HAMMER & SLIDE

To play Hammer and Slide, you do a strike-and-hold action against the strings with the hand-held metal bars. The striking excites the vibration in the string and the pitch is determined by the location of the strike. If you slide the bar along the length of the string after striking, the pitch bends. The bar has small, closely spaced notches over its length on the underside, and if you slide the bar sideways, the notches continue to excite the string. It’s hard to play with accurate pitch but it’s easy to play with a rollicking, ill-tuned, sea-sick sort of glissando.