Tapping Scales And Arpeggios

In this lesson we will cover:

01. Tapping on all strings and uting unwanted fret noise
02. Playing and constructing arpeggios
03. Tapping scales
04. Using these techinques to make a lick

Hopefully after this you should have good knowledge of tapping scales and arpeggios, how to make them and use them musically.

Tapping On All Strings And Uting Unwanted Fret Noise


Ok we all know to to tap, on pretty much any string, it can be a fairly simple process, but if your tapping on say the A string and then quickly skip to a tapping lick on the B string and back and forth, this can produce unwanted string noise and/or make the notes not sound clearly.

Lets take this lick first:

#tapped notes are in brackets()

E|-----------------------7h(12)p10p7------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-------------7h(12)p9p7-------------7h(12)p9p7------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--7h(14)p10p7---------------------------------7h(14)p10p7-------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

In this lick, instead of normal tapping where you fret the notes then tap and pull off the rest, we are going to hold the first note, so for this lick the 7th fret which we are going to hammer-on from nowhere, to do this simply press down the fret quickly and then tap the bracketed 14th fret, then hammer-on the next note, the 10th fret and pull off to the 7 again, so like this:

Hold 7th, tap 14th, hammer-on 10 from the 7 and then pull off back to 9th fret.

It sounds confusing but this is the style were going to use as holding down all the frets and pulling them all off will be quite hard to do quickly and efficeintly.

If you try and play this lick you mite notice a few things:

1. The notes aren't all sounded clearly

2. A lot of fret buzz and unwanted noise

3. The notes on the lower strings don't sound clearly

To solve this follow these steps:

1. Make sure each tap is emphasised, especailly on the A string, tap quickly and strongly and make sure you pull off when you tap with your finger.

2. There are 2 main ways to mute the strings, these are the KEY techniques to playing these arpeggios correctly:

Fretting Hand Technique:

This is usefull in all aspects of playing but especailly in tapping, you want to try to place your index finger when playing notes slightly above the fret, so the tip is just making contact with the string above. This means that the string above is now clearly muted without wou worrying about it. As for the string below, with the index finger moved up slightly try and angle your finger so the under bit of your finger is resting on the string, this now mutes the string below. Practice this and eventually you will notice that you wont get much unwanted noise from over strings.

Right Hand Technique:

Allthough you may think the right hand just taps and leaves the fretboard until the next tap, you might want to consider keeping your hand resting near the bridge. Why? This then allows you to mute the strings slightly, don't put too much pressure, just have your hand rite above the strings ready to mute, focus on muting when you jump to a new string. Another good technique I use it to slightly angle my hand, have it so my wrist is aiming downwards slightly when descending and aiming upwards when ascending, this then means your hand is followig your fretting hand and muting behind it was it goes, so every string you leave will be muted and the next string will be free of noise and ready for a clean tap.

With all this advice you should practice a few simple licks to perfect your technique, it doesnt't really matter what you tap, for now, as long as you get your tapping clean. Having quite a bit of gain and mids on your amp will help too. Here are a few simple tapping licks to practice, these aren't any paticular shape or arpeggio, just to help you practice. It doesnt't really matter what finger you use for hammering-on, but I do advise to use your pinky more, you get more reach and it will definnitly help you on the lower strings and with certain shapes.

E|----------------------------5h(12)p8p5--------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------5h(12)p8p5----------------5h(12)p8p5--------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--5h(12)p8p5--------------------------------------5h(12)p8p5----
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

E|-------------------------------12h(19)p15p12----------------------------
B|------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|-----------------12h(19)p15p12---------------12h(19)p15p12--------------
D|------------------------------------------------------------------------
A|--12h(19)p15p12-------------------------------------------12h(19)p15p12-
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------

E|-------------------------4h(11)p7p4-----------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------5h(12)p8p5------------5h(12)p8p5------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--6h(13)p9p6-----------------------------------6h(13)p9p6-------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

# don't forget you don't have to play the A, G and E strings, mix it up, you can tap a note twice, tapping the A string and the E string twice can really make your lick stand out


Playing And Constructing Arpeggios

Now weve got the technique down lets learn how to construct and play tapped arpeggios. Well we all now an arpeggio is just the individual notes of a chord play seperatly, so lets take a A minor chord. This is made up of notes A C and E. So all we do is find these notes on each string and play them like so:

E|--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5------

On the E string the notes are 5 - A 8 - C 12 - E

So in basic forms this is an A minor arpeggio on the high E string. Now all we need to do is work out the notes on the other strings, like so:

E|--0--5--8--12--17--20--24---------------------------------------
B|--1--5--10--13--17--22------------------------------------------
G|--2--5--9--13--17--21-------------------------------------------
D|--2--7--10--13--19--22------------------------------------------
A|--0--3--7--12--15--19--24---------------------------------------
E|--0--5--8--12--17--20--24---------------------------------------

All these notes are A C or E, so any combination of these in a tapped lick would be a A minor arpeggio. So for example:

E|-----------------------5h(12)p8p5-------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-------------2h(9)p5p2------------2h(9)p5p2---------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--3h(12)p7p3--------------------------------3h(12)p7p3----------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

E|----------------------------------------------------------------
B|--------------------------5h(13)p10p5---------------------------
G|----------------------------------------------------------------
D|-------------7h(13)p10p7--------------7h(13)p10p7---------------
A|----------------------------------------------------------------
E|--5h(12)p8p5--------------------------------------5h(12)p8p5----

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|------------------------------13h(22)p17p13----------------------------
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D|----------------13h(22)p19p13---------------13h(22)p19p13--------------
A|--12h(19)p15p12-------------------------------------------12h(19)p15p12
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Any mixture of these would be a successful A minor arpeggio. You don't have to just use 3 note chords, you can use anything, diminished, major 7th, suss or add chords. All you have to do is know the notes of the chord and find them on the fretboard. So for example a C major 7th has the notes B C E and G. Although we can put these all on one string, it's easier to divide them up accross the strings like so:

E|--0--3--7--8--12--15--19--20--24--------------------------------
B|--0--1--5--8--12--16--17--19--20--------------------------------
G|--0--4--5--9--12--16--17--21------------------------------------
D|--2--5--8--9--14--17--20--21------------------------------------
A|--2--3--7--10--14--15--19--22-----------------------------------
E|--0--3--7--8--12--15--19--20--24--------------------------------

As long as your lick has all of the notes alltogether it will sound right. So an example lick would be:

E|-----------------------------------3h(12)p7p3-------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------------4h(12)p7p4------------4h(12)p7p4--------
D|-------------2h(10)p5p2-----------------------------------------
A|----------------------------------------------------------------
E|--3h(12)p7p3----------------------------------------------------

E|----------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------5h(12)p8p5-------------------
G|----------------------------------------------------------------
D|--2h(10)p5p2----------------------------------------------------
A|------------------------2h(7)p3p2-------------------------------
E|-------------3h(12)p7p3-----------------------------------------

And there you have a C major 7th tapped arpeggio!


Tapping Scales

Tapping scales is actually a lot easier than it sounds. A bit like the arpeggio, you use the notes of the scale to construct the tapping lick. Here we can see a simple A minor pentatonic tapped scale:

E|--------------------------------------------------------5h(12)p8p5--------
B|---------------------------------------------5h(13)p8p5-------------------
G|----------------------------------5h(12)p7p5------------------------------
D|-----------------------5h(12)p7p5-----------------------------------------
A|------------5h(12)p8p5----------------------------------------------------
E|--5(12)p8p5---------------------------------------------------------------

As you can see we have the simple pentatonic box shape, and the tapped notes are all part of the scale too so it fits. If we wanted to make a C major scale tapping lick, it should be easy, as we know the C major scale has the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, we simply use these in this lick, making sure all the notes consist of any combination of these, as long as your lick, no matter how long or short contains all of these notes at least once, it will make a legit scale tapping lick. So heres an example of a C major scale tapping excersise:

E|------------------------------------------------------------9h(15)p12p9---
B|------------------------------------------------9h(15)p12p9---------------
G|------------------------------------7h(14)p10p7---------------------------
D|------------------------7h(14)p10p7---------------------------------------
A|-------------5h(12)p8p5---------------------------------------------------
E|--5h(12)p8p5--------------------------------------------------------------

I could of used notes anywhere as long as the contained all the notes from the scale, you can split this up, descend and ascend and move the shapes an octave along.


Using These Techinques To Make A Lick

Now weve understood these techniques heres a brief description on how to use them musically. it's actually really simple, think of any chord progression you like, now turn it into tapped arpeggios. So we can have anything from a E, D, C progression to a Am, C, G, Em progression, it will work well. For example heres a G major 7th, C major, A minor progression:


G major 7th

E|------------------------------10h(15)p14p10------------------------------
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|----------------11h(16)p12p11---------------11h(16)p12p11----------------
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A|--10h(17)p14p10-------------------------------------------10h(17)p14p10--
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------

C major

E|-------------------------7h(12)p10p7----------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------7h(12)p9p7-------------7h(12)p9p7-----------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--7h(14)p10p7-----------------------------------7h(14)p10p7-----
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

A minor

E|------------------------5h(11)p8p5------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-------------6h(12)p9p6------------6h(12)p9p6-------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--5h(12)p9p5----------------------------------5h(12)p9p5--------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------


Hope this lesson helps you out.

author : Joe310707

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