Learn How To Master Guitar Tapping Technique Open String Licks
Want to play amazing guitar tapping licks that impress anyone who hears you?
It's actually easier than you think.
Learning how to master guitar tapping technique just requires knowing a few important concepts about legato technique and string muting.
Once you understand them, playing fast and clean tapping licks becomes very easy.
Ready to get started?
Great!
Watch this video to learn how to play with excellent guitar tapping technique:
Click on the video to begin watching it.
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Now that you have watched the guitar tapping technique video, you are ready to play awesome guitar licks with ease!
Use these additional tips to play more creatively during your guitar tapping licks (or any other licks you play):
When you have listened to class guitar tapping licks by players like Eddie Van Halen, you can hear the phrases flow smoothly from one musical point to the next.
This is how you want your guitar licks to sound too.
Don't make the typical mistake of playing a lot of notes and just hoping to stumble upon something cool.
Instead:
Play the first half of a 3-5 note guitar lick, then sing the next half of the phrase using only your voice.
(Don't worry about having a great singing voice.)
Next, try to play the notes you sang with your guitar.
This helps you start to play guitar licks and solos that are more memorable and expressive. Practicing this consistently makes your guitar playing become generally more melodic as well.
Question: “What is another way to play guitar licks that sound memorable and expressive without tons of advanced technique?”
Answer: Whenever you repeat a musical idea, try to add some slight nuance to it so it sounds a little more interesting.
For example, play one or two notes using phrasing techniques like bends, slides, trills, vibrato or things like different note rhythms etc. This adds subtle (but interesting) variation to a repeated idea.
Doing this on a consistent basis helps you gradually become more and more expressive whenever you play guitar licks or solos.
Vibrato and bending technique are the cornerstones of expressive guitar playing.
One way to make sure bending and vibrato sound great is always keep them in tune.
This is easy to do and doesn't take a lot of time.
Practice just a few minutes daily by working on nothing but bending the strings to the exact pitch you want to reach.
This helps your guitar licks become more consistent and expressive in no time.
You can also combine guitar tapping technique with vibrato and bends. Simply tap a note, then hold the tapping finger on that fret and apply vibrato/bends with your fretting hand finger.
Question: “How important is it really to use vibrato in my guitar playing?”
Answer: It's critical! While soloing, you should at least begin by using it on longer notes.
Don't end up like many guitarists who play guitar solos that eventually sound boring because there is very little expressive vibrato used in them. This makes your playing sound lifeless and dull.
Try this:
Practice vibrato skill daily by simply trying to make a single note sound as expressive as possible using as many variations of vibrato technique as you can for 1 minute.
For instance, try using wide/fast vibrato, narrow/slow vibrato, legato together with vibrato, delayed vibrato, etc.
Then apply this concept into any guitar lick you already know.
Do you spend a lot of time playing and practicing guitar without getting anywhere?
You're not the only one.
Tons of guitar players end up in this same frustrating situation.
Good news is, working with a guitar teacher helps you finally start playing how you want to.
Your guitar licks improve fast when you work with an experienced guitar teacher who has already proven that they can get results for others.
Guitarists who have a teacher simply strengthen their weaknesses much faster than they would on their own.
Imagine how good it would feel to no longer be held back from playing the licks, songs, techniques and solos that you want.
Great guitar teachers are masters at helping you resolve issues in your playing that you never knew about while helping you achieve your guitar playing goals quickly and effectively.
Make a massive decision to improve your musical skills and begin taking guitar lessons today - Here is what my students have to say about taking guitar lessons:
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Other teachers I’ve had have been good players, and some have become good friends too. But when I’ve started lessons with Tom I’ve got something to compare that to and a lot of it is just sort of teaching songs from week to week… a lot of the lesson will be left up to you… you’ll go to your lesson and they’ll be like what do you want to do today? At the time I said, oh do this song or that song, but with Tom you start to realize that you know, there’s more to it… the goals and you know he’s sort of more in contact with what you want to be able to do as a player, because he’s asking you the questions and then setting up the strategies, so I find that really good.
Yeah I can see more results in 18 months in a lot of areas in my playing than you know 20 years. So it’s sort of, you know, would’ve been great 20 years ago to have met Tom.
Simon Candy, Melbourne, Australia
When I started learning from Tom, the main thing that made him different from other teachers was that he was showing me how to excel in all aspects of my guitar playing by applying the skills that I already knew together with the new material that I was learning from him.
He made me aware of both strengths and weaknesses in my playing that I did not even know I had. From there he gave me the knowledge, tools and guidance to literally transform my guitar playing by enabling me to overcome things that were preventing me from becoming a truly creative and self-expressive guitar player. These were the kinds of things that none of my previous guitar teachers and books I studied were able to do for me.
After Tom made me aware of all the things I was missing in my guitar playing and provided me with the strategy and tools for solving them, I began to make very fast progress in all areas of my guitar playing.
I can now write my own music and can create lead guitar solos that I am happy and fulfilled with. I also have the technical skills to confidently and easily play anything that I want to express. I have overcome all of the lead guitar challenges that I struggled with before, and increased my guitar speed to virtuoso levels. More importantly, I have the knowledge and understanding of how to continually improve my guitar playing and musical skills to higher and higher levels to continue expressing myself with my music. Overall, I have definitely transformed in a huge way as a musician and as a person through my lessons with Tom Hess. I am grateful to him for guiding me towards becoming the guitarist I always wanted to be!"
Mike Philippov, Indiana, USA
“When I first heard about Tom Hess, I saw that he was a teacher that was very dedicated and serious about it, and that drew me in immediately. That this is a guy that has a plan, has a goal and really if you’re serious about learning guitar, this guy is equally as serious in a way. So it resonated with me straight away.”
I started out just learning by myself and as many others I got stuck. I had a few issues I wanted to get by, but when I met Tom and talked with him and started lessons with him, he opened up a whole new world of possibilities of what guitar playing can be.
I feel very grateful that I found lessons from Tom since I then did what worked from the very beginning. Many guitarists I see that played way longer than I did, they have build up many bad habits. That from the very start, there was clear instruction of how to practice correctly. You build the ability for high speed and whatever you want from the very beginning and you don’t waste time doing inefficient things. So I’m very grateful that I did that, and now I really feel I am able to reach whatever level I want.
The reasons why I think I feel so motivated all the time is because I know that the thing I’m working on is relevant for me and it’s exactly the direct thing I need to get.
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Magnus Gautestad, Norway
Ready to learn more about playing fast, clean and creative guitar licks?
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