7 Minute Legato Workout

In this guitar lesson we are going to look a great 7 Minute Legato Workout that you can incorporate into your daily practice routine. If you are not familiar with legato technique we will start by going over some basic technique for hammer-ons and pull-offs. Once you have some basic legato technique down you can tackle the two legato exercises that make up the first half of the 7 Minute Legato Workout. From there we will apply this legato technique to an A blues scale shape. It’s important to apply everything to music so I have a jam track for you that will round out the workout.

Legato technique is basically when you combine hammer-ons and pull-offs to create a more fluid violin-like sound in your playing instead of picking every single note. It’s important to have a good understanding of the technique required to perform hammer-ons and pull-offs properly. We will look at some of the most important aspects of getting your hammer-ons and pull-offs down.

There are two basic legato exercises available for you in this lesson. They are both trill exercises but the first one is a bit easier for newer players while the second one is for intermediate or advanced players. The idea behind the behind the first half of the 7 Minute Legato Workout is to go through one of the two exercises for about three minutes. You can download the pdf for this lesson by clicking on the pdf icon right below the video.

The second half of the 7 Minute Legato Workout involves going through any scale that you like for three to four minutes using hammer-ons and pull-offs. In this lesson I’m using an A blues scale. Here is a diagram for that scale shape. The TAB for this scale is also available for you in the lesson pdf. You don’t have to use this scale, you can use any scale that you are currently working on.

To help you practice your legato technique I have a Jam Track that you can download to help you stay in time and have more fun while practicing this. You can download the MP3 for the Jam Track by clicking the MP3 icon right below the video. I would recommend simply playing through the scale up and down for a minute or so and then start improvising with the scale over the jam track for the remaining time.

Getting your hammer-ons and pull-offs down to where the sound great can take some dexterity and strength. If you apply this easy workout into your daily practice routine for several weeks or even several months you will see great improvements in your playing. Have fun with this one!