How to Finger Tap on the Guitar

A distinctive technique used in heavy metal guitar is finger tapping. Popularized by Eddie Van Halen in the late 1970s, finger tapping opens up a new range of tones for the heavy metal guitarist. Learning the fundamentals will bring your shredding to a new level.

Things You'll Need

• Guitar
• Guitar pick

Instructions

1. Set the gain knob on your amp to its highest setting. This increases the amount of sustain each tapped note has. Without sustain your tapping will sound weak and thin.

2. Decide on a simple melody to begin with. This ensures that you're actually tapping notes, rather than producing random squeals.

3. Fret the first note with your non-dominant hand. Open strings tend to produce excessive noise when learning how to finger tap, so fretting will help make a cleaner sound.

4. Quiet the strings you're not using by resting the heel of your picking hand on them.

5. Tap the next note with either the index or pointer finger on your picking hand. Hit it between the fret lines, just as if you were fretting it. Work on hitting the note cleanly, and holding it for maximum sustain.

6. Hit the next note in your melody by tapping. One note is easy enough, but there are a lot of quick transitions in heavy metal guitar you need to master in order to pull off a decent sounding solo.

7. Practice frequently and work on incorporating more fingers on your picking hand, to increase your speed.

Tips & Warnings

• It may be helpful to listen to some of Eddie Van Halen's songs to find out how finger tapping should sound.