Pull-Offs

As I promised, you’re going to learn how to do a pull-off on the Oud. It’s a great technique to learn and it goes hand in hand with Hammer-ons.

I admit, it was very challenging to try and teach this technique. It’s so much easier to teach one on one, but when you have a larger audience and you’re not in-person, you always hope you are making sense. So I really hope my explanation helps everyone.

Check out the video below to learn how to do it.

Difficulty: moderate to advanced

What?

Pull-offs are notes you play without plucking a string. The sound is made by plucking the string with the fingers of your left hand.

Why?

Pull-offs are very versatile and add a lot of depth to your playing. They are another way to play grace notes on the Oud.

They go hand in hand with Hammer-ons.

Learn how to do a Hammer-on on the Oud.

When you let go of a hammer-on, that action of removing your finger makes the string resonate and this can be considered to be a pull-off. So this is why I say hammer-ons and pull-offs go hand in hand.

Learn how to do a hammer-on by watching last week’s video

Combinations of hammer-ons and pull-offs are important in creating melodies that sound authentically Middle Eastern. You will learn a very common combination in next week’s video.

How?

Pull-off an open string:
Simply use a finger from your left hand to pluck the string.

Pull-off a fingered note:
Hold down a note on the fingerboard then pluck with another finger while holding down the other note. The position of the finger doing the plucking should be at the location of the next note in the maqam higher than the note you are holding down.

So if you are holding down your high D note with your index finger on the high C string as shown in the video, and you are playing Maqam Bayati on D, then your second finger executes the pull-off in the general area of E quarter flat.

Tips for success:

Practice playing downstrokes and then taking your finger off the note you played. This is one of the most common ways to practice pull-offs.