Finger tapping is usually a combination of hammering and pulling off. The technique involves hammering notes with your ‘fret hand’ in conjunction with hammering notes with your picking hand. The concept was thrust into the bewildered ‘mainstream’ rock scene by Eddie Van Halen. In the space of about a minute and a half, Eruption launched Mr. Van Halen into guitar hero status with both hands.
Here’s an example of a four note finger tap technique.
Hammer the Octave E note of the high E string with your pick hand middle finger.
As you pull off the note, hammer the B note with the ring finger of your fret hand.
As you pull off that note, hammer the G# note with the index finger of your fret hand.
Pull off the A note to the open E.
You want a nice fluid transition from note to note. As always, you want to hit the notes squarely and with authority to produce a clear tone.
Variations:
The possibilities are endless. Try reversing the above example. Start by hammering your index on the G# note, then hammer the B with your ring, hammering the E octave with your pick hand middle, and pull off to the open E. Repeat…
With imagination, you can perform two, three, four note hammering (etc.) that would never be possible utilizing just one hand and you can get serious speed utilizing this technique.
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