Tapping In Depth

[NC11-AM] Hello everybody. As I know that many of you have had difficulties learning tapping through the other lessons, I am going to try to make a more in depth lesson, for those who struggle. Because it is a fairly difficult technique to learn, but I wouldn't know because I had a video explain to me.

However, for more advanced tapping folk, I highly suggest that you read another lesson, because this only covers the basic tapping technique, so don't get your hopes up. Enough of this intro though, and onto my lesson. To learn tapping, I am going to take you back to basics to start off with.

Hammer-ons.
The hammer-on, is a pretty basic technique. This requires you to use your left hand and pluck a note, perhapes to start with, use your index finger to fret it. After the note is plucked, leave it ringing and, without the right hand, push any other finger on it, so it gracefully switches to the new note that you just made. It may need excessive amounts of practicing (depending on your skill) to master, but I'm almost positive most of you know how to do it. On a tab, hammer-ons are usually represented by an "h," except on actual tabs, which have a curve thing with h. o. above it. But on net tabs, like the ones on this site, the "h" is the most common occurrence. Here is a visual example:

|--5h6---------------|
|--------6h8---------|
|--------------8h11--|
|--------------------|
|--------------------|
|--------------------|

Once you can do that (and I advise you be able to do all of it, especially being able to do 8h11 with at least your index finger and pinky. If you can't even do that, you need to learn how), then try this excercise below:

|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------9h10h11h12--|
|--------------------------9h10h11h12-------------------|
|--------------5h6h7h8----------------------------------|
|--1h2h3h4----------------------------------------------|

|--------------1h2h3h4--|
|--5h6h7h8--------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|

Note: Those 2 chunks are the same excercise.

Now, I know some of you will be tempted to just slide your finger up the neck and say, "Hah! I can do that excercise!" Hell no. on this excercise, use all 4 fingers, and hammer on nice and clean. It doesn't have to be incredibally fast or anything, just make sure to use all your fingers, Once you can do that, we can proceed. 

Pull-Offs.
Are the complete opposites of our friend, the hammer-on, above. Just put, say, your ring finger (the one next to the pinky) on a fret, and have a finger bhind it on a lower pitched fret behind it. Nowe just pull the higher pitched finger away, while sort of plucking it with the same finger, and be sure to leave the lower pitched finger on the same fret. The pitch should drop, its variance depending on the space you left between your fingers. On a net tab, a pull off is a "p," and on a regular tab, it is a curve with p. o above it. Heres a visual:

|--6p5--------------|
|--------7p5--------|
|--------------8p5--|
|-------------------|
|-------------------|
|-------------------|

Now, if you can do that, then try to do this excercise:

|--12p11p10p9------------------------------|
|-------------------8p7p6p5----------------|
|-------------------------------4p3p2p1p0--|
|------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|

|------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------|
|--12p11p10p9------------------------------|
|-------------------8p7p6p5----------------|
|-------------------------------4p3p2p1p0--|

Now, just remember not to slide and to use all of your fingers. And no picking, except 1 to get started. Before you go on to the next section on trills, get comfortable with these babies first.

Trills.
Trills put everything covered above and utilize them to make a whole pile of legato phrasing. Legato means gracefully. So basically, no picks=legato. Everything above is forms of legato phrasing. So don't use picks for any of it. Also, trills and the stuff above is done with the left hand. Remember that. So, back to what I was saying, tills are combining hammer-ons and pull-offs into one crazy combo. All you have to be able to do, is be able to hammer-on then pull (with the same two fingers) fluently. It may seem difficult, but it will soon become a breeze.

First of try this:
|---------------------|
|--5h7p5h7p5h7p5h7p5--|
|---------------------|
|---------------------|
|---------------------|
|---------------------|

Now just remember to read the hs and ps and use your index and ring fingers to make that stretch. And, if you haven't done it YET, for heaven's sake use your left hand! I can't stress this enough, because if you are thinking, "Oh look at me I can tap," and you use your right hand for thse excercises, it won't sound anything like tapping. Now, I'm sure most of you won't do that, but you'd be surprised what people do these days. Heres a more difficult excercise:

|--1h3p1p0h1h3p1p0h1h3--|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|

Repeat that for a while, and you will be surprised how helpful it can be. This next excercise is good for trilling with all of your fingers:

|---5h6p5h7p5h8p5h7p5h6p5--|
|--------------------------|
|--------------------------|
|--------------------------|
|--------------------------|
|--------------------------|

Then try this: 
|---6h7p6h8p6h7p6--|
|------------------|
|------------------|
|------------------|
|------------------|
|------------------|

And finally this: 
|---7p8h7--|
|----------|
|----------|
|----------|
|----------|
|----------|

For the above three excercises, what you are essentially doing is keeping one finger stationary, while the others trill on it. If you practice all 3 of these alot, you will become an ultimate master (haha) at trilling. If you want a good audio example of a good trill excercise, listen to the begginning of AC/DC's thunderstruck. Practice that. If you want to see it, I will post it below: this is all done on the B string (second thinnest and second highest pitch).

|---0h4p0h7p0h4p0h7 Repeat a few times

|---0h5p0h8p0h5p0h8 Repeat a few times

Repeat above sequence twice, being sure to use your pinky and index finger to make that stretch. Following that, the rest of the intro is like this:

|---12p0h10p0h9p0h10p0h9p0h7p0h9p0

|---h5p0h7p0h4p0h5p0h4p0h5

In my opinion thats a good trill excercise. After you are comfortable with that, we can move onto the subject of the lesson. 

 

Tapping.
The above tells it all. Tapping is one of the most overused techniques around these days. But I like it. So now, I should explain what tapping is. It's a giant trill. Only with an extra hand thrown in, to make phrasings that would otherwise e impossible with one hand, a breeze with two of them. So I want you to get your guitar, and just do this trill right here:

|--------------|
|---5h8p5h8p5--|
|--------------|
|--------------|
|--------------|
|--------------|

Now I want you to do it, but in slow motion. If possible, use you index and ring fingers to reach that stretch. it may seem hard now, but it will make things a bunch easier. Now do it in slow motion. Now, when you are ready, hammer-on your right index finger onto the twelfth fret (if your finger seems a bit weak at first, do not fret (I made a funny) you will get the hang of it in time), and then pull it off (all done in slow motion) and continue with the trill, with that newly added note. Now I'm guessing that it sounds kinda funky, but hopefully you aren't lost just yet. So play that piece with the added right finger and keep it going for as long as you can. Be sure not to use a pick, but you may feel more comfortablr with your right hand middle finger instead of your right hand index finger. Either way is fine, but do not use a pick. Tapping is still a form of legato phrasing, no matter how you look at it. So, you are probably saying, this is pretty lame. Well try this next excercise, and it will sound better:

       T   T    T
|---------------------|
|---12p5h8h12p5h8h12--|
|---------------------|
|---------------------|
|---------------------|
|---------------------|

Notice the "T" means, you guessed it, Tap the note below it. Now, to get a nicer sound, when you get to the point where a finger is hammer-oned to the 8th fret, do not release it until the 12th fret has been tapped. Because you would have to move your finger on the 8th fret in order to pull off to the 5th fret, by the use of your right hand. Still don't get it? Well an audio example ought to help. Ever heard of a little song called Eruption? If you haven't, you probably should. It is by Van Halen on their first album entitled (get this) Van Halen. At the very end is a very nice sounding tapping part, that is actually not that difficult to do. Here is the tab for that part:

This is all done on the b string. 

 T T T
|---9p2h5h9p2h5h9p2h5

 T T T
|---10p2h5h10p2h5h10p2h5

 T T T
|---10p4h7h10p4h7h10

 T T T
|---12p4h712p4h7h12p4h7

 T T T
|---12p5h9h12p5h9h12p5h9 This is a hard stretch

 T T T
|---13p5h8h13p5h8h13p5h8

 T T T
|---15p7h10h15p7h10h15p7h10

 T T T 
|---17p9h12h17p9h12h17p9h12

Remember to take it step by step, and if you need to, slow it down a bit. For the rest of the tapping part, there are about a gazillion Eruption tabs out there, so go get it if you want it, but it s a bit difficult to do at this level. So folks thats it. You (hopefully) have mastered at least the basics of tapping, although, it covers the other techniques o, more so than the tapping, I find those are essential in learning to tap.