Play Guitar Like Eddie Van Halen
If you're a beginning guitarist, you've probably seen Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and other famous players do a neat trick where they seem to be playing with both hands on the fretboard. It's called "tapping," and you can do it, too!
Steps
- Place your left hand on the fretboard as if you were going to play normally. Fret a note on the fretboard with the index finger, and have the pinky finger above the string a few frets up, ready to fret a note.
- With the index finger or middle finger of your right hand or the side of your pick, tap the string down onto a higher fret, sounding a note.
- "Flick", or do a pull off with, the tapping finger off of the string with a slight downward motion, sounding another note.
- Fret a note with the ring finger. You can also slide your index finger to the next fret.
- "Flick", or do a "pull-off" with, the ring finger off of the string with a slight downward motion, sounding another note.
- Repeat steps 1-5, practicing until the notes are played very quickly.
- Tip: Watch Eddie's 'Eruption' video on Youtube, preferably the live one. If needed, stop it every once in a while and try to practice what you watched. Or you can cheat and grab the Guitar Pro tab.
Tips
- If your guitar has cheaper, muddier pickups, don't start off by going fast - you want to be able to hear every note. Start really slow and at a steady beat using a tempo. Gradually build up the speed. Look at the exercises on right if you're still having trouble. If you have good pickups however, feel free to tap away at whatever speed.
- You should tap notes that are in key, or better yet, tap the chord that is being played (if you're playing over a backing chord progression). For example, if the rhythm is playing a C major chord, tap the 13th fret of the B string (a C note), pull off to the 8th fret (a G note) and pull off to the 5th fret (an E note). If you can do this over the chord changes, it sounds awesome, but takes practice, as you have to learn what notes are in each chord.
- Technically, this technique is called "snaps and hammers" or "two-hand tapping".
- Try to use the volume you would usually play at and make your tapping the same volume as your normal playing.
- A few good positions for tapping would be: (The first number is where the finger stays stationary, the next number is the finger that is moved on and off the fret with the fretting hand, and the third number is the fret that will be tapped with the picking hand.)
- 4-7-12
- 4-7-11
- 2-5-9
- 2-5-10
- If that tapping sequence is played in order, it will play a small portion of the tapping part of Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption".
Warnings
- If you want to maintain your "mystique," don't show your friends what you are doing to play such a crazy number of notes. They will be disappointed by how easy it is, and they may even accuse you of "cheating!"
Things You'll Need
- A stringed instrument, such as a violin or guitar
