Tapping and Action

[z88]

Hey,

I was wondering if I could seek guidance within this forum for a little information on the benefits of adjusting the action on my guitar. I'm not too satisfied with the level of sound I can get out from tapping my guitar, and I figured perhaps it's because the action is really low. I have an adjustable Schallerbridge, so I figured if it could help, I might as well raise it a bit. Does anyone think this would help?

Thanks.

[Guitarperson88]

Well lower action is supposed to help the tapping more. I suggest you warm up your tapping finger for a little each time you practice, say, 5, 10 minutes just tryin things. Then try learning some licks and incorporating more of it into your playing. that should help

[z88]

Thanks man. My legato techniques aren't quite that refined yet. I'm trying to learn Joe Satriani's Midnight, and while I have no trouble with the speed, my problem is that I'm not getting enough volume out of it (I can't stand high gain with my SP-90s, too noisy with all the interference around, gonna replace bridge pickup with humbucker). Thanks again.

[Bizarro]

Do you have callouses on your tapping fingertips yet? When those form you'll be able to articulate the notes cleaner and much louder. That little bit of hard skin makes a huge difference in volume.

[z88]

Bizarro,
No I haven't developped callouses (atleast hard ones, my fingers are still soft). I dunno why, I play atleast an hour every day. Maybe I'm not pressing hard enough, I have no clue. Then again my old Washburn acoustic had heavy strings and I had to play that guitar hard, but I never developped callouses. I guess I'll just keep playing :P

[oRg]

Lowering the action will definitely help on the tapping end. You may also want to make sure your playing through your neck pick-up. Tapping on the bridge is okay but it can get drowned out pretty easily. Another things is tap HARD and fast. This develops a callous on your tapping finger(s) and IMO will help you tap with more ease. Tapping and sliding with your tapping finger will also help develop a callouss easier. Now, onto the legato. For me legato was the easiest thing to pick up because it involved less pick movement and I just overall got the concept faster than I did AP. One way to improve legato is to practice symmetrical shapes on the fretboard. I attached a powertab file to show you some of the excersizes I used to do. In the Major scale and it's modes there are three basic fingering shapes that each scale/mode is constructed of. Meaning there's only 3, 3 finger patterns in any major scale and it's modes. One you get the legato of these three shapes then each scale becomes that much easier to play. I also included a nice dimishied lick that I play that involes a combination of legato and AP. It's quite fun to play.