Tapping Licks & Tricks

For the April 2002 issue of GuitarOne magazine I got to write up a MONSTER lesson on one on my favorite subjects: The art of fingertapping! Well... Oftentimes when I go about creating materials for in-depth G1 lessons, I come up with more stuff than I can use. So... Fer yer tappin' pleasure, this installment of Psycho Licks features a pretty sizeable wad of semi-insane “tapping outtakes” from the above G1 lesson—everything from a plethora of pick taps and scary tapped scale sequences, to demented diminished tapping licks and hellacious whole-tone multi-finger tapping lines. Enjoy!

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A Plethora of Pick Taps!

I was screwing around between students at GIT a month or so ago, and this silly pick-tapping thing came out. Kind of reminds me of the background “tune” you hear on that old arcade game, Galaga (and/or Galaxian). It's a pattern confined to the top three strings, with each individual string approached with the same five-note “tap with pick and pull-off” motif. Once you blaze through each of the three strings, just shift the sucker up the neck, sticking to notes within the C major scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B) throughout.

(*You can hear the lick FAST by clicking HERE*)

(*You can hear the lick SLOW by clicking HERE*)

Scary Scalar Sequence, Tapping-Style!

This next blazing lick is a “tapped” extension of a three-notes-per-string scalar sequence, again using notes from the C scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B). After the first three ascending notes, your tapping finger is used to add a fourth note to each string, then a string of pull-offs follows. From the 2nd string onward, ahammer-on from the fret hand (“out of nowhere”) is also used to kick off each string's individual legato flurry.

(*You can hear the lick FAST by clicking HERE*)

(*You can hear the lick SLOW by clicking HERE*)

Demented Diminished Scale Tapping Lick!

Since the diminished scale is totally symmetrical (when arranged in stepwise order, comprised exclusively of half-whole-half-whole steps), once you know where its notes reside, pretty fun tapping patterns can be squeezed outta the neck. The tapping lick below, which features the “E half-whole” diminished scale (E-F-G-G#-A#-B-C#-D), is designed for use over an altered E7 chord. Using this scale over E7 intriduces altered tones like “b9” (the note “F”), “#9” *(the note “Fx” or “G”), and “#11/b5” (the note “A#” or “Bb”). To properly unload this four-notes-per-string line, all you gotta do is tap the highest note positioned along each string, use your fret-hand to finish off the remaining three notres, then move the pattern to the next higher string, targetting the interval specified (a “tritone,” or “augmented fourth/flatted fifth”).

(*You can hear the lick FAST by clicking HERE*)

(*You can hear the lick SLOW by clicking HERE*)

Partial Pentatonic Passage with Picking/Fretting-Hand Finger Pairs!

This next gnarly pattern involves variations on a “mirror” fingering approach—where notes tapped on the highest frets are pulled off to pitches an octave lower along the same string. The only trick with this one? Two pickhand fingers are used to tap!

In the lick below, a four-note motif—A-G-D-C (4/5ths of the C major/A minor pentatonic scale)—is tapped out on the bottom string pair, using the pick-hand's ring (e.g., “a”) and index (e.g., “i”) fingers, alternately. Notice that each individual tap is “echoed” immediately afterward with a pull-off to a “pre-fretted” note, exactly one octave lower (the distance of 12 frets). Also, the fret-hand finger used to “mirror” each tapped note is identical (e.g., the pick-hand's tapping ring finger pulls off to fret-hand's ring finger).

(*You can hear the lick FAST by clicking HERE*)

(*You can hear the lick SLOW by clicking HERE*)

Hellacious Whole-Tone Multi-Finger Mayhem!

This last lick (another multi-finger freakshow) is modeled after another fret-hand/tapping-hand “mirroring” approach often implemented by psychotic shredder Buckethead, and revolves around pitches from the Whole-Tone scale. This frightening phrase puts tremendous pressure on your pinky (e.g., “c”), so work this one up to speed cautiously. After you get this lick under your belt, consider moving the pattern up the fretboard in whole step increments (the distance of two frets). Once you run out of frets, turn the this terrifying tapfest around and start descendin'! You'll have onlookers running for cover!

(*You can hear the lick FAST by clicking HERE*)

(*You can hear the lick SLOW by clicking HERE*)

Like This 100% Free Shred Guitar Lesson?

To help support this site's free online guitar lessons, please check out my new acoustic CD, INTERPRETATIONS—10 crazy versions of '60s and '70s classic rock cover songs (including Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody,” reproduced “live” with a single guitar and voice!!) Thank you :)

1. “Bohemian Rhapsody” 6:03  2. “God Only Knows” 2:39  3. “Blackbird” 2:28  4. “Sweet Baby James” 3:52  5. “Hallelujah” 6:28  6. “She’s Always a Woman” 3:08  7. “Leader of the Band” 4:17  8. “Sister Golden Hair” 2:53  9. “Castles Made of Sand” 3:12  10. “Coconut” 3:44

Total playing time: 39:03 All songs used by permission. All rights reserved.

CD dedicated to my mother, Jeff Buckley, and a few of my friends.