The Hammer-On
The flick-off technique can be described as a reversal of the hammer-on. The note’s sound is produced by the left hand finger flicking the open string as it lifts off a fretted note, e.g., hold C chord and play the second string (C note). Now lift the first finger off the string, flicking it as you do so. This left hand movement should create the sound of a B note quite clearly. In music and tablature notation what you have just played can be written as:
Cmaj7
Try the following example, using a flick-off on the first beat and introducing the C major 7 chord.
The fingerpicking pattern being used is as such:
Pattern 14
Pattern Fourteen
Although pattern 14 specifically applies to this example, the principles involved (i.e., the combination of pinch and flick-off techniques) can be applied to other chord progressions and songs.
