Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to learn the secret of how to play guitar trills? Trills add excitement and flash to your playing. However, if you want to know how to master guitar trills, you must first become proficient at two other guitar techniques. Keep reading to learn what these techniques are and how to best perform them.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
The Secret of How to Play Guitar Trills #1: What’s a Trill?
What does the word trill mean? The New Harvard Dictionary of Music defines a trill as:
An ornament consisting of the more or less rapid alternation of a note with the one next above in the prevailing key or harmony. (869)
Trills may be measured or unmeasured:
- When we say measured it means that you’re counting a rhythmic subdivision such as sixteenth or thirty-second notes as you play.
- When we say unmeasured it means that you’ll alternate the notes as fast as you can without counting. However, unmeasured trills still must end within a set period of time.
- For example, if you’re playing a one measure trill that approximates thirty-second notes, it must stop at the end of the measure even if your ornament has fewer or greater number of notes than thirty-two.
Soundtrack Example:
The Secret of How to Play Guitar Trills #2: Mastering Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
How do hammer-ons and pull-offs look in tablature?
- Both hammer-ons and pull-offs have a curved line (called a slur) over the hammered or pulled notes. (Hammer-ons and pull-offs must be on the same string.)
- Some transcriptions put an “H” over the hammer-on’s slur and a “P” over the pull-off’s slur.
- However, when these letters are absent, you can tell a hammer-on’s slur from a pull-off’s slur because the hammer-on goes from a lower fret to a higher fret and vice versa.
How do you perform the hammer-on in the example above?
- Start by plucking the string as you place your first finger on fret three and “hammer” your third finger onto fret five without plucking the string again.
- Some students try to hammer the second note with more force to make it sound louder.
- However, the trick is to pluck the first note with enough force that the energy carries through to the hammered note.
Since the second note isn’t plucked, it helps create a smooth legato sound.
While the notes just seem to go in the opposite direction in a pull-off, the playing technique is very different from a hammer-on:
- Strike the higher note of a pull-off and feel the drag from your third finger on the string as you use it to pluck the lower note by pulling away from the string at a 45o angle.
- If you pull straight up from the string, you won’t pluck the lower note, but if you pull parallel to the string, you run the risk of strumming the adjacent strings.
- Make sure the pull-off’s “drag” doesn’t become so strong that it turns the pull-off into a string bend.
Hand Icon (churien.deviantart.com/art/hand-template-blank-272630198) by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Modified by Geoffrey Keith.
The Secret of How to Play Guitar Trills #3: Mastering Trills with Distortion
What is a trill on guitar?
- A trill is just rapidly alternating hammer-ons and pull-offs.
- The plucking action of your third finger will constantly feed energy into the trill.
- This makes it so you can sustain a trill for as long as your hand holds out.
Here’s a loose transcription of the trill (I performed it unmeasured) from the soundtrack example (see below). In addition, I added the first measure of the melody part.
80s Hard Rock Riff:
If you want to learn how to play the riff from this track:
Here are some playing tips:
- Make sure to keep the trill as smooth and even as possible.
- Use your 1 and 3 fingers (the pointer and ring) as you play in the third position box pattern.
- Start slowly and work up to tempo.
- Distortion gives your guitar sound more sustain during a performance, making your trills easier to execute.
- However, use a clean sound when you practice them at home. If you can accurately execute them with a clean sound during practice, they’ll sound incredible when you slap on distortion at a performance.
To learn how to get killer distortion:
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- A trill is just rapidly alternating hammer-ons and pull-offs.
- The plucking action of your ring finger will constantly feed more energy into the trill.
- Distortion gives your guitar sound more sustain during a performance, making your trills easier to execute.
Have fun playing!
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© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
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