View source for Pull-off

{{Short description|Stringed instrument playing technique}}
[[Image:G run in G.png|thumb|300px|[[G run]] in [[key (music)|G]] [[major and minor|major]] variation<ref name="Traum">Traum, Happy (1974). ''Bluegrass Guitar'', p.25. {{ISBN|0-8256-0153-3}}.</ref> {{audio|G run in G.mid|Play}} contains both hammer-ons and a pull-off.]]

A '''pull-off''' is a [[string instrument|stringed instrument]] playing and articulation technique performed by plucking or "pulling" the finger that is grasping the sounding part of a string off the [[fingerboard]] of either a fretted or unfretted instrument. This intermediate- to advanced playing technique is done using the tip of a finger or fingernail on the fretting hand. Pull-offs are done to facilitate the playing of embellishments and [[ornament (music)|ornament]]s such as [[grace note]]s. Pull-offs may be notated in sheet music or improvised by the performer, depending on the musical style and context.

==Performance and effect==
{{Unsourced section|date=November 2024}}[[File:Guitare hammer pulloff slide.ogg|thumb|right|200px|A guitarist performs a mixture of pull-offs, hammer-ons, and slides.]]
A pull-off is performed on a string which is already vibrating; when the fretting finger is pulled off (exposing the string either as open or as stopped by another fretting finger "lower" on the same string, with "lower" meaning in a position that is lower in pitch) the note playing on the string changes to the new, longer vibrating length of the string.  Pull-offs are performed on both [[fret]]ted instruments (e.g., [[electric guitar]]) and unfretted instruments (e.g., [[violin]]). They are used to sound [[grace note]]s with the transition from one note to the other sounding gentler and less percussive because the string is not [[plectrum|pick]]ed or [[bow (music)|bow]]ed again by the typical picking/bowing hand to produce the sound of the second note.
[[File:Pull off.gif|thumb|right|200px|A succession of photos shows a pull-off being performed on guitar.]]
In the transition between the initial and final notes, the string may vibrate in an [[inharmonicity|inharmonic]] manner for several cycles if it is plucked with the fretting finger, because the string is being plucked in a part of the string not usually used for plucking. The result, a slight "quack" sound, may be particularly audible when the interval of the pull-off is large.  This transition also consumes some of the vibrational energy in the sounded string, with the effect that the second note is generally much quieter than the original. On a low-pitched string that is being bowed on a  stopped note, say, at the halfway point of the vibrating string length, the player may left-hand flick the string immediately prior to sounding the deep-pitched open string to help the string "speak". Without the left-hand "flick", there could be a half-second delay in the sounding of the deep fundamental.

===Acoustic versus electric instruments===
On most acoustic instruments, this means the second note has little [[sustain]]. As a result, in acoustic music, pull-offs are primarily used as an embellishment. Performers of plucked instruments tend to use "pull-offs" when playing grace notes, usually in conjunction with multiple [[hammer-on]]s and strumming or picking to produce a rapid, rippling effect. In [[rock music|rock]] and [[heavy metal music]], [[electric guitar]]s are often performed with overdriven amplifiers and/or [[guitar effects]] such as [[distortion pedal]]s and [[gain compression|compression]] pedals are used, which add substantial sustain to the sound. With this type of electronic gear and a powerful [[instrument amplifier]] nearing the threshold of [[feedback]], pull-offs can even be used to play sustained notes.

In a variation of the technique, often called a "flick-off", the pulling-off finger is dragged slightly across the face of the string while performing the pull-off.  This results in the string being gently sounded, either by the player's finger callus or by their fretting-finger fingernail. This increases the volume and sustain of the pulled-off note, although the sound of the fretting finger dragging over the string may be audible on both an amplified instrument and on a brightly strung acoustic instrument.

===Left-hand pizzicato===
Classical music of the [[Romantic music#Late Romantic Era .281850-1910.29|late romantic]] period features numerous applications of the technique to bowed string instruments such as the [[violin]], [[viola]], [[cello]], and [[double bass]]. In the classical context, the term is referred to as [[Pizzicato#Other pizzicato techniques|left-handed pizzicato]].

When a player switches from arco (bowing) to regular pizzicato, the player normally requires a short pause to switch his or her bowing hand into pizzicato position and pluck the string.  With left-hand pizzicato, though, a string player can play a pizzicato note immediately following a bowed note; thus, left-hand pizzicato provides a means to intersperse pizzicato notes into rapid passages of bowed notes.  The string on which the note is played may be either open or stopped (fingered); the only requirement for using the technique on a stopped string is that the finger stopping the string be lower than the finger plucking the string.

Left-hand pizzicato appears most prominently in [[violin]] "virtuoso pieces" such as [[Pablo de Sarasate]]'s [[Zigeunerweisen]] and Paganini's [[Caprice No. 24 (Paganini)|24th Caprice]].

==Etymology==

The term ''pull-off'' was invented and popularized by [[Pete Seeger]] in his book ''How to Play the 5-String Banjo''. Seeger also invented the term ''[[hammer-on]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDaj1IzYA74C|title=Southern Mountain Banjo|last=Erbsen|first=Wayne|date=2010-10-07|publisher=Mel Bay Publications|isbn=9781609740474|page=24|language=en}}</ref>

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}

{{Guitar techniques}}

{{Shred Guitar}}

[[Category:Guitar performance techniques]]