Tapping notation

The letters and symbols, usually a T or a plus sign, that show a note is to be sounded by tapping the string with the picking hand.

Tapped notes are marked in tab with a T above the fret number, and in standard notation with a small plus sign on the note head, so a player knows the note is produced by the right hand rather than by picking. Pull-offs back to a fretted note are shown as ordinary legato marks. The notation matters because the same fret number on the same string could otherwise be played either way, and the two sound and feel different.

Example: A tab line with the letter T above the numbers shows a passage played by tapping the fretboard with the picking hand.

Tapping notation

See also