As I demonstrated in my debut Guitar World column last month[1], a favorite technique of mine is percussive tapping, wherein notes and specific rhythmic...
As I demonstrated in my debut Guitar World column last month[1], a favorite technique of mine is percussive tapping, wherein notes and specific rhythmic patterns are sounded by tapping onto the fretboard with the fingers of both hands.
To me, this technique is akin to a drummer performing specific syncopations with two sticks, except I’m using my fingertips to simultaneously create rhythmic and melodic patterns while also outlining chords.
I love the way drummers will move freely between rhythmic patterns like triplets and “quads” (four-note patterns) in the formulation of shifting syncopations. The difference between hitting a drum and fretboard tapping on the guitar is that the guitar allows one to sound an endless variety of melodies and chord patterns while “drumming.”
Last month[2], I applied percussive tapping to a 12-bar blues progression. This month, I’d like to present a more complex 16-bar example played over a standard rock-type chord progression. As I had done last month, two fret-hand fingers, this time the index and ring, tap out an ostinato (repeating) figure on the top two strings that serves to lay down the reference to the chord progression, while the pick-hand index finger taps out syncopated melodic lines, primarily on the high E string.
Throughout FIGURE 1, a “T” represents a note sounded with an index-finger tap, and a circled “T” represents a note tapped with the fret-hand index or ring finger. Starting with a rhythm of 16th notes, the lick begins with a pick-hand tap, followed by two consecutive fret-hand taps, then another pick-hand tap. Across the first two bars, I tap an F#5 chord with my fret hand while my pick hand taps an ascending Fs natural minor scale (F# G# A B C# D E).
At bar 3, the