Tapping Tutorial | A Speed Mechanic That Looks Harder Than It Is

Today we are going to cover a flashy way to play certain phrases quickly. This technique is called tapping. When we tap, we give our picking hand a break from picking and we have it join the fretting hand on the neck of the guitar. This technique was popularized by Eddie Van Halen, and you’ll get to learn in this lesson.

Overview

When exploring different note choices, especially arpeggios, you'll likely encounter an issue with reaching for notes that are far away from each other on the same string. The time your fretting hand spends moving across the neck to go back and forth between distant notes could be spent more efficiently by using a more economical movement pattern. Since the same notes reappear on all areas of the fretboard, you could always play the same notes across multiple strings. Doing so would allow you to play the same phrase faster without having to move your fretting hand all over the place. But what if you wanted to play the same phrase even faster and cleaner? That's where the magic of tapping kicks in. Tapping is the performance of hammer-ons and pull-offs with fingers from both hands. Even though tapping looks kind of complex, it can be easier to tap certain phrases in certain situations.

How to Tap

You'll find that there are many variations on how to use the technique and a plethora of note choices to pick from. In this lesson, we are going to use a 3 note shred sequence as an example to illustrate the mechanics of tapping.

Put the index finger of your fretting hand on the 5th fret of the high E string and the pinky of the same hand on the 8th fret of the same string.

Align your picking hand so your index finger is in line with the 12th fret of the high E string. Use some force to hammer onto that note. You essentially just did “tapping”, but we wanna make it musical. We’re playing instruments after all. Proceed to step 3 to find out how to achieve this by finishing the lick.

Perform a pull-off by pulling the index finger of your picking hand upward and releasing the string. This should be done quickly so the string makes an instant transition and snaps to the next note. This will ring out the sound of the note C on the 8th fret since your pinky should still be there. Perform a pull-off with your fretting hand’s pinky so that you hear the note A on the 5th fret where your index finger is.

Transitioning From Picking to Tapping

The process described above can also be performed by using the middle finger of your picking hand to tap the notes instead of the index finger. Using your middle finger allows you to maintain the same grip on your pick if you plan to quickly return to picking notes. However, this just makes it slightly more difficult to cleanly mute the strings with your picking hand as you tap.

If you want to continue using your index finger to tap, slide the pick with your thumb over your index finger. The pick should then be in position for your middle finger to curl the pick into that same finger. Your middle finger should be hugging the pick. To get the pick back into the right grip, use your thumb to slide it back up to your index finger. Your thumb should be able to pinch the pick in the correct position against your index finger.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to tap correctly, you’re equipped to play super fast phrases by using a visually and sonically impressive technique. Experiment with both the index finger and the middle finger of your picking hand to see which finger works best for you. You may even find different situations where you use both fingers from your picking hand to tap.

Check out the full video here: Tapping Tutorial | A Speed Mechanic That Looks Harder Than It Is