Legato Exercises for Guitar
When I think of legato I think of guitar players like Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and the likes. It’s a virtuoso style of playing that allows players to glide across the fretboard. In this lesson we’ll take a look at how legato is achieved on the guitar and go through some legato exercises that will allow you to get this technique under your fingers and into your playing repertoire.
What is Legato?
Legato is a guitar technique in which notes are connected together in a smooth manner. On the guitar, this is achieved with hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides while minimizing the picking of the strings. At face value it might seem like a simple technique to pick up, but it can be quite challenging as it requires ample finger strength and exceptional timing. However, the benefits of learning legato extend beyond the skill itself and can massively improve your overall fretting hand technique.
Legato Exercises
For the legato exercises in this lesson, we’ll be focusing exclusively on hammer-ons and pull-offs. The exercises range from basic to more advanced. Be sure to practice each exercise with a metronome to ensure you’re playing in time. Start slow and build speed as you become more comfortable with the exercise. With legato you’re not able to rely as much on the picking hand for rhythm and synchronization, so your fingers can tend to get ahead of themselves and easily lose time.
Exercise 1
In this first legato exercise, we’re going to practice the technique on a single string using a two-note hammer-on/pull-off pattern. You’ll perform the exercise with each the middle, ring, and pinky fingers. The only note that you should pick is the first note played. Every other subsequent note should be played with a hammer-on or pull-off.
While the examples here are on string 1, you should perform the exercise across all 6 strings. Pay close attention to how cleanly the notes are played as you move across to string 6.
1a
1b
1c
Exercise 2
In exercise two, we take the legato technique across the fretboard using the minor pentatonic scale. In this exercise, only pick the first note of each string change with the exception of the transition from ascending/descending.
The minor pentatonic keeps us in a two-note pattern, but the vertical movement presents a new challenge with timing. Start slow with the metronome and be sure to play each note cleanly.
2a
2b
In this exercise, we’re sticking with the two-note minor pentatonic framework and applying a step-back pattern to it.
Exercise 3
With this exercise we introduce three-note patterns which are applicable to 3-notes-per-string scales. In exercise 3a you should use your middle and pinky fingers for the hammer-ons/pull-offs. In exercise 3b, use your ring and pinky fingers.
3a
3b
Exercise 4
Now we’ll take the 3 note patterns and apply them to the 3 notes per string major scale. In this exercise, we’ll move vertically across the fretboard playing through the 3NPS major scale. Again, you’ll only pick the first note on each string change.
4a
4b
In this variation we switch it up just a bit to play across the fretboard using triplets.
Exercise 5
In this exercise we’re going back to single string sequences that really help fine tune your technique.
5a
In this variation we’re performing an ascending legato sequence starting from fret 1. Only pick the first note of each position change (first note after the rest). Work all the way up until your pinky finger reaches the 12th fret.
5b
In this variation we’re descending back down to fret 1. Again, pick only the first note of each position change.
Exercise 6
So far we have yet to get the index finger involved, so let’s change that. This last legato exercise is an ascending and descending sequence up the E major scale and utilizes all four fingers of the fretting hand to perform hammer-ons and pull-offs. You can use this same pattern across all strings. Again, take your time to play cleanly and in sync with a metronome.
6a
6b
Wrap Up
Legato is a fun technique to utilize and can really increase the speed of your playing. Beyond that, it will work wonders for your fretting hand technique. It can take some time and discipline to practice it well and get it down, but the exercises in this lesson will help you set a solid foundation for further exploration of the technique.
Cheat Sheet: Legato Exercises
Download the cheat sheet for this lesson:
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