Tapping efficacy

[Adieu]

You know, some guitars you can tap any string any fret loud and clear, easily, way moreso than on others?

What exactly combines to create this lively tapability? Fret size/material, action (lower? higher? medium??), strings, bridge/saddles, certain woods, or what??

NOT even getting into pickups here, seems high output pups help electrically, but I mean the guitars where you can literally bang your way around the fretboard with your fretting hand unplugged and it rings out loud and crisp

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Big frets, low action. Any guitar I've played with this combo makes tapping very easy.

When there is high action you have to push too hard with the left hand when tapping which creates tension and limits your speed. When you've got low frets then tapping won't always sound cleanly, and you have to be much more precise with where your fingers go.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Big frets, low action. Any guitar I've played with this combo makes tapping very easy.

When there is high action you have to push too hard with the left hand when tapping which creates tension and limits your speed. When you've got low frets then tapping won't always sound cleanly, and you have to be much more precise with where your fingers go.

General basics, yeah, but it feels like there's still something else to the formula... tension and/or gauge? Maybe. Idk.

Some stuff just taps better/worse than you'd expect.

Although obviously if it ain't set up halfway properly it doesnt tap for sh!t

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Really any guitar that plays easy (low action, light strings, big frets) will tap easy.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Really any guitar that plays easy (low action, light strings, big frets) will tap easy.

This is one of those places where you surely meant HEAVIER strings.

(As in "as heavy as can still be readily hammered with current setup's action")

 

[dave74]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Lighter strings require less strength to sound fluid and evened-out when tapping, although it's certainly not impossible to sound fluid with heavy tension.
It's mostly about good technique and using your ears to dictate just how much circular motion you apply to the hammer/pull/taps.

Some slight compression doesn't hurt either, as doesn't a healthy saturation.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Tapping efficacy

This is one of those places where you surely meant HEAVIER strings.

(As in "as heavy as can still be readily hammered with current setup's action")

Nope, I meant thinner. Heavier strings are harder to push down.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Yeah maybe if you wanna go plink-plink-bzzzz lol


Super low action on tight 11's is devastatngly tappable, same guitar with 10s sounds thinner

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I switch between 10s and 11s on my guitars pretty regularly and don't notice significant difference between the string guages for tapping. Maybe if you went to very, very light strings it would be more difficult.

 

[dave74]

Re: Tapping efficacy

My favorite tension for most aspects of playing (except rhythmic strumming) is 10-50 E-Balls at Eb or 10.5-52 at D.
(roughly the same as 9.5-48 tuned standard E)

That tension is just about the perfect balance of easy play and percussive attack. I still have some ghs boomers 11-56 at C#-standard on my giger rgt, very close in tension but they start feeling bulky to me right about there. I don't know how I ever enjoyed playing with 12-58/60 at C# back in the mid 90s, it probably contributed a lot to my lowered interest in those years.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Tapping efficacy

It is novel for a few notes in a solo, but overall, it is simply the wrong instrument to get good at tapping. A Chapman Stick/Warr Guitar/Touch Guitar are the right ones, and someone who has practiced those instruments for 3 months is light years ahead of the meek tappers we have on guitar.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I recently took my #1 to 10-46 to see if the looser Floyd was worth it.....currently forcing myself to give it a chance...but, NAAAAH

11-54 for E std or Drop D / 24.75"

High tension 10-46 like DR DDT is okayish for 25.5", but still kinda wish I found a set I liked in ~10.5 - 50

 

[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

It is novel for a few notes in a solo, but overall, it is simply the wrong instrument to get good at tapping. A Chapman Stick/Warr Guitar/Touch Guitar are the right ones, and someone who has practiced those instruments for 3 months is light years ahead of the meek tappers we have on guitar.

Nah this was more like purely scientific curiousity, accidentally noticed huge difference in tapability between guitars trying to figure out if it's strings frets or what

Maybe in part cuz 2 of em currently have string experiments that I'm not too thrilled with on em

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I think the feedback on this thread is really good but I tend to tap with a slightly different style than the late 70s/80s blazers (although that was my original inspiration) . -I like higher tension 11s for the feedback the string gives because my style more requires a rhythmic interaction of the string returning from the fret board quickly for the kind of movements and speed I like -plus I don't do a lot of Glammy tapping bends in these progressions which a high tension string would cause issue with.

 

[Francois]

Re: Tapping efficacy

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[Francois]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Tapping efficiency ? Finger muscles !

About the action : high action won't work, you need an easy low action, but an extremely low action may ruin your tapping. You have to make some tests.

With a too action and on the low E string tapping may produces a vibration on both sides of the fret and the additional one will be almost always out of tune.

EVH explained that he got the right action this way: Lower your action and when you see it creates some trouble get it a bit higher again.

You need a compressed sound from either distortion, low pups...

You can tap with any gauge 9 - 10 - 11 - The gauge will affect a lot your bending but less the tapping.
Van Halen had the light ones.

Like for bends, a very narrow neck won't help (I mean string spacing sorry).

I agree with NegativeEase that it is nice to experiment different styles of tapping than the original 79 full arpeggio parts. You can just tap a few notes amongst normal soloing as spice. You can also try to have two string interracting, fun but not easy.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Yeah maybe if you wanna go plink-plink-bzzzz lol


Super low action on tight 11's is devastatngly tappable, same guitar with 10s sounds thinner

I use 9s. My guitars don’t sound thin. Jimmy Page and Billy Gibbons use 7s or 8s! Thin strings don’t sound thin... they sound like a guitar. Lol Plus how much low end do you need? It’s fine for sitting in your bedroom but it muddies up a band situation.

Getting a “plinky” tone is a combination of using thin picks and poor fretting hand technique.



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[Adieu]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Tapping efficiency ? Finger muscles !

About the action : high action won't work, you need an easy low action, but an extremely low action may ruin your tapping. You have to make some tests.

With a too action and on the low E string tapping may produces a vibration on both sides of the fret and the additional one will be almost always out of tune.

EVH explained that he got the right action this way: Lower your action and when you see it creates some trouble get it a bit higher again.

You need a compressed sound from either distortion, low pups...

You can tap with any gauge 9 - 10 - 11 - The gauge will affect a lot your bending but less the tapping.
Van Halen had the light ones.

Like for bends, a very narrow neck won't help (I mean string spacing sorry).

I agree with NegativeEase that it is nice to experiment different styles of tapping than the original 79 full arpeggio parts. You can just tap a few notes amongst normal soloing as spice. You can also try to have two string interracting, fun but not easy.

Dunno narrow works just fine for me on an R1 Schaller nut and two 42mm plain nut necks with pretty big white male fingers.... as to action, that's pretty true, dialing in action is like turning tuners down --- keep going down, but always finish by moving back up

However, there are still mechanical factors beyond that. Something about frets, strings, and bridge/saddles and possibly woods too just makes it ring out on some guitars more than others, and not necessarily guitars whose fretted & picked notes ring the most

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Tapping efficacy

I use 9s. My guitars don’t sound thin. Jimmy Page and Billy Gibbons use 7s or 8s! Thin strings don’t sound thin... they sound like a guitar. Lol Plus how much low end do you need? It’s fine for sitting in your bedroom but it muddies up a band situation.

Getting a “plinky” tone is a combination of using thin picks and poor fretting hand technique.

Thin strings work for you, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, and whoever else likes them. They do not work for me, Adieu, or any other number of players who prefer more tension. Do you want me to make a list of guys who use 10s or heavier that sound great?

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Tapping efficacy

Thin strings work for you, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, and whoever else likes them. They do not work for me, Adieu, or any other number of players who prefer more tension. Do you want me to make a list of guys who use 10s or heavier that sound great?

No, but I’m tired of hearing this macho attitude about string gauges. I think any heavier than 10s sound too clunky. Plus you lose finesse.

And I’m also a bass player. Try playing a 5 string bass and get back to me about heavy strings. Lol.


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