Tapping Overview
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What is tapping? For the purposes of this tutorial, tapping is just a nice generic name for any kind of two handed articulation technique.
What's the differences? Well, there's standard tapping (popularized by Edward Van Halen), bi-dextral tapping (practiced by Vai, Michael Angelo, and countless other virtuosos) and other variants.
Beginning Tapping:
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There are two reasons you'd want to use tapping. First is a case where you want to use a wide interval that your fretting hand can't reach. The second case is that you want to articulate more notes than you have fingers on your frethand. It also looks impressive
If you've never used right hand technique before, you're going to be reminded of how your fingers felt when you first started playing. That is,
steel strings hurt your fingers at first. It's important to try and build up your skills before delving into "Hot for Teacher".
What you want to try to do is press down on the fret indicated with your tapping finger with enough force to sound the note. You don't have to break your hand, but try to make it as articulate as possible. If you don't do it right slow, it's going to sound like mush when it's fast. Keep in mind that tapping is like legato, most of the sound created comes after you pull off. Try this exercise:
note preceeded by a "t" are to be tapped.
Code:
e---------
B-t9-p2-h5
G---------
D---------
A---------
E---------
focus on clarity and smoothness first. Like any other technique, the speed will be easier to learn if you can already do it slowly.
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This is as good a time as any to discuss which fingers you decide to tap with. The greats all have preferences. EVH likes to hold his pick with his middle finger and thumb while he taps with his index finger. Vai is more often seen holding the pick in a standard (index & thumb) grip and tapping with his middle and ring fingers. It's really up to you. When I'm instructing, I usually advise folks to tap with their middle finger, it keeps your hand holding the pick and ready to pick notes along with the taps, or to sweep pick. There are always exceptions though.
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Understanding the Theory Behind Tapping:
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I could just as well have called this section ("How do I know which notes to tap?"). That's probably the most-often asked question I get regarding two-hand technique. The easy answer is; do whatever you want. The explanation takes more time. Basically, two-handed technique should just be an extension of your regular soloing. So, when deciding what to tap, just think about what notes you play when you're fretting those notes normally. This is a good way to get started.
For example, say you're soloing in C Ionian (C Major). How would you solo in the 5th position or in the 13th position. Maybe it'd be something like this?
Code:
e------------5h8--------13-15
B--------5h8------13-15------
G-----5v---------------------
D-5h7------------------------
A----------------------------
E----------------------------
Notice all of those notes are directly from C Major.
Now, to create a basic tapping run, just combine those two ideas, shown here:
Code:
e---------------------------------5h8-t13-p8-p5-t15-p8-p5
B---------5h8-t13-p8-p5-t15-p8-p5------------------------
G-----5h7------------------------------------------------
D-5h7----------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------
The next step is to think about what you want to do with your tapping. You can change the feel of a song with both your choice of notes and the way you play them. Use wide intervals to give the solo a feeling of unraveling, like the melody is pulling itself apart, use closer intervals to give the solo a cascading feel (like a piano roll).
You can also use your tapping to give the solo a different tonality.
Here, the left hand plays from C Ionian, while the tapped notes are taken from the Dorian mode, this will give it another different feel.
Code:
e---------------------------------5h8-t13-p8-p5-t18-p8-p5
B---------5h8-t14-p8-p5-t15-p8-p5------------------------
G-----5h7------------------------------------------------
D-5h7----------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------
Beyond Basics:
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There's obviously more to right hand technique than fretting notes the way you would with your left hand. Other uses are as follows:
- tapped slides
- tapped harmonics (as in Van Halen's "Women in Love")
- backward tapping (a la Rasberry Jam Delta V)
- pick tapping (guess what this is)
Tapped Slides are just another one of the techniques found on early Van Halen albums. It's as easy to do as it sounds. Instead of just tapping stright down onto a fret, tap and slide your finger up the board. You'll hear a sliding sound as you pull off.
Tapped harmonics are slightly different. In every previous case, you've been pressing down fairly hard to articulate the notes. Tapped harmonics require just as much pressure as natural harmonics. What you do here is fret a note with your left hand, and tap on the fret that is 12 frets above it. In this case you're actually going to try and tap on top of the steel fret, not over the wood. You should hear a harmonic that sounds like a *ping*.
Backward tapping is done when you use your picking hand to fret notes higher than your fretting hand. Then you use your fretting hand to tap notes farther up the board.
Joe Satriani does this to great effect on Rasberry Jam Delta V.
Pick Tapping is simply tapping with the pick :biggrin:
Other varieties and complexeties are everywhere, but this should serve as a good intro.
Songs to work on:
beginner:
- Van Halen "Panama" (standard tapping)
- Van Halen "Women in Love" (tapped harmonics)
- Steve Vai "Liberty" (standard tapping)
intermediate:
- Van Halen "Mean Street" (bi-dextral tapping)
- Eric Johnson "Venus Isle" (tapped harmonics)
- Van Halen "Hot for Teacher" (standard tapping)
difficult:
- Steve Vai "Juice"
- Van Halen "Eruption" (simple stuff, but you'll need endurance)
- DLR "Big Trouble"
