juice tapping - how does mr. vai get it so clean

[nickelsack]

Alright kids when vai goes on his little tapping run at about 2:13 in the song juice how does he get it to sound so nice! *I can go through it and hit the notes but the problem is all the loose string make it sound like crap. Any tips on how to catch those loose strings, other than being vai.

[jem7vwh]

a few tips:

Hand muting is important. *Both with your fret hand and tapping hand, you should be constantly keeping the other strings silent as you work your way from the G to the B and finally the e string.

Lots of gain and compression. *Vai was using a Bogner Ecstacy at the time. *Bogners are known for their gain.

Practice. *I posted a lesson on that tapping a while ago here in the Lessons area. *Look it up and practice along with the .wav file included there. It's been a few months since that was posted. *I was about 85% fluent then. *I can play it near perfect now. *

[Devo]

Depending on your tapping style, you could try to mute the open stings with your right hand as well, I generally find it easier to muste the bass strings with my index or palm on right and the higher strings with the index on left.

then everyone does it different. play it slow and work out where you can mute the strings with which fingers most comfortably and make the mutes part of playing the tune.

[Courjan]

*This may sound a little cliche, but use a metronome and start at very slow tempo. I had had problems with muting even at that speed when I was learning that part.
* When the notes ring clean enough gradually increase tempo and make your way to the original.

[nickelsack]

I slowed it down and practiced it and it is getting alot clearer, but it is hard to decide just how to go about muting it. *Are you using your right left or a combination of the 2.

[Devo]

both