new technique to me

[timrams88]

hey im trying out tapping for now and i want to hear the how too from the pros i can slightly do it but im horrible any advice?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

I'm no pro, but start slowly!!!!!!!!!!

Practice your scales while staying on the same string. Fret the first two notes and tap the 3rd, pull off to the 2nd, then pull off to the 1st. Then fret the 2nd and 3rd notes in the scale and tap the 4th, pull off to the 3rd, then pull off to the 2nd. Then fret the 3rd and 4th notes and tap the 5th, etc.

 

[Raz]

hey im trying out tapping for now and i want to hear the how too from the pros i can slightly do it but im horrible any advice?

Here look at this...
T-T-T-apping!

Is he playing a BALL?

 

[Bassplyr]

hey im trying out tapping for now and i want to hear the how too from the pros i can slightly do it but im horrible any advice?

make sure your shoes fit correctly, and you'll be tap dancing in no time!

 

[SteveB]

practice, practice, practice.

This is purely my opinion, but I would suggest learning to tap with the middle finger of your picking hand. I started with my index finger, and to this day I favor it.. which makes it just a little more difficult to switch between picking and tapping. (If you tap with the middle finger, you really don't have to change the grip on your pick. Tapping with index is a different story.)

 

[beej]

> I would suggest learning to tap with the middle finger of your picking hand.

That is great advice. I've been tapping with my index finger for years and despite how much I practice, I can't get quite used to doing it with my middle finger. Wish I'd started off that way.

 

[Jimi D]

practice, practice, practice.

...I would suggest learning to tap with the middle finger of your picking hand...

{SNIP}

This is good advice - I'm no EVH with the tapping but I do enjoy pulling it out every once in a while - I was lucky and started out using my middle finger just because it seemed more comfortable to me - it was the finger on my right hand that got the most exercise in my teens, I imagine, so it was probably the strongest Anyway, I'm glad I learned that way, because I tend to incorporate short tapped runs (8 - 20 notes) into my solos, rather than do these long, grandiose tapped sections - this is probably for two reasons; I'm not good enough to improvise well with my tapping, so I'm just spitting out little "trick shots" I know by rote, and I'm almost never allowed to play a lead long enough to have a big EVH-style tap-extraveganza in it!

 

[kbaim]

Jimi,

Funny.


Some use the side of their pick for tapping. I think satch does this.

I'm not very good at it using any method.
Keith

 

[brentrocks]

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[Ali]

Practice and get some tab for EVH, Satch etc. I really wouldn't recommend getting Vai tab though. It's very demoralising when you can't get to the second bar without a mistake and there are still 3 pages to go

My favourite tapping practices are the obvious- Hot For Teacher, and the rather unobvious (is that a word?)- Headless Horseman by Satch. In fact, I nearly always end up playing the latter, especially in music stores. I don't know why but I just love it. It's also a great way of testing out a guitars clean sound and pickup balance (and it blows the 16 year olds playing drop tuned mush into the weeds )

 

[PurpleSport]

Search out a very hard to find book called "The Right Touch" by Steve Lynch, the former guitarist for the 80s metal band Autograph. He had a whole tap technique that was pretty complex, based off entire chord shapes vs. runs up and down a string or two - quite different than the EVH thing.

I had a copy a long time ago but haven't seen it in years, and have no idea where it got off to. It was put out by a small publisher, probably making it that much harder to track down......

 

[Raz]

Search out a very hard to find book called "The Right Touch" by Steve Lynch, the former guitarist for the 80s metal band Autograph. He had a whole tap technique that was pretty complex, based off entire chord shapes vs. runs up and down a string or two - quite different than the EVH thing.

I had a copy a long time ago but haven't seen it in years, and have no idea where it got off to. It was put out by a small publisher, probably making it that much harder to track down......

Here's the video!

Two Hands are Better than one!

 

[guitarplayaman]

Strength is important. The singer for the Darkness taps a little bit but it sounds weak. You need forearm strength to keep your tapping solid and fluid.

 

[PurpleSport]

Here's the video!

Two Hands are Better than one!

That's pretty cool, Raz - I didn't know he had a video out...thanks for the tip!

I think the book predates his Autograph days, or maybe was during the early era of the band. On the cover his hair was shorter and he was tapping on a Les Paul vs. the Jacksons he wound up endorsing later.