Tag: Words are Fun

Aside

Legato (Italian for “tied together”)

Bound together. Performance of music so that there is no perceptible pause between notes, i.e. in a smooth manner, the opposite of staccato.

The Oxford Dictionary of Music

Ligado (Spanish for “connected”)

A guitar technique in which a note is sounded either by pulling sideways or by hammering down on a string on the fingerboard using a finger of the fretting hand.

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd edition

So, guitarists often use ligado technique as part of legato phrasing. We can also pick legato phrases and use ligado to play staccato.