Right Hand pull-offs

[JustMac]

Right lads, straightforward question here...what is the best way to do pull offs when playing with the right hand (as in, when you're doing multi finger tapping) in conjunction with the left ? When playing with the left hand alone, you pull the finger off towards the bottom of the fretboard (towards the...floor....if that makes sense? Man that sounds dumb) , but now that the right hand is kinda "upside down" compared to the left, should you pull your fingers up towards you when doing pull offs with that hand?


I know how confusing that sounds but hopefully someone can make sense of it.

 

[cip 123]

I find its whatever you feel comfortable with you can do both ways if you want. I'd consider doing both ways theres no huge difference but say you're tapping on the High E you don't want to pull off towards the floor and pull the e string off the edge of the fret board.

 

[Maniacal]

I find it easier to tap and pull the string towards the floor but I know others who tap upwards, so it is personal taste.

Tapping to the floor makes more sense to me as the index finger of my left hand will be muting the thin strings so I am less likely to get open string noise. When tapping up, unless the tip of my index finger is resting on the string above the string I am tapping, it is possible that open string noise will follow once a note has been pulled off.

 

[JustMac]

Ok I will experiment with both. Does anyone know any songs that make use of this idea? Say, in a soloing context, or even a nice way of connecting a riff or something. If they have string skips and big intervallic leaps you get bonus points! It's just that even the more tap-happy bands I like just do one finger things every now and then rather than using the whole right hand. Christian Muenzner does it in some Obscura stuff I notice, and to lovely effect too.

 

[Maniacal]

The first riff of Stabwound by Necrophagist is a good exercise for tapping/riffing.

Whoops, fixed.

 

[JustMac]

The first wound of Stabwound by Necrophagist is a good exercise for tapping/riffing.

the first what now?

will def check out, cheers

 

[Solodini]

If you don't mind it not being heavy, check out some of the Little Tybee stuff.

 

[Malkav]

I use the intro lick of this track as a two handed tapping work out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmHuwHaILlY

Jam track central used to have the GP file up for free download, but it seems not to be there anymore - If you pm me your e-mail I can send you a transcription

Also here's some cool stuff with T.J Helmerich, who in my opinion is one of the really important protagonists of this technique:

GuitarPlayer: Back to School TJ Helmerichs Eight-Finger Freedom

These are of course broadly just 8 finger tapping exercises, but for some of them you'll have to work on your pulling off, and it can't hurt to have resources for later

 

[Dirtdog]

It is more natural to close your hand rather than opening it that's why when you pull off with your left hand you pull down towards the treble strings hence when you use your right hand over the top the best way is to pull up towards the bass strings also you have more strength pulling your hands in rather than opening them similar to the jaws of a gator

 

[Solodini]

It is more natural to close your hand rather than opening it that's why when you pull off with your left hand you pull down towards the treble strings hence when you use your right hand over the top the best way is to pull up towards the bass strings also you have more strength pulling your hands in rather than opening them similar to the jaws of a gator

I think some find it easier to give the strings a bit of a flick by pushing away with the "picking hand", though.

 

[MrPepperoniNipples]

Since you're saying your hand is up-side down, I'll assume it's 8-finger tapping you're referring to.

8-fingers you should ALWAYS pull off towards your body. It may feel a little more natural to do it away from your body at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will be a great quality to have in every aspect.

TJ Helmerich was mentioned earlier, and in every video of him playing you will see he pulls off towards his body, and in every lesson I've ever seen of him he always emphasizes that.



I don't wanna say other people in this thread are wrong, but I think it's bad advice to tell someone to pull off away from your body. It makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to 2-3 right hand fingers on a single string.
Again, it may seem more natural to flick away from you at first, but you really need to make an effort to pull of towards your body and away from the floor. It will feel easier and natural to do it in due time, quicker than you'd think, and it will greatly improve your technique, especially your cleanliness and your "rhythmic control," in that it'll be easier to make even the length of each note in the fast scale runs.

Part of the reason it'll seem easier (at first) to push the strings away is because your right hand strength isn't yet developed, so it takes a lot of effort to pull the string towards you. You need to do proper exercises and rolls with the right hand to get 8-finger stuff down, much more so than other stuff, in my opinion.
Finger independence plays a part in this, too. It's easy for the hand and other fingers to help push the string, but when pulling the string towards your body each finger has to work individually without any assistance from the hand or other finger.

simple 9-10-11-10-9-10-12-10-9-11-12-11-9 etc stuff will be extremely beneficial in developing the right hand.
trills too, that single out every combination of 2 fingers. 1 and 2, 1 and 3, 2 and 4, all that.



as for songs,

Christian Muenzner only does it in Ocean Gateways in Obscura, but does a lot of 2-finger ("spock" technqiue as he calls it) stuff whilst holding his pick, which is a totally different animal. He does it in a couple of songs on his solo album, though, but not very often.
TJ Helmerich does it a lot in on the Quid Pro Quo album, in fact I that album may be from when he was playing 8-finger stuff exclusively.
Daniele Gottardo on just about everything, of course, but personally I don't like the way his runs sound.

I saw some guy on JamTrackCentral's youtube channel doing some great pentatonic runs with it, but I forgot his name.

 

[Maniacal]

I didn't tell anyone to do anything. I can see why tapping towards your body makes sense, when you aren't holding a pick.

Whatever works for you.

 

[Given To Fly]

Stanley Jordan has to have a lesson somewhere on the internet talking about this!