Who "invented" Tapping? the first guitarist who ever played tapping

I read, i dont remember where, that the first guitarist that ever played tapping was either Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads. During the 70's when they had their war about
who is the best guitarist on the planet, one of the tricks they applied to win the battle was tapping but noone can tell for sure who was the first one who used it.

I read something like this a long time so i may not remember right, if you know anything about this clear it up

by the way two handed tapping is tapping?!
i have seen both of these terms and i wonder if they are exactly the same technique

Van Halen's Eruption is two handed tapping?

Believe it or not I was watching "Kiss My Ass" and after "Shock Me" Ace Frehly did his own little guitar solo. The solo sounded like **** but I noticed he did some very basic two-handed tapping in it and this was in 1977 one year before the first Van Halen album came out. Rhoads is way off though because he didn't come into the American music till 1981 and he came into the Japan scene in 1979 so it couldn't have been him. But I think he's way better than Eddie Van Halen anyway.

eddie was doing it years before his first album in 78'...he used to turn his back during the two handed parts so no-one would copy him or figure out what he was doing...but jeff beck was doing the tapping of notes with the guitar pick in the early 70's...eddie made it famous...he was not the first but he made alot of other guitarist want to tap

So it was Jeff Beck...
do you know any Jeff Beck songs with tapping that was recorded before Eddie Van Halen do it?
I'd like to hear that technique at its early stages before
Van Halen did those hellish tappings in the mid-70's

I know that ZZ Top's guitarist Billy Gibbons was one of the first guitar players to use a little tapping in Rock, he didn't do as anything elaborate as Van Halen, who in my opinion does it the best.
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One Good Amp, One Good Cord, One Good Guitar and Two Very Good Hands!

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This is a really old thread, but one of continuing interest.

While I do not disagree Eddie did it the best, nor doubt that Jeff Beck did it early in the 70's, I would like to add that in the Winterland concert film by Styx, Tommy Shaw does some two-handed tapping. This was in 1975.

Yopu can find it on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7M8L1rAUsI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR3tGulLv88