can you give me some tips on how to learn how to "tap"?

[videodrone]

Wes Borland does this alot, exspecially on Limp Bizkits first album. (no i am not a LB fan by far- but Im a huge Wes Borland fan)

He does tapping alot on teh first album, but i have trouble doing this, is there any special technque to do this, like pushing the strings close to the pickups or anything?

 

[zer0sig]

the mechanics are fairly simple-you need to pop your finger onto the fret pretty qiuckly, and pull it off cleanly, unless you're trying to get some bendiness/wackiness on those pull-offs, then you can stretch them off, etc (i mess with bending on pull-offs on acoustic a lot, because i can't get much of a tapping tone on it). also, you need pretty hot pickups and a nice rigid fretboard to get a good tone. getting your bridge pickup a little closer to the strings might help. i know that i couldn' t tap worth a damn on my strat (maybe partially a setup problem, or just my lack of experience), but things got much better for me when i got my explorer (much hotter-sounding).

 

[Timanator]

I posted a few easy lessons on technique on my site if you wanna try it

www.x-velocity.com

 

[foo]

Steve Lynch graduated GIT the year before I did. This is the real thing.

Check this out:

http://stevelynch.info/auto.asp?Sec=intro&Val=0

Enjoy.

foo

 

[esun127]

I learned how to tap by watching Steve Vai videos (G3 Concert). Paul Gilbert also has some good demos if you can find them... his are easier than Vai's.

 

[6gun]

the thing that i notice when it's not done well is that the tap is done too quickly making the tapped note undistinguishable. you have to dig your index finger (or whatever finger you use) in there and really pull off to get a clean, clear note. i'd practice on one open string doing two note taps in good time before trying to tackle the harder stuff.

funny, nobody mentioned the king of tap...evh.

 

[Aaron Cheney]

EVH taps a little differently than most of us do. First off, he holds his pick between his thumb and middle finger, and taps with his index finger. He also pulls off his index with an upward motion. Most of us mortals hold the pick between the thumb and index, and tap with the middle finger, pulling off with a downward motion.
One other tapper that needs to be mentioned is Jeff Watson of Night Ranger. He and Steve Lynch kind of took tapping to an extreme, using all the fingers from both hands.

As a side note, could the interest of younger guitarists in techniques like tapping signal the impending return of popular shred? Is grunge finally dead??? Is it OK to be a good guitarist again????

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

 

[scottboyher]

EVH is the God of tapping..

 

[Natural Gass]

PRACTICE

Tapping is a technique. Techniques take time to learn. Prictice.

A couple months ago Guitar World had the tab for Eruption - EVH, the mother-of-all-tappers besides being the god-father of the technique.

Ace Frehley and Edward VanHalen are the reason I play electric guitar. I told myself I was going to sit down and learn the tapping section of Eruption, but I started to find it kind of boring. I can only go hoo-da-lee hoo-da-lee hoo-da-lee for so long...

 

[64Firebird]

Let's see if I remember how I used to do this. I'd hold the pick in my mouth (gets it outta the way). If I'm tapping on the 2nd string (B) I hold the 3rd string out of the way with my middle finger and tap with my index finger. I guess my hand is about 90 degrees to the strings and I pull off in an upward motion. Does that make any sense?

 

[mocharock]

No Firebird you lost me at the point where you put the pick in your mouth.

 

[6gun]

Let's see if I remember how I used to do this. I'd hold the pick in my mouth (gets it outta the way). If I'm tapping on the 2nd string (B) I hold the 3rd string out of the way with my middle finger and tap with my index finger. I guess my hand is about 90 degrees to the strings and I pull off in an upward motion. Does that make any sense?

it only works if you're playing a red strat with white stripes.

 

[64Firebird]

LOL I guess my tapping style is a little on the wild side. I don't do it very much anymore though. Maybe I should look into it again.

 

[Faiber]

If you are truly interested in mastering the guitar, I suggest you pick up John Petrucci's (Dream Theater) video, Rock Discipline. It's an amazing video (over 2 hours in length) packed with everything you're going to need to know on the guitar. I've owned this video (I now have it on DVD) since it came out a few years back and I use his method of warm-ups and scale techniques all the time. I highly recommend it!

 

[King Elvis]

One other tapper that needs to be mentioned is Jeff Watson of Night Ranger. He and Steve Lynch kind of took tapping to an extreme, using all the fingers from both hands.

YES!!!
Jeff Watson was AWSOME. His solo in "ROCK IN AMERICA" where he taps with both hands!!! That was the first time I ever saw anything like that. When I was a teenager I hated all of that pop-metal crap, but Night Ranger had TWO AWSOME GUITARISTS!!! They are TOTALLY underrated today!!!

Rock On!!
Mike

 

[King Elvis]

And speaking of tapping...
whatever happened to Michael Angelo??

 

[musicsdarkangel]

I have the solution for you.

Search on google or yahoo for Powertab . It's an exellent tab program and there are several tabs out there that have tapping and of course, several other techniques.

After you have that, go to www.powertabarchive.com and download anything by Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Van Halen, Symphony X, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and theres much more.

All of that stuff will have taps in it. And if you want more advanced tapping shoot me an email kingsha@yahoo.com and i can send you the metal medley that my band is performing, with really tough metal rythm and lead guitar parts.

Start out with VH and Malmsteen first.

Basically tapping is what you'd be doing if you had another left hand finger. It's like doing a legato phrase over and over with your left hand except you use your right to pull off a fret that is too hard for your left hand to reach.

 

[Aaron Cheney]

The thing that killed NightRanger was their songwriting, IMO. I remember seeing an album Jeff Watson put out after their demise that was titled "Lone Ranger", but I never got to hear it.
That was all back in the day when every guitarist wanted to be the inventor or some new technique or style. I even remember seeing an ad once for some guy claiming to be the inventor or the "upside-down guitar technique", and he had the guitar body resting on one shoulder, with the neck pointed down to the floor, playing it like a Chapman stick or something. Goofy.
About that same time Michael Angelo started playing his "X" and "Y" necked guitars and all that. Vai had his heart shaped 3-necker. Ahhhh..... them's was the days!

Jeff Watson, to his credit, kept his tapping style within the bounds of good taste. In fact, I only remember hearing it on a few other cuts over the course of the band's life.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

 

[6gun]

I have the solution for you.

Basically tapping is what you'd be doing if you had another left hand finger.

call it 'the 12 inch super-pinky'.

 

[Aaron Cheney]

I have the solution for you...
...download anything by Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Van Halen, Symphony X, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and theres much more.
Start out with VH and Malmsteen first.

EVH certainly. Steve and Joe - yes. But Yngwie?? Didn't know he did much tapping.

I think the best place to start is to learn the tapping section from "Eruption". It's pretty easy, all on one string, and heck - that's where it all started. From there you can learn tougher tapping things, like the intro to Hot For Teacher, or the first part of the solo in Ice Cream Man. Once you can play the intro to Mean Streets, it will time for you to leave, Grasshopper.

And let's not forget Randy Rhodes. Many of his solos had long tapping sections - Flying High Again or Crazy Train, i.e. Same era, but a very different take on it than EVH.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com