TAPPING LICK
(A Minor Pentatonic)

You tapmeisters are in for a bit of a treat this week! How 'bout a four-bar barrage of steady 16th notes (performed at 192 b.p.m.), encompassing all six strings, using pitches exclusively from the A Minor Pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G)?

The first two bars of the following Psycho Lick use a combination of the pickhand's index finger (for the “tap,” indicated in the notation staff with “+,” and “T” over the TAB staff) and the fret-hand's index and ring fingers. After each tap, an “index-ring-index” fret-hand fingering pattern immediately follows. You might find it interesting that each note fretted by the “tapping” finger, after a “pull-off” to the fret-hand's index finger, this same “tapped” note is consistently re-fretted using the ring finger. (Note: This is also a fun way to create super-fast trills!) This same fingering approach is then used on each new string encountered, as well as for each position shift that occurs along any given string.

The final two bars use finger taps on each string, from the 1st through 6th, across the 17th fret, exclusively. Meanwhile, the fretting hand is used to hammer-on/pull-off pitches straight out of the garden-variety A Minor Pentatonic fingering located at the 5th fret. Notice that the last note in each 16th-note grouping involves a “hammer-on out of nowhere” on the next lower adjacent string. This particular approach, with such a wide interval distance between the fretting and tapping hands, is somewhat reminiscent of Steve Vai's titillating tapfests. Enjoy!

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

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

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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.