Greg Howe: punchy legato

Punchy Legato is a term I use to describe a hybrid texture containing both legato and staccato characteristics simultaneously. Aside from this texture being relatively common in the world of high-speed overdriven guitar playing, it also happens to be the texture I personally prefer most when it comes to playing fast.

One of the methods that I use to achieve this texture involves the use of partial barreing, which is, quite simply, the idea of flattening the tip of one or more of the fingers of your fretting hand over two or more strings in order to perform high-speed licks with minimal finger motion.

With many guitarists, this technique is commonly performed within the blues box area, since the nature of that fret lineup completely lends itself to this approach. You’ve likely seen many guitarists do this on the high E and B strings, using the first finger as the barreing finger—Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Page, EVH, etc. Essentially, the first finger acts as a capo while the other fingers assume their normal fretting duties.
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This is a video example for Greg Howe's Fierce Guitar Lesson in the August '09 issue of Premier Guitar.

Greg Howe Punchy Legato Premier Guitar Video Lesson

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