Warm Up Exercise

Backwoods Pull-Off Exercise (Key of C)

Lesson #304

Video lesson

Get the educational PDF(2 pages)

  • Support me on Patreon.com to get access to this and 200+ other educational PDFs I've made, plus new PDFs I make going forward (1-2 added each week).
  • The cost is $3/month (one month minimum, cancel anytime). Annual plans also available. Here's a free sample if you're on the fence. Thanks!
Download the PDF on Patreon

After clicking the button and logging in to Patreon, look for the PDF attached to the bottom of the post.

Editor’s notes

Hey friends! Here’s a quick exercise to help you practice your left-pinky pull-off technique. By pull-off, I’m referring to the opposite of a hammer-on… where a finger is forcefully pulled “off” of a fretted string, such that it sounds like the string is being plucked.

Specially, we’ll be doing these three transitions –– where the left pinky (highlighted) is initial positioned on the 3rd fret…

But then, after the pinky is pulled off, it’s the red note shown below that will sound out, as if it was plucked.

This is a great way to add flourish to any riff in a way that’s done entirely with the left hand. This riff in particular includes a few of the most common pull-off scenarios beginner guitarists will encounter.

Here’s a preview of the full PDF (attached at the bottom of this post):

Thanks to supporter Erik for sending in the song I based this lesson off of (Chillin in the Backwoods by Jawga Boys). While I didn’t know the song, this intro riff caught my ear at once –– and I knew it’d make for a good lesson showing this technique.

I’d eventually love to do some more focused lessons on the hammer-on and pull-off techniques with a very technical focus – but until then, I trust this exercise might be a good one to try out.

Thanks and until next time ✌️

Get my lessons in your inbox!

Every couple weeks I send out an email newsletter with links to whatever new lessons I've made. Sign up here and stay in the loop!

Enjoy my lessons? Buy me a beer!

If this and my other lessons have proven helpful to you, please consider making a one-time donation to my tip jar. Contributions of any amount help make this project possible (including the many, many hours I put into it).

You can also support me on Patreon. For only $3/month you'll get access to a print-friendly PDF of my notes for each new lesson (view free sample).

Thanks!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent video lessons:

📝 My "song" PDFs are now individually purcasheable! I've arranged a licensing agreement with Musicnotes, a service that lets you buy sheet music. Patreon suppoters get 50% off each purchase. Get the latest info here »   (last updated July 1, 2021)

Browse my all lessons

By lesson type

By song decade

By musical genre

By guitar technique

By musical key

By popular artist

← back to lesson list