What is the guitar tapping technique

Guitar tapping is a variation of the hammer-on and pull-off technique. The only difference is the first hammer-on\tap is done with either the index or middle finger of the picking hand. Then that same finger lifts or pulls off to play the next note.

That’s really the basics of guitar finger tapping – it’s just a hammer-on. But let’s take a closer look at the technique.

Guitar finger tapping in detail

First off, know that you need to fret the 2nd and 3rd note to be played, and you use your normal fretting fingers. I prefer fretting a minor 3rd with my index and ring finger. That’s the first step – you want to be ready with those notes after the tap.

In the first example below I hold down the A 5th fret 1st string with my index\pointer finger and the C at the 8th fret with my ring finger. The first note I play is the tapped E at the 12th fret and I use the middle finger of my picking hand.

Keep two things in mind. First, I only play my acoustic and this technique is best suited for an electric guitar. As a result, I need to pull off with my tapping finger to be able to hear the second note.

Secondly, I’m not a huge fan of this technique. It’s cool and I work it in from time to time, but it’s not a go-to guitar technique for me.

Anyway, you come straight down on your target note with the picking hand middle finger. which is the “tapping” part of this technique. Then you either pull-off (acoustic) or lift off (electric) to play the 2nd note. Immediately follow that with another pull-off to the note held by your index finger.

That would be a triplet. Hammer-on to the 2nd note to play a 4-note 16th phrase – repeat.

Guitar tapping tablature exercises

For the two TAB examples below I have 4-note 16th note and triplet riffs with a resolve to the tonic minor or major chord, however, go to any other chord that works for your riffs.

The first set of exercises involves an A minor triad resolving to an A note. The 2nd chord can be looked at as an Am add9 or a Cmaj13 no 5th and I resolve that to a C note. For the Am riff, it’s the 5th, minor 3rd, and root note.

The actual technique is:

• Come straight down with your middle finger on the 12th fret,
• Immediately pull-off to play the fretted note on the 8th fret,
• Then immediately pull-off to the fretted 5th note – that’s an Am triad in reverse (E-C-A).

The following TAB starts with a C7 no 5th (E-C-Bb) resolving to F major, followed by a Bdim (F-D-B) or G7 no root resolving to C major.

Come up with your own arpeggios or scale riffs with as many or as few notes that sound good to you. Try a dominant 7th without the 3rd like D7 no 3rd (D-C-A). Experiment and get creative!

Final Thoughts

The hardest part of this guitar technique is correctly tapping the first note and have it ring out clearly and in time. And then maybe the pull-off with the tapping finger if you are playing acoustic like me. After that, it’s just pull-offs and hammer-ons.

Give it a shot and add another tool to your guitar technique toolbox. For real-world examples listen to songs with these guitar players that I like: Stanley Jordan, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Allan Holdsworth, and Michael Hedges.

Check out my Guitar Techniques article for a list of all the embellishments available to you as a guitar player. Also, look at the Wikipedia article on Tapping for history on the technique.

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Guitar hammer on and pull off general notes

The guitar techniques of hammer on and pull, abbreviated as HOPO, have a number of things in common. And in case you don’t know, they are usually played together. Here are characteristics and tips for both guitar techniques:

• HO and PO complement each other, are extremely common, easy to play, and tend to be played together.
• They are a great way to play multiple notes without plucking\picking each note. That form of playing notes is known as legato. Other legato techniques are string bends and slides.
• Both techniques involve playing a single note. Tthen your fretting hand sounds the other note(s) via quick hammer-ons or pull-offs.
• Try to make the 2nd note equal to or close to the volume of the first note.
• Both involve sets of notes 1, 2, or 3 frets apart.
• A trill is a guitar technique of multiple hammer-ons and pull-offs (see the last section).

Guitar Hammer On Technique

Here is the how-to of the guitar hammer on technique:

• Start by playing one note then using another finger on the fretting hand to play a 2nd note above the first note by “hammering on” the 2nd note.
• Hammering on the string or note means to bring your finger down hard, like a hammerhead to a nail, to make the 2nd note ring out.
• Make sure to hammer directly down on the string, not at an angle as that tends to have a lower volume
• Hammer ons are often abbreviated as HO and shown in guitar TAB as “h” or “H”.

Summary: play a fretted note or open string – then “hammer” strongly onto the same string at a higher fret with one of your fretting fingers.

Guitar Pull Off Technique

Pull-offs are the opposite of the hammer on technique. Here is the how-to of the guitar pull off technique:

• You fret two notes on the same string, play the higher fretted note and then sound the 2nd note by forcibly pulling your finger off the higher fretted note.
• Make sure to use the tip of the fretting finger to pluck or pull the string to the side.
• Note that you have less volume with pull-offs than with hammer sons.
• Pull offs are abbreviated as PO and notated in TAB with “p” or “P”. Together you get HOPO.
• You can also do a pull-off to an open string.

Summary: have 2 notes fretted on the same string – play the higher fretted note then pull the string to the side rather than just lifting off.

Guitar trill technique

A trill is a series of repeated HOPOs as fast as possible. This is truly an ornamental guitar technique. It definitely sounds good, but you don’t see it as often as HOPOs.

What you do is decide which two notes you want as part of your trill. In the example below I’m using the major 3rd and perfect 4th of D (F# and G). It’s typical to start with a hammer on but start with a pull off if you want.

And just repeat the HOPOs for as long as it sounds good to you. In the TAB example below I a Dmaj7 followed by a Dsus and D chord. Try the same over a D add9, D6, D7, etc. The middle measure is an example of a trill as 32nd notes. The last measure shows how it would be notated in sheet music.

An example of a trill is the song Eight Miles High by The Byrds. They use a trill to signal the return to the verse section. I think it’s a trill – might be a tremolo.

Final Thoughts

The hammer on and pull off guitar techniques are two of the easiest embellishments. You would be crazy not to incorporate them into your playing.

Take a look at the Guitar Legato page on Wikipedia for more information on all legato techniques. Also, check out my article listing all the guitar techniques you should know.

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25+ Guitar techniques

Check out the guitar techniques section of my Music Symbols article where I have more to say on the following guitar techniques. Expect to see articles in the upcoming months on every technique listed and more in-depth coverage of each technique and embellishment for guitarists.

Single, double, & multi-note embellishments

There are only two guitar techniques that involve a single note:

1. Tremolo: rapid repetition of a single note.
2. Vibrato: a slight back and forth string bend.

Here are 8 two-note techniques:

1. Hammer-On: Played by striking a note and then hammering onto a higher-pitched note to sound the second note.
2. Pull-Off: is when you play one note and then pull off to sound a second note.
3. Trill: Similar to a tremolo but with two notes involving repeated hammer-ons and pull-offs.
4. Mordent: This is a specific trill that involves a single sequence of a hammer-on and pull-off for the note above your principle note (upper mordent). A lower mordent involves a pull-off and then hammer on to and from the note below the target note. So a single HOPO or POHO.
5. String Bends: when you pluck a note then push or pull the string to sound a higher pitch note.
6. Slides (Portamento): tends to be a slow slide where you hear the individual notes between the first note and final note.
7. Slides (Glissando): is a quicker slide than portamento where you do not hear the individual notes between the first and last note.
8. Double-stops \ guitar dyads: This is basically playing 2 notes simultaneously or maybe individually if done in sequences or alternating simultaneous and individual picking  (intervals).

Here are 3 multi-note embellishments:

1. Arpeggio: Playing a chord as single notes typically in the order of the chord construction, in thirds.
2. Tapping: a hammer-on technique but where you use your picking hand to hammer-on any note on a string.
3. Gruppetto \ Turn: This is a 4-note riff in the pattern of target note + upper neighboring note + lower neighboring note + target note. Or you could reverse the upper and lower notes. You can also opt to start with the neighboring note vs principle note.

Percussive guitar techniques

Use these techniques to add rhythmical interest to your playing.

1. Ghost-Note: a dead note as the result of muting the string plucked.
2. Palm Mute: using your palm to slightly mute the notes/strings being played.
3. Rake: 2 or more dead or ghost notes before your target note.
4. Pickscrape: scraping the pick on the wound strings, strings E thru G.
5. Golpe: tapping the guitar body after playing a chord.
6. Pop or Snap: pulling a string away from the body and letting it “snap” or “pop” back.
7. Slap: Using the thumb or palm to slap the bass strings.

Miscellaneous embellishments

Here are some other guitar techniques that may interest you.

1. Sustain: Allowing a note, interval, or chord to ring out for 2 or more measures. Think “feedback”.
2. Rip: a fast lick of 32nd notes or faster.
3. Sul ponticello: means to play the strings at or very near the bridge of the guitar.
4. Sul tasto: this technique involves playing the strings over the fingerboard.
5. Use of silence: By stopping all playing, it can have a strong effect when you start again. Contrast this technique with sustained notes.

Bonus: Distortions of tempo or meter – This is easier said than done, but you deliberately play phrases in contrast to the time signature and tempo. Try deliberately speeding up or slowing down but with a different emphasis of accented beats that the time signature indicates.

Final Thoughts

So I believe that is 26 guitar techniques but the last one is kind of advanced so you can leave that one off your list until you are ready for it. The one you want to work on mastering right away is vibrato. That one technique really helped me “figure out” playing lead guitar.

If you want to overload on guitar techniques and theory then take a look at Wikipedia’s page Guitar Performance Techniques and Dolmetsch Online Music Dictionary.

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