Music is a language, the same as any other language. The objective is to communicate via sound.

Some languages have more of a legato feel and some have more of a staccato feel. If you compare Russian or German to French, you will understand what I mean.

Vowels are a softer sound to most consonants. A E I O U produce a softer sound than consonants such as T K D P, etc.

To me, the act of picking a string produces consonant-type sounds and legato techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides produce vowel-type sounds. Musically interesting phrases can be created by mixing the musical vowels and consonants in the same way as when speaking.

Picking every single note will produce a machine gun type of sound. If you hammer on, pull off and slide all the notes in a phrase, the sound is much smoother. Too much of either technique results in boring phrasing, so finding the right balance to express what you want to say at the time is where your creativity shows.

If I play 3 notes on one string and pick every note, this is one way to express the melodic idea.

If I pick the first note, hammer the second and pick the 3rd note, this has a different emphasis than if I pick the first two notes and hammer the third.

I could also hammer the second and third notes.

Or even pull off to the first note and not pick any notes.

A phrase can completely change when different notes are picked or played legato.

Vocal melodies can be played with much more expression and attention to the phrasing of the vocal line when picked or non-picked notes are placed on different parts of the beat.

Hammer-ons, pull-offs or slides placed at different points within a melodic phrase emphasise different notes and can create melodic interest when done well.

New life can be injected into old, tired licks when subtle changes are made using this concept.

When working with scales and arpeggios, it is so easy to overlook these phrasing subtleties. Theoretical ideas can come alive with good use of this vowel and consonant approach.

Next time you are working on new ideas, try placing picked and non-picked notes at different points within the phrase.

Let me know in the comments if this idea has helped you expand your melodic phrasing. I would love to hear from you.

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Bye for now.