Legato, stay away if shred content offends ;-)

[MacDaddy]

I've never got the hang of the legato thing on guitar, when I shred I pick every note. But on bass - I'm a finger player - when I shred, right hand legato seems to come naturally.

Are there any other legato players out there?

[MacDaddy]

So no shredders on Basschat? Lol

In my defence, I'm only doing it at the moment because my band has not got a full line up, so as we are a 3 piece, I'm doing the twin lead bits until we get another guitarist.

[alyctes]

Shredding is not my thing, so pardon my ignorance, but how are you actually playing? A swift look at That Wikipedia suggests lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs? I do that, though probably not as much as I should - my fingers aren't really strong enough for pull-offs unless I'm going to an open string.

[MacDaddy]

For example, playing 6 notes but only plucking the string once.

So one pattern could be ( on the g string at the 21 st fret) : E, C, D, E, D, C.

[jimbobothy]

Yup, you'd be employing a few pull off and hammer on thingimabobs!

[visog]

Yes legato here too. Just as the OP asked. Great for zipping round the neck or adding a fast lick or articulation.

Here's Scott Devine's free lesson on the matter which is good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKd0n4nn19c

I'd be interested hear how any other BCers bring out the sound without great gobs of distortion ah la Billy Sheehan?

[Simon Lovelock]

Jeff Berlin seems to do a lot of this, without distortion... I'll try and find an example to post

[MacDaddy]

I'll have a look at that Scott Devine vid later.

[Daz39]

I don't pluck every note on Bass or Guitar. I find hammering-on louder than pull-offs, for both instruments.

I'm only talking 3-4 note runs here - not Allan Holdsworth - pick once at the start of the song - style legato...

[Kevin Glasgow]

I use the legato technique (mainly for soloing). I use a very light set of strings which makes things much easier, although it takes some getting used to as you need to play very delicately with your right hand.

[Truckstop]

I do it all the time and I never even noticed!

[Jebo1]

It's easier with proper fingering. Lot of people use the pads of their fingers to play notes whereas this sort of playing demands greater precision and articulation you get from fingertips.