Tapping

[Stag]

Good evening peoples.

Ive been very lazy on the bass recently. Not many gigs (left one band, other one only does a gig every few months). But now the missus does Spanish lessons on Monday and is out on Tuesday, so im forcing myself (gently!) to get back on tha 4-string thang on these otherwise "free" nights other than improving my Playstation 3 trophies list.

So... ive got a bit of my mojo back (cheers for that one Cole/Tweedy woman) and now want to push on a bit. Which has led me to tapping.

Can anyone tell me if my action / guitar etc are simply not suited to it? Im using my Ric or my P-Bass. I would say both have a reasonably high action, certainly the Ric due to the Pick-Up-Cover-Of-Stupidness getting in the way of the strings... im thinking perhaps the tension on my strings is a bit too much on the Fender is a bit too much as well - by that i mean the strngs are rather taut/tight/something else beginning with "T".

Or (shudder)

Im rubbish / a weakling! I feel like im really having to wallop my right hand down onto the fretboard to firstly even get the string against the board, and secondly to get a proper audible note out of it.

Any hints or tips would be appreciated. I know its a hard technique as techniques go... and I think im possibly making it harder for myself.

Cheers m' dears

Edited October 19, 2010 by Stag

[Conan]

IME many players who use tapping a lot have low actions and fairly light gauge strings - makes the whole thing a lot easier if you think such things are worth doing (which personally, I don't! ). If lack of "strength" was a factor, I think you might be fighting against a bass that is set up wrongly for this style?

[Bilbo]

Just get a bag of spanners and throw them down the stairs. Save yourself a lot of time

OK!!! OK!!! I was joking

[Dood]

Hey Stag, yep - pretty much agree with Conan there. A low action and a flat board (no much relief) will help with the technique. A lighter gauge string or at least a lower tension will help with getting the string to do what you want, but there can be disadvantages, especially if you are the kinda player who likes to dig in. You'll find notes will choke off and tonally may not sound as full as you are used to. New strings will have a perceived sustain to them and will help those tapped notes ring out better too. I mean, they will sound clearer and more pecussive than stondgy sweat and skin filled strings!

Ahhh what else? bit o' compression can help to even out those tapped notes. One of the most important parts of the technique I feel though, (given the bass is set up in a way that will help you) is to get that finger strength up. You could use the Sheehan 'finger on top of finger' type technique. (I feel sure it's on You Tube) - but definitely work on getting notes to ring out acoustically without an amp before relying on gadgetry.

I'm more than happy to give ya a lesson or three if ya fancy? My YouTube vid has a bit of tapping on if ya haven't seen it. (and no readers, it's not that 'indulgent-self-abusing nonsense'!)

[Dood]

Here, me.. the main motif of the track is a tapped octave turn around. Getting the strength up on the left and right hands independently came over time. There's a mid section with a faster octave tap too. I planned on these lines being effective Vs just being shreddy nonsense!

The intro section as you can see just relies on tapped doublestops to make up the melody based on the song.

[51m0n]

+1 Dood

Low(ish) action and a really properly set up action (ie neck relief) are a must IMO

If your action is a tad higher then bear in mind its not the force you squish the neck with, its the speed of your finger striking down and then holding the string fretted (with normal tension) that gets the note to riing. Hard to explain but the energy for the string vibration is derived more from swishy fingers of lythe speediness then great big ogery muscle bound meat claws IME.

Oh, and if it sounds all clacky clacky then set a compressor with an extremely fast action (or indeed a limiter) to nip the attack of the notes.

[Stag]

Hmmm... I may have to look into getting Washburn set very low to see if it makes a difference (dont want to fiddle with my gigging axes at the mo).

Cheers for all the suggestions chaps!