User blog comment:Plexioth- xD/Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate/@comment-76.114.237.96-20121123233330/@comment-1758220-20121124001432

No, the way it works is that each attack plays a note, so different combinations of attacks are what get you your stat boosts, once you've lined up a valid combination of notes, you tap R, which plays the HH briefly and buff you. But you can't just hit R and play the notes from there anymore.