Tapping

Sounding notes by hammering fingers of the picking hand onto the fingerboard, so both hands produce notes instead of one.

Because the picking hand can also fret, the technique extends the instrument's range: two independent lines can be played at once, wide intervals become reachable, and fast passages can be executed without any pick stroke at all. The notes sound softer than picked ones and depend entirely on the strength of the attack, so amplification with compression is usually needed for a full sound. Strings not being used must be damped carefully.

Example: a two-handed passage with one hand holding a pedal-like bass note while the other taps a melody above it sounds like two instruments playing at once.

Tapping

See also