Tapping

Tapping

Tapping is an extended technique, executed by using either hand to ‘tap’ the strings against the fingerboard. Tapped passages incorporate the techniques of hammer-on and pull-off, but with both hands freed to produce notes. Tapping is the primary technique intended for some instruments such as the Chapman Stick, and is the alternative method for the Warr Guitar and others.

About Tapping in brief

Summary TappingTapping is an extended technique, executed by using either hand to ‘tap’ the strings against the fingerboard, thus producing legato notes. Tapping is the primary technique intended for some instruments such as the Chapman Stick, and is the alternative method for the Warr Guitar and others. Tapped passages incorporate the techniques of hammer-on and pull-off, but with both hands freed to produce notes. Some guitarists may choose to tap using the sharp edge of their pick instead of fingers to produce a faster, more rigid flurry of notes closer to that of trilling, with a technique known as pick tapping. Similar to two-hand tapping, selpe technique is used in Turkish folk music on the instrument called the bağlama. The harpejji is a tapping instrument which is played on a stand, like a keyboard, with fingers typically parallel to the strings rather than perpendicular. All of these instruments use string tensions less than a standard guitar, and low action to increase the strings’ sensitivity to lighter tapping.

While tapping is most commonly observed on electric guitar, it may apply to almost any string instrument, and several instruments have been created specifically to use the method. The Bunker Touch-Guitar is designed for the technique, with an elbow rest to hold the right arm in the conventional guitar position. The Chapman Stick is an instrument designed primarily for tapping, and is based on the Free Hands two-handed tapping method invented by Chapman in 1969. The Hamatar, Mobius Megatar, Box Guitar, and Solene instruments were designed for the same method. Some players rely extensively or exclusively on tapping, though not exclusively. The most popular tapping instrument is the Electric Stick, a 9-string long-scale electric guitar which he dedicated to the most popular style of tapping, which he called ‘the Electric Stick’ In August 1969, Emmett Chapman developed a new way of tapping with two hands held perpendicular to the neck, thus enabling equal counterpoint.