Hammer-On

This is one of the most widely used of all the soloing techniques by guitarists across many genres. The effect is created by picking a string when the left hand (or fretting hand) is on a specific note, then bringing another finger down hard on a fret higher up on the same string. Soloists commonly use this technique to voice more notes than they can pick, though the sound is quite distinctive and different that what would be heard if the second note were simply picked. Once learned, hammer-ons quickly become second nature to a player. It is often combined with other techniques that include pull-offs and note tapping.