Operation Manual
4.3 Using the Strumming Keys 29
4.2.4 Hammer-On and Pull-Off
Hammer-on and pull-off are playing techniques used by guitar players to play legato or grace notes.
The hammer-on effect is obtained by first picking a note and then hammering down another finger
onto the same string at a higher fret. The pull-off effect is almost the opposite of the hammer on.
It is obtained by first picking a note and then sharply pulling-off the finger from the fretboard in
order to hear a second fretted note on the same string. The sounds produced using these techniques
are softer and less percussive than the ones produced by picking the notes.
With Strum Session, hammer-ons and pull-offs are automatically triggered by playing legato
notes spaced by one or two semi-tones. They are triggered only when melodies are played and
never when chords are detected.
4.3 Using the Strumming Keys
We now look at ways to create more elaborate effects. For these examples, it is assumed that the
Auto-Strum mode is switch off as we will now be using the strumming keys. This way of playing
Strum Session involves to think more in terms of a guitar player. Indeed, as the chord recognition
and voicing module require some time to voice the chords, it is necessary to play the chords slightly
before triggering the strumming action with the strumming keys. This is just like a guitar player
who needs to position the fretting hand on the fretboard before strumming with the picking hand.
4.3.1 Down- and Upstroke Strum
Once a chord is played on the keyboard, the downstroke strumming key (C5) is used to trigger a
strum from the lowest to highest string. The upstroke strumming key (D5) is used to trigger strums
from the highest to the lowest string of the guitar. The number of strings which are strummed is
determined by the main strum parameter which appears below the fretboard in the lower part of the
interface. The strumming speed can be controlled using the Speed parameter or the Velocity control
which is used to adjust the amount of modulation from the MIDI velocity signal received from the
keyboard.
Music engraving by LilyPond 2.10.33—www.lilypond.org
Figure 14: Downstroke and upstroke with the strumming keys.