Target note buzzing or going out of tune? Your index isn’t holding, and the pull drags it along. Press it down firmly, right behind the fret wire, before you even play the first note.

The note goes up a little before it drops? You’re pulling too far: the string stretches like a tiny bend before it lets go. Shorten the motion; a few millimeters is enough.

Variations

To an open string (3p0). Only the upper finger is down, and the open string plays the target note. This is the version you hear in open-position riffs and folk lines.

Several pull-offs in a row (8p7p5). Your fingers are placed ahead of time, from highest to lowest, and come off one after the other. One pick stroke, three notes: that’s legato going down.

Inside a chord. You hold the chord and a single finger comes off in a pull-off. For example: an A chord with your pinky on the 3rd fret of the B string (Asus4), then a pull-off to the 2nd fret, held by another finger: the A chord comes back.

To a tapped note. In tapping, your picking hand hits the string far up the neck, then pulls off to the note held by your fretting hand.

Looped with the hammer-on. Pull-off, hammer-on, pull-off, as fast as you can: that’s the trill.

Acoustic or electric

On an electric guitar, pull-offs are easy: the strings are light, and distortion keeps the target note ringing. Just watch the neighboring strings, which the departing finger can set ringing: mute them with that finger itself and with the edge of your picking hand.

On an acoustic, the string is stiffer: pull a little more firmly so the target note isn’t too quiet. Pull-offs to open strings sound gorgeous there. On a classical guitar, the pull-off (the descending “ligado”) is a core technique: nylon strings are easy to pluck, but the target note stays soft.

Going further