New to Tapping

[sixstrings121]

Hey everyone, new here, and to playing tap style. I'm not using a stick or anything, just a normal 6 string guitar. I was wondering if you guys knew of any instructional sites for tapping guitar. I can only use 2 fingers right now for right hand taps (first finger and middle) and they have blisters on them from playing. Is that normal? But anyway what are some good tap songs to learn and some instructional sites please. Thanks a lot.

[rjgoos]

I'll have a site up for 6-string tappers, hopefully in a month. Stay with us, please!!

Blisters? No, never had those. The action on your guitar needs to be as low as possible for tapping. I'll get a sore wrist or something, if I overdo things, never blisters.


R. Jay Goos

[Uberbass]

If you've not already read it, an excellent introductory essay can be found on Stanley Jordan's website.

Particularly appropriate for 6 string guitar players.

b

http://stanleyjordan.com/Technique/starting.html

[rjgoos]

Yes, this is perhaps the best single introduction to tapping a six-string, that I have found.

I cannot over-stress the importance of low action. My six string tapping instrument is an inexpensive Strat knock-off, but with the strings set really low, it is good enough for my level of ability.


Jay

[mukerji]

Not sure of sites that instruct you on how to tap, but here are my findings on Tapping on six strings:

Video Instructions:

1. Steve Lynch (of Autograph) - Electric Guitar: Instructional Video: pretty ok, its an REH video 80's style. Rather nice, tells you how to play basic shapes and instructs you on practicing 2 handed scales. Nice patterns as well. Good for starters and intermediate.

2. Preston Reed: Acoustic Guitar. Nice video, takes quite some time to grasp and even more to get the rhythm and percussion going. Uses primarily Altered tunings. Slightly intermediate level.

3. Kotaro Oshio: Acoustic Guitar Video from Young Guitar (see my earler post with his name as subject). Intermediate to Advanced, but this is what got me started.

4. Kiko Loureiro (of Angra): Electric Guitar: Off another Young Guitar issue. Melodic 8 finger tapper (for a Metal band). Very nice Chordal Tapping.

5. Stanley Jordan: Electric Tapper: Guitar tuned in 4ths (I think). Not very helpful to me.

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Suggestions:

What I would suggest is (instead of spending a fortune on vidoes) get the tabs off the net for MIDNIGHT by Joe Satriani. Practice those sequences (left handed chords and right hand plays 2 strings). Take that and goof around on different strings and chords. Slowly, but surely, you'll find nice voicings for standard chords.

Use some open chords, these help fill the song, because when you pull off onto the open strings, they ring for sometime creating a nice smooth sound (as opposed to a chunky muted muffled sound in the intial stages).

Then extend your chords to 7ths (Major and Minor) and add random embellishments (right handed notes) to it. Now invest some time and learn to play 2 handed scales so as to attempt some solo notes over certain chord progressions !!! I'll see you on tour then .......


Resource:

1. Download Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com/)
2. Go to My Songbook Site (http://www.mysongbook.com)
3. In the search put "Tapping" and download some tapping exercises. Also Download Midnight by Satriani from there.
4. Open them using Guitar Pro. If you're not familiar, GP allows you to tab your songs and plays them back for you at any tempo. Plus you get to see what to play and how it sounds ! This is the I got to getting taught.

Hope this helps many of you.

[SkinnyDevil]

There are lots of "tap lessons' in guitar mags and on the net, and all the resources listed above are excellent. It's also worth asking what sort of tap/touchstyle stuff interests you.

Some of the things written are very rock-centric, for example, and will do you little good if you are looking to play completely independant lines (Bach, for example). To get a wide sampling, you might try Googling "touchstyle lessons" as well as "tapping lessons + guitar".

I've written several lessons that center on tapping, though they are also mildly rock-centric and very specific to 6-string. "Jennifer Batten style", "Etude for Touchstyle", etc. are among them and can be found on my "lessons" page. But these are geared toward the beginner and probably of little value to anyone already doing even EVH style tapping.

[Touched]

Tapping has really caught on.Kinda cool

[sixstrings121]

Thanks for all the help. I can't find anything on the net about this stuff. Check this guy out though, hes the one who inspired me to learn to tap this stuff

http://www.bobzabek.com/VIDEOS.htm

[Daniel Schell]

Hi

Hi listened to the music and liked it. Really professional band.

best

Daniel

[shemesh]

amazing online tapping lessons: (with video)
http://chopsfromhell.com/guest_broderick2.html

and carlos vamos:

http://www.gitaarnet.nl/magazine/workshops/carlosvamos/video.php3

it's not in english but look in the page for
the tablature section...

good luck :cool:

[BrendaEM]

Other than practicing, which you seem to be doing, and me being new, I only have one trick that a guitar teacher once taught me: I often spend some practice time playing dry through an amplifier without distortion, and this is much harder: no reverb or delay. If you can sound good with a dry amplifier--you can sound good on almost anything.

Playing dry through an amplifier is sometimes a challenge because tapping is very unforging. There isn't a reverb to cover timing variations, and there is no compression from the distortion to cover notes that are too loud or soft.

But, I do suggest allowing yourself some practice with whatever conconction of effects you like too, and there is skill in that too, but myself, I want to learn how to play the instrument itself first.

[You only have one finger to both stop the string and control it's dynamics. It's a percussion instrument. With ordinary guitar playing, it takes twice or even three times the amount of fingers to pluck a string, but we as tappers, have chosen to do them all with--just one.]

[SkinnyDevil]

Excellent advice, BrendaEM! Using only a clean amp setting (or simply playing acoustically or with no amp at all) is an excellent way to force consistency in technique and keep you focused on dynamics, proper placement, & the like.

I teach (and practice) primarily on acoustic guitar, so when I pull out the electric my tap work doesn;t require so much effort to keep clean.

[hpcrazy]

I do some online instructions about touch technique on 6 string guitar on my online guitarschool. HPCRAZY's guitarsite (http://www.hpcrazy.com/guitarsite)

But the lessons are not free. :rolleyes:

Greetings

HP

[Cause]

Many tapp file is broken on Mysongbook. Can somebody upload these files ?
Anybody upload some songs to workout?
Txanks !

[hpcrazy]

Many tapp file is broken on Mysongbook

Mysongbook.com has some problems with coprights. I guess they will close soon or switch to a system where you have to pay for tabs. Like Napster.....

HP