Now there’s an image for you: Patsey Touhey in black leather…
Man, I’m disappointed! Checked Brother Steve’s Whistle Pages and found nuthin’ 'bout hammer-on. Steve? Steve? 
On 2002-10-12 15:31, SteveK wrote:
Hammering on and pulling off, as describe by others on this thread, are standard techniques of clawhammer banjo playing (frailing). Unlike tenor banjo, mandolin and plectrum-picked guitar you can’t really play tunes in clawhammer style without those techniques as well as some others.Steve
Hammer ons and pull offs are also used extensively in many genres of guitar, from classical to bluegrass to blues and rock. Never heard the term used in regards to whistle and can’t imagine how you would accomplish either on a whistle, since both have to do with modifying a note during the sustain of a ringing string. I.e. switching from one note to another without the “ploink” of plucking the string again. That sort of note transition is the norm for good whistling (i.e. it is the opposite of tonguing, which most will agree should be done sparingly).
I guess that would be as good a definition for a “hammer on” or “pull off” on the whistle as any – “the opposite of tonguing.”
Or not…
John
I just wanted to clarify that hammer-ons have been around for a long time in folk music. Hammer-on’s where common ornaments in folk guitar playing when I learned back in the 60’s.
I’m assuming right hand playing where fingers of the left hand doing the fret work and right hand generally pluck or pick the strings. A string is picked with the right hand and then one of the left hand fingers is brought down hard on the vibrating string right behind one of the frets producing a second note usually a half step, a whole step or one and a half steps higher. What makes it a “hammer” on is that the string is struck hard enough and quick enough to cause the string to vibrate. You can actually do a hammer-on without the initial right hand pluck or pick. It is especially used with finger picking folk styles, I use it from time to time with travis style finger picking.
Using a hammer-on on a string that was just picked results in quick cut to the higher note. Using a hammer-on on an still string produces a tone that tends to have a slightly more tin like tone with lots of high overtones in the string vibration.
Some of the electric rock guitarist picked the technique up and took it to the point were they would create tremelo/vibrato effects but using lot of hammer-ons in a row.
They also used it to produce 32nd notes when picking 16th note picked runs/leads.
The hammer-on technique has been in use a long time in folk genre’s. I believe it was also a technique in use in classical guitar, but here you’d have to ask a classical trained player. As for me, I been just a guitar picker to back song spinners.
Hope this helps you futher …
On 2002-10-14 13:40, fiddling_tenor wrote:
Man, I’m disappointed! Checked Brother Steve’s Whistle Pages and found nuthin’ 'bout hammer-on. Steve? Steve? >
Tom,
Sorry you were disappointed. But you shouldn’t regard me as an authority. There’s an awful lot about whistle playing and Irish music that I don’t know, and I’ll never even get around to writing on everything about which I do know something! So - be disabused.
Others have suggested that a hammer-on (with regard to whistle playing) might simply mean a tap or strike or tip or whatever you call it.
I’d suggest another possibility - a device for which I have never seen a name. When you approach an important melody note from below, particularly one that is longer than its neighbours, say a quarter note, you can often get a nice effect by replacing the quarter note with two eighth notes, the first of which is a repeat of the preceding note.
For example, in place of
eaag a2
you might play
eaag (ga)
where the second g is articulated (e.g. tongued) and the following a is not. Anyone know what to call this?
I’d say it was the closest thing to a hammer-on in guitar parlance.
Steve