Hello lovely people, and welcome to a new lesson! Today we're going to learn how to create our very own tapping licks, even if you're a beginner or early intermediate up to the early advanced player.

In this lesson, we will showcase how it doesn't take much to get going with creating impressive tapping solos or tapping improvisation runs, and we will present all the tools you need to start creating your own tapping licks.

Disclaimer: Without bugging you with theory or scale knowledge. But if you do have some decent knowledge on the scale we're using it's definitely a plus but by no means a necessity!

Not only will we be covering how to create tapping licks but also how to use them inside our everyday playing and improvisation because learning something in isolation is one thing but then using it in real life is something else.

So, we're just going to take the high E string frets five and eight, yes this is the pentatonic scale.

Or more specifically it's the highest string of the A Minor pentatonic scale.
And I will be tapping on position 2 or fret 10, if this isn't making sense to you make sure you refer to the diagram below.

The most common problems players face when performing the tapping technique on guitar are either:
• Not putting enough pressure when tapping with their picking hand
• Not pulling off (flicking the tap) properly

The pulling off is the main ingredient here, if you're going to be tapping this is the key element that will make that note ring out.

When pulling off, you can flick that note towards the ceiling or towards the floor.
I'm one of those who will pull off towards the floor because of my fingernails because I play fingerstyle guitar, but you can do this upwards it doesn't matter.

We will start first by learning some patterns, then creating variations based on these patterns, and finally learning how to come up with these patterns on the fly and on command.

Using that same pentatonic minor shape we covered earlier,
we're going to take the high E string again and then use the same shape creating this 3-note tapping pattern just like in the tabs below.

So basically:
1. Tap (on fret 10)
2. Pull off (to fret 5)
3. Hammer on (to fret 8 using your pinky or 3rd finger)

Here we have a descending-ascending pattern, meaning I'm tapping and pulling off down from frets 10 to 5, then hammering-on back up to fret 8.

Here we are continuously pulling off down the scale, just like so!

In case you don't know what note to tap, don't worry just use your ear.

If you like the sound, great use it! If you don't, change the note and take it from there it's that simple.

For those who are more advanced, you can tap any note from within the scale you are using, which in our case could be any note from the A pentatonic minor scale played on the high e string.

So, using that same combination of notes on the high E string:

1. Tap (fret 10)
2. Pull off (to fret 5)
3. Hammer on (to fret 8)
4. Pull off (to fret 5 again)

Creating this awesome 4 note tapping lick!

Tip: You can do the same thing on the B string! Take the same pattern and tap two frets up! You will notice different note patterns from there.
For example, on the high E string, you can tap frets 10 then 12, on the B string, you can still tap fret 10 but not 12 you'd have to do it on 13.
If you know your pentatonic scale in all it's positions, you know exactly what I'm saying but if you don't, no worries just use your ear to figure out what works and what doesn't. It all depends on the backing track you're playing over.

To practice that we're going to take a lick that you know well and mix it with whatever tapping lick you just created here on the pentatonic.

We'll be doing that over a backing track in E minor Just to switch things up a bit.

So, following the same process, we covered before we would create our tapping lick over the track and then mix in some random licks on E minor pentatonic.

This is the tricky part!
1. You need to make sure you got the tapping lick down and memorized
2. Practice going into that tapping run from whatever lick you're playing
3. Practice going out of that tapping run into another random lick on the scale you're playing

Check out the video lesson min 7:51 for a quick demonstration of how amazing integrated tapping licks sound while improvising!

Alright, so that's about it! This was all you need to know to get started with creating tasty tapping licks all over the fretboard.

I would highly recommend experimenting with this, try whatever! You can do that on the B string but also the G string.

Just use your ear it will tell you if what you're doing is good or not. And if you're still not sure what sounds great and what doesn't yet, you can always just follow the process we covered.

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