Why do my hammer-ons sound like this?

Question:When I hammer-on to the 7th fret and up on all of the strings of my 6-string acoustic guitar, it sounds like the note is out of tune. My guitar is tuned fine, and the plucked note sounds great, but when I hammer-on, it sounds like crap. Does anyone know why? I just bought the guitar about 2 months ago and haven't changed the action at all since I bought it.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When I hammer-on to the 7th fret and up on all of the strings of my 6-string acoustic guitar, it sounds like the note is out of tune. My guitar is tuned fine, and the plucked note sounds great, but when I hammer-on, it sounds like crap. Does anyone know why? I just bought the guitar about 2 months ago and haven't changed the action at all since I bought it.

A couple of things... first, when you hammer up higher, sometimes you can hear both sides of the string vibrating. One side will be the note you want, and the other side will probably be a much higher, and normally dissonant note that you don't want. practice muting that other side to make it stop.

Another thing is that possibly your applying too much pressure or you are bending the string too much in the process. Your note sounds right because there is just enough tension and length of string. When you press too hard for a louder hammer-on or bend it too much to the side, you can make the string tenser than it should be.

you might be subconciously pulling on the neck when you are hammering. I still do that sometimes myself. other than that I have no idea what would be causing that.