finger tapping

Ive been playing awhile but have never learned to fingr tap.Any basic tips. Ive seen guys make it look easy but it seems that i cant get the tapped note to ring loud. Do i need alot of distortion?

not a lot, no... you just need to hit it harder, or more accurately perhaps. The pressure required is about the same as for a hammer-on, it's just getting used to it and bearing in mind you maybe don't have callouses on your picking hand finger tips... (?) Might mean you'r'e not gettinng as good a contact.

Tap high E 12th fret, off to pinky on fret 8, to index on 5, and just roll it around and around.... you'll get the idea. Distortion will help the taps come out, but you'll still have to get the volume even...

I would also look at your pull-offs. If often see students forgetting that tapping involves pull-offs too (depending on the lick your doing naturally).

They seem to struggle with doing pull-offs with the right hand fingers.


If you have access to the lessons on GT, try looking at Kevin Taylor's tapping tutorials.

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=1873
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=1961
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=2059
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=2484

If you want to start with finger tapping, start with Minus the Bear. They have some easier tapping in their earlier material.

Don't go for speed too soon - try it slowly, however slowly you need to go to bring the notes out at an even volume. And I'd discourage using distortion until you can do it clean - no matter what the technique, you should avoid relying on distortion. But as Benoit said, perhaps try going over your pull-offs; once you've got the dynamics nailed, the speed and reticulation comes as easily as falling off a log. :)

Learnt how to tap by many years ago by playing 'Am I Evil' by Metallica - it's one of those tracks that gets drum sticks thrown at you if you do it in guitar shops now though!

These are the guidelines I teach and follow:

• Keep your pick in between your index and thumb and use your middle finger to tap so you can go back to picking if you need to.
• Make sure your shoulder and arm are relaxed.
• Most of the tapping power will be coming from your wrist.
• You will be “bending” or applying your force from your knuckle joint at the base of your middle finger.
• Aim for a little lower than the center of the fret.
• When you tap, apply a large amount of force and pull off to sound the note.
• Make sure your palm is muting the strings you are not tapping (or have some kind of cloth at the neck of your guitar).
• Practice recoiling to gain speed.
• You will only use your forearm when you switch to different strings.

Hope this helps!

Ok.. I already have been doing finger tapping for a number of years, so I know the basics of it. I have even composed a tune where the backing track is tapping with a slight delay effect. I can play the AC/DC Thunderstuck thing with all the single hand tapping etc..

What I want to know is how to go from playing lead/solo to finger tapping, then back to playing the lead/solo again without it seeming like I am changing at all.. I need it to flow from one thing to the other...

I think the main problem I am having is which frets I should be hitting with my right hand when playing in certain modes of certain keys. Whenever I try to just play based on the shapes I know work with normal soloing, it just sounds wrong..


I've also wondering about the plectrum technique I see some people do, where they hit the strings fast with the plectrum and deliver a different sort of tapping sound.

Here's a couple of examples of what I am talking about to help clarify my questions.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DG8YMB63O58

0:34 - At this time in the video it has Tim doing the plectrum tapping I am talking about.

1:00 - At time in the video it has Tim doing the standard finger tapping.

The pick tapping must be done close to the fret but not on it. Just like when you fret a note with your fingers. You also have to control your attack. Since the pick is narrower than your finger, less pressure needs to be applied. Tapping too hard might make the note go out of tune.

You need to stay in the same key when you tap. The note you tap must be in the scale you are soloing with. Most of the mistake I see from guitar player starting to incorporate tapping is that they'll tap random notes. You must stay in the scale you are using :)

Hope that helps you out.

Like previously mentioned, I wrote out about 50 pages of lessons to do with fingertapping.

There's a definite advantage to using compression and distortion and maybe even a little reverb. However, once you get your finger strength and speed up you shoulnd't need it as much.

What I usually do is set the compression threshold high so that it keeps the notes on an even volume...even when using no distortion.
You want the notes to even out and then gradually decay.

If you get full access to the lessons you'll get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Cleanliness and even tapping is the key more than anything.

There's another lesson using a clean sound and reverb to do "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" in one of the lessons that might give you an idea of what I mean.

Thanks for the responses. I have been so overwhelmed by the amount of lessons that I didn't even realise that you had 5 sets of tutorials devoted to tapping. After going through the first set of lessons, I naturally moved to something else entirely without even checking to see if there was more of the same. I also don't really know how to use the lessons properly.. I mean.. I don't know how much I should be practising each one.. should I treat each tutorial set as one 30 minute lesson with an instructor and then practise that "lesson" for a week..

Anyway, after reviewing the lessons a little and taking Benoit's advice as well, I managed to actually play some tapping of my own creation that didn't sound all that bad... though I can hear there is still a lot of work to do..