Finger Tapping 101



Want to try out a technique that will impress your friends and won't require years of practice to get the basics? Let's try some simple finger tapping!

Finger tapping involves using a finger (or fingers) from your picking/strumming hand (the right hand for right handed players) to press down on the fret board as well as your usual fretting hand.

Here's a very basic example:

Ex 1

E--t17-p12-h15-t17-p12-h15-- (repeat...)
B---------------------------
G---------------------------
D---------------------------
A---------------------------
E---------------------------

First of all fret the 12 fret of the high E string with the index finger of your usual fretting hand. Don't actually play the note; at this point you are simply preparing to play the second note of the exercise. Next firmly hit or 'tap' the index finger of your strumming hand onto the 17th fret of the high E string. Now you need to flick your finger slightly down and off the string. This should have the effect of sounding note at the 12th fret that you previously placed your fretting hand index finger on. Now hammer onto the 15th fret with your 3rd or fourth finger. You should have succesfully sounded three notes without using your pick at all. Repeat this slowly until you get a smooth and even progression through the three notes. Once you have mastered this slowly start to build up speed. It should not be long before you can play this very quickly.

An important aspect of this technique is muting. You must mute all 5 other strings or else this will sound messy especially with distortion. Use the palm of your picking hand to mute the un-played strings. This will take a little while for you to get comfortable with but it should become quite easy with a little practice.

Let's try this on another string:

Ex 2

E--------------------------- (repeat...)
B--t17-p12-h15-t17-p12-h15--
G---------------------------
D---------------------------
A---------------------------
E---------------------------

The technique for playing this is similar to Ex 1, except this time you need to mute the high E string with the fleshy part of your fretting hand index finger as well as muting the other strings with the palm of your strumming hand.

Finally lets look at running these two examples together:

Ex 3

E--t17-p12-h15-------------- (repeat...)
B--------------t17-p12-h15--
G---------------------------
D---------------------------
A---------------------------
E---------------------------

Play this example really slowly and pay attention to when you shift the position of each of the three fingers you are using from the E string to the B string and back.

Good luck and happy tapping...