74

II. Tapping - How it Works

Tapping is a technique made famous by Eddie Van Halen. It involves a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs with
the picking hand hammering on to the higher note/fret and then pulls of the string to a lower one.

We can usually choose either the index finger or the middle finger of the picking hand to tap the note.

Here's a basic example:

(+ = tap with picking hand)

Ex. 7

    
       

   
 
 
13 5 13 5 13 5 13 5

 
At any time, we can move our fretting hand to a different fret as well as the picking hand to another fret.
In the next example, we see the fretting hand move to a lower fret or note while the picking hand remains
hammering at the 13th fret:

Ex. 8

         
        

       
13 5 13 5 13 5 13 5 13 3 13 3 13 3 13 3



6 GuitarZoom © 2013
 75


         
       


       

13 5 13 5 13 5 13 5 13 3 13 3 13 3 13 3


The goal here is we're trying to move our fretting hand when the tap goes down. When you tap the string with
the picking hand, that's the time when you can shift because you're holding the string down anyway. At the point
where your picking hand is holding the string down at the higher fret, your fretting hand can move anywhere it
needs to to continue on with tapping.

Ex. 9 features the opposite of the previous example: the picking hand will change position while the fretting
hand remains steady:

Ex. 9
    
     
       


       
13 5 13 5 13 5 13 5 15 5 15 5 15 5 15 5


Ex. 10 combines both ideas previously discussed (movement of the fretting hand from one fret to another,
and movement of the picking hand from one fret to another):

    
  
Ex. 10

         
 
       
13 5 13 5 13 5 13 5 15 3 15 3 15 3 15 3


GuitarZoom © 2013 7
 76 III. Tapping with Two Notes on Fretting Hand
In this next example, we are adding an additional note to our fretting hand, keeping in mind the principles
discussed earlier in our basic tapping. Being able to tap like this is what would bring your solo with tapping
passages to life:


Ex. 11
      
       
          

 6  6  6  6

13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5


The above example demonstrates the traditional sound of tapping on the guitar. The key here is while the tap
from the picking hand is ensuing, the pinkie from the fretting hand will go down to be ready again, so that when
the picking hand's index finger pulls off, the correct note will sound. Take note that the fretting hand's pinkie
is not supposed to land at the same time as the picking hand's index finger but rather a bit later.

As we have discussed earlier we can shift the fretting hand and keep the picking hand in place during tapping:


Ex. 12
      
       
         

 6  6  6  6
13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 5 3 13 5 3 13 5 3 13 5 3


scale: 
      
Ex. 13 shows that we can both move our fretting and picking hands along the lines of the

 
Ex. 13

 
        

 6   6  6  6

13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 13 8 5 15 5 15 5 3 15 5 3 15 5 3


7

8 GuitarZoom © 2013
 77
Ex. 14 shows that you can also just choose to move the picking hand to a different fret:


Ex. 14

  
  
  

      
321

 
 6  6  6  6
13 8 5 15 8 5 13 8 5 15 8 5 13 5 3 15 5 3 13 5 3 15 5 3



Ex. 15 is another tapping pattern where the picking hand taps at the 13th fret, pulls off to 5, and then the fretting hand taps to 8.
This pattern is pretty much the Van Halen-esque tapping pattern:

Ex. 15
      
      
          
 
 6  6  6  6
13 5 8 13 5 8 13 5 8 13 5 8 13 8 5 13 5 8 13 5 8 13 5 8



IV. Tapping with Three Notes on Fretting Hand


Ex. 16 adds the 7th fret note to our tapping on the 2nd string (hammer-on run):

  
Ex. 16

               
  
  
   
 13 5 7 8 13 5 7 8 13 5 7 8 13 5 7 8 
 

GuitarZoom © 2013 9
 78

Ex. 17 is Ex. 16 running backwards (pull-off run):


Ex. 17
  

                 
  
   
 13 8 7 5 13 8 7 5 13 8 7 5 13 8 7 5 
 


With three fingers for our fretting hand, we can be a little bit more creative. Instead of just going forward and backward,
we can go in and out somehow.


Ex. 18
  
   
                     
  
 6  6  6  6
 13 5 8 5 7 5 13 5 8 5 7 5 13 5 8 5 7 5 13 5 8 5 7 5 
 

We can also try all pull-offs initially and then hammer-ons going back


Ex. 19
  
   
                      
 
 6  6  6  6
 13 8 7 5 7 8 13 8 7 5 7 8 13 8 7 5 7 8 13 8 7 5 7 8 
 


10 GuitarZoom © 2013
 V. Picking Hand Sliding and Tapping 79

Another creative thing we can do with tapping is integrate a slide after tapping with the index or middle finger of the
picking hand. Our first example (Ex. 20) features sliding forward after tapping:


Ex. 20
       

                 

    
13 8 7 5 7 8 13 15 8 7 5 7 8 13 15 8 7 5 7 8 13 15 8 7 5 7 8 13 15 8 7 5



 
  

            
 
 
7 8 13 15 8 7 5 7 8 13 15 8 7 5 7 8


There is also the option of sliding forward and then back to where you came from:

 
Ex. 21
  
               
  
 
 13 15 13 8 7 5 7 8 13 15 13 8 7 5 7 8 
 

GuitarZoom © 2013 11
 You can also end on a tap after performing a lick:


80
Ex. 22
 
  
      
 
 


13 8 7 5 7 8 13

In this particular lick, remember that the vibrato is applied by the fretting hand and NOT the finger of the picking
hand. The tapped note will have the vibrato effect using this method.

Lastly, you can actually bend using that same technique as the vibrato:

  
Ex. 23
   
       
 
  full



13 8 7 5 7 8 13 13

Tapping can be used for developing licks. For example, it can be easily combined with a pentatonic scale run. However,
tapping can also be used as a position shift. In the example below, Steve sets up a tap to give himself an opportunity to
move to a different location of the fretboard easily.


  
    
Ex. 24 Ex. 155
           
    


  


15 17
5 7 5 7 12 9 5 7 12 9 12 14
7 5 5 7

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