Tapping
Tapping is a touch technique mainly used in guitars , mostly electric guitars and occasionally also electric basses . Bassists essentially use this technique to play a bass line and chords at the same time. This technique is also used on the acoustic guitar.
technology
When tapping which are strings with the fingertips of the picking hand (typically the index or middle finger) more or less sweeping the fingerboard pressed or pushed so that when impinging on the frets is set the string into vibration at the corresponding position. The sound differs from the usual attack with a pick or plucking with your fingers. This technique can also be performed with the gripping hand, it is then usually referred to as hammering . The combination of hammering and tapping (use of both hands) offers technically experienced guitarists the opportunity to play unusual solos, as larger tone intervals than usual can be used here.
Flageolet tones can be created by briefly, lively tapping on the frets of the fingerboard .
This technique is mostly used on the electric guitar in connection with a distorted sound (see Distortion , e.g. He Man Woman Hater from Extreme ), but in many cases this technique is also used on the acoustic guitar (e.g. Spanish Fly from Van Halen ).
Instruments specially developed for tapping technique such as the Chapman Stick , the Warr Guitar , Mobius Megatar , Kelstone , the Tenayo Ziggy , Markus Reuters Touchguitars or the Koyabu Symmetric Board also give "tappers" the opportunity to expand their sound range and at the same time, similar like playing the piano, combining chord and bass playing. These special tapping instruments / guitars are in most cases offered with 8, 10 and 12 strings and played with both hands or a 3, 4 or 5 finger technique (with the aid of the thumb). They are mostly tuned in inverted (mirrored) fifths (on the bass strings) and ascending (pure) fourths (on the melody or guitar strings). This expands the sound spectrum, especially since several notes can be played at the same time, and these can be supplemented with different chords or individual notes. The sound spectrum of tap guitars is therefore very large, and is also popular with musicians who come from classical and jazz music . Tap guitars belong to the electric guitar family , but are also offered as semi-acoustic versions by various manufacturers. As a rule, they have a stereo output and can be operated via different amplifiers or effects devices if required .
history
Already in 1965, the Italian guitarist and radiologist, Vittorio Camardese appeared in the RAI show, Chitarra amore mio, with a virtuoso performance, a mambo and the jazz standard All Of Me. It is the first ever certified tapping performance. In the early 1970s Steve Hackett groped on several records of the English prog rock band Genesis , first heard on the track "The Musical Box" on the 1971 album Nursery Cryme . Hackett was probably one of the first to use this technique, although interestingly his name rarely comes up in connection with tapping. On the other hand, the name Eddie van Halen , who made tapping so popular with his solo Eruption in 1978 that it is now part of the repertoire of most accomplished rock guitarists.
Electric guitarists like u. a. Enver Ismailov , Stanley Jordan , Steve Lynch , Ritchie Kotzen , Greg Howe , Jennifer Batten , Buckethead and above all Randy Rhoads and Darko Jurković developed this technique with virtuosity.
On the electric bass, u. a. John Myung from Dream Theater celebrity with his 9-finger technique as well as Billy Sheehan , the bassist of the virtuoso US hard rock band Mr. Big . In addition, John Entwistle , Tony Levin ( King Crimson , Peter Gabriel ) and Trey Gunn (also King Crimson) made tapping on specially designed instruments - the Chapman Stick and the Warr Guitar - popular. Here, too, the tapping instrument was mainly used as a rhythm instrument or as an alternative to the electric bass. A well-known example is the often polyrhythmic interactions between Tony Levin on the stick and the two guitarists Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew in the 1980s era of King Crimson.
On the acoustic guitar this technique is used by Michael Hedges , Andy McKee , Billy McLaughlin , Preston Reed , Vicki Genevaan , Thomas Leeb , Eric Roche , Erik Mongrain , Kaki King and Newton Faulkner .
