Tapping efficacy

[Aceman]

Re: Tapping efficacy

And then there is this...

 

[Aceman]

Re: Tapping efficacy

All I know is I like to hit the wood, and hit it hard. Sometimes I use the edge of a pick.

 

[Blille]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Sometimes I use the edge of a pick.

I think I haven’t tapped in more than 10 years but when I used to I loved using a pick and even sliding with it. I think I picked it up (pun intended) from Satriani.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Ummm - sometimes....

I've seen Stanley live a few times. He is really good, but he isn't Chapman Stick good. He doesn't have the polyphony, the range, the tone, or the dexterity of a great Stick player, and I am a Stanley fan.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Stick players may be great and all, but it's a niche thing ..like didgeridoo players..

What I mean is ..everyone wants to see EVH play or be the next EVH/Vai ...and most people have'nt even heard of a Chapman stick.

In any case a guitar sounds just fine when you tap the **** out of it :bigthumb:

Does a Chapman stick sound better? Maybe ..but hardly anyone's ever going to know that.

Also, all tapping was'nt created equal. It's not mandatory to sit down, pore over pages & pages of notation and dorkily learn to sweep a bunch of arpeggio's 'perfectly' for months ..that's when it gets boring. EVH does'nt do that ...nor does Vai or even Malmsteen. The beauty of a guitar is there are no limits to it's coolness quotient. you can shred it, bend it, play the blues, tap, use a dildo or electric drill with it ..& no matter what ...it's always mega-cool

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Tapping efficacy

..and yes, you can be dorky too :laugh2:

 

[Aceman]

Re: Tapping efficacy

:headbang:

 

[Mincer]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I get it, the Stick doesn't have the 'wow factor' of a distorted electric...but some people play touch styles with as much distortion, but you can also do pretty awesome classical, too. I love the low notes here:

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I usually bounce around 10s and 11s, occasionally heavier. Every so often I try 9s, and I couldn't hate them more. Everything about them just feels wrong. However, I put 8s on an Epiphone Les Paul awhile back, and it was kind of fun. Better than the 9s anyway.

Yeah i think i know what you mean

Played an old 70s Ibanez LP Custom copy in a store a couple years back, don't know exactly what was on it but felt a helluva lot thinner and lighter than the usual 9's and 10's on new guitars --- and that was pretty fun, practically played itself

Of course, that was a well-crafted old girl with good mojo and a great setup. Might not work so well on the average POS...

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I'm not much of a tapper, but string gauge is currently a big issue for me and they may be related.

Ive been playing 12s at standard pitch for over 10 years because I like the tone and my fingers are strong enough for bends. For most of that time, I couldn't play anything less than 11s- it felt like the strings didn't have enough tension and would slide from under my fingers...

However, I got strat a few years ago that just loves 8s and I slowly added lighter strings on guitars that really needed them.

Here's the funny thing... I cant play the light stringed guitars live! They are fine for warming up, but they revert to the slinkey behavior on the first song of the first set and I usually move back to 12s by 3rd song.

I think what happens is I play a lot harder live than I do offstage.. I dont really notice it, but I do a lot of flatpicking leads live that I rarely do without a bands worth of volume.

And I think that may be the reason I tap ok in practice, but im rarely happy with tapping live.

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I have a tendency to do this as well. I get more excited playing live and grip chords / fret notes too hard. You can keep adding/using heavier strings to reinforce this problem, or you can learn to relax and play with a lighter touch. (Your frets will thank you, if nothing else. I find that I can actually play faster when relaxed as well.)

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I get it, the Stick doesn't have the 'wow factor' of a distorted electric...but some people play touch styles with as much distortion, but you can also do pretty awesome classical, too. I love the low notes here:

Needs some dragon & Xena overlays ..otherwise.not too bad :laugh2:

Having said that when it comes to classical type stuff, Malmsteen is way more my thing :firedevil

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Of course, that was a well-crafted old girl with good mojo and a great setup. Might not work so well on the average POS...

And that’s it.

I saw a local blues guy beat the hell out of an old Strat. He was wailing on it like his name was Stevie Ray Hendrix. After the show, he let me play it. It played like butter, super easy bends up and down the neck. I was really surprised and asked if they were 10a. He laughed and goes “Nah, 12s.” Huge frets and a killer setup on a real ‘62 make 12-56 in Eb feel really nice.

Also got to play his ‘60 Tele and 60’s Guild Starfire. All setup the same, all felt amazing.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

And that’s it.

I saw a local blues guy beat the hell out of an old Strat. He was wailing on it like his name was Stevie Ray Hendrix. After the show, he let me play it. It played like butter, super easy bends up and down the neck. I was really surprised and asked if they were 10a. He laughed and goes “Nah, 12s.” Huge frets and a killer setup on a real ‘62 make 12-56 in Eb feel really nice.

Also got to play his ‘60 Tele and 60’s Guild Starfire. All setup the same, all felt amazing.

Eb is a nice tension drop from E though... it's about as tense as 11-50 in E.

And low action 11's are no harder to play than medium-low action 10s

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Eb is a nice tension drop from E though... it's about as tense as 11-50 in E.

And low action 11's are no harder to play than medium-low action 10s

I’m just saying you’re right, take a badass guitar and see it up really well, it usually ends up good.

 

[LLL]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Total bullsh!t. People with poor technique can’t get a good tone.

I’ll be happy to post recordings. But just listen to any Zep album. Or even Hendrix or Terry Kath. He used 8s


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Well yes - that's why I made that "facetious" remark in smaller font in my post. :naughty:

I like to use Iommi as an example of thick tone with skinny strings.

 

[LLL]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I would like to mention Tony Iommi most probably the first to get a thick tone out of very thin strings, something like 8 and downtuned !
He had to use them because of his injury.
In his biography he wrote that at the time he had often been told something like "You can't get thick tone with skinny strings"

Ditto my last post.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Tapping efficacy

The only guitarist I know of who taps all the way is Balinese artist, Balawan. He's really really good, but even then I am still not attacted to tapping:

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Well yes - that's why I made that "facetious" remark in smaller font in my post. :naughty:

I like to use Iommi as an example of thick tone with skinny strings.

Some of the emoticons don’t show up on my iPhone. [emoji1]

Iommi also tuned down a step! With 8s!

It’s all in how you play.


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[NegativeEase]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I think the problem with most Rock n Roll guitar tapping (this is someone who has done several records with complex polyrhythmic tapping as a primary element of songs) is that people treat it like an act of virtuosity by blazing around mindlessly with hammer I/O and bends -instead of utilizing what I think the the real beauty of it is -that's the complex rhythms/polyrhythms and nuanced harmonic content that can be fused into incredible progressions that can be the foundations of compositions NOT just the ride in the guitar solo section.

I think featuring tapping as an act of virtuosity is short sited and honestly.... predictable and sort of boring. Get creative with it.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Gotta say.. I totally prefer good old straightforward "shred-o-rama" to the the "complex polyrythms/nuanced/harmonic content/incredible progressions that can be foundations of compositions" kinda stuff..

To me tapping is yet another fun way of blazing away on on your axe & having a ton of fun in the bargain ...can't say it bores me at all (neither watching someone tear things up nor tearing things up myself!)

Diff'rent strokes I guess :bigthumb: