As I've stated in previous columns, one of my favorite techniques for performing fast, complex melodic lines is what I like to call percussive tapping. The concept is to alternate tapped figures executed with each hand individually, oftentimes with more than one fret-hand finger brought into play.
To my way of thinking, the idea is virtually the same as the manner by which a drummer will play varying rhythmic syncopations on a given drum or drums. The integration of the movement of the two hands creates the rhythmic syncopation; the added benefit here is that the guitar is a melodic instrument, and the technique allows one to play phrases that would otherwise be impossible. I love the way drummers use triplets, “quads” (four-note groups) and more unusual rhythmic patterns and find it endlessly fascinating to try and apply this approach to melodic ideas on the guitar.
Use a staccato (short and clipped) articulation for the examples presented herein. The pick hand needs to use more of a “punch” in the way the taps are executed, and the fret hand “rolls” between two taps, or “hammer-ons from nowhere,” which must be applied quickly and with precision.
For our first example, FIGURE 1, notes are sounded on the G and high E strings only, played in a rhythm of fast 16th-note triplets. Throughout the pattern, the fret-hand index finger taps a note on the G string, followed by the middle finger tapping the high E string at the same fret, as shown in FIGURE 2. In this example, these initial “taps” first occur at the 21st fret.
Prior to applying the fret-hand taps, the pick hand taps a single note, first on the high E string, and then one on the G string; these