Cross-Handed Tapping

This is a different way off tapping. Cross-Handed Tapping is very flashy and looks cool. This is really only for playing live, since it is such an impractical way of tapping.

You start by hammering a note with your left hand, and then tap another note with your right hand. Then bring your left hand under your right and tap another note. Then you bring your right hand over and tap, ect. Yeah that didn't make a whole lot of sense, so let's demonstrate.

Legend:
h= Hammer
p= Pull Off
t= tap

Here we will do a simple one string tapping line in the key of G Major:

e|--h3-t7-h10-t15-p10-t7-p3--|
B|---------------------------|
G|---------------------------|
D|---------------------------|
A|---------------------------|
E|---------------------------|

To make this confusing jumble of a mess easier to understand, I'll explain this step by step:

1. Hammer on at the 3rd fret with your left hand.
2. ap the 7th fret with your right hand.
3. Bring your left hand under your right hand and hammer on the 10th fret.
4. Bring your right hand over your left hand and tap the 15th fret.
5. Pull off the 15th fret, making sure your left hand is still holding down the 10th fret.
6. Bring your right hand over your left and tap the 7th fret and pull off the 10th fret.
7. Bring you left hand under your right and hammer on the 3rd fret, pull off the 7th fret.
8. Take it slow and easy, this is a pretty demanding technique.

Experiment with other notes and such, also you can combine this with other techniques. For example lets take an E minor Arpeggio Sweep, then cross tap and then bring it down for an Em Triad sweep:

e|-----------------7-h12-t15-h19-t24-p19-p15---------------|
B|--------------8------------------------------17----------|
G|-----------9------------------------------------16-------|
D|--------9------------------------------------------17----|
A|-7h10-------------------------------------------------19-|
E|---------------------------------------------------------|

The cross tap starts when you tap the 19th fret (bringing left under right) and ends when you tap the 24th fret (bringing right over left). If you dont have a 24 fret guitar you can always bring it down a few frets to compensate.

Comments

[Rodders]

This is rather hard.....

[lespaulbuddy]

its supposed to be hard, it's a technique nothing good for but to show off, and it possibley, in the right hands, lead to some interesting tapping runs

[xAODx]

I'm not a big sweeper myself, but this looks cool as shiz. thnx

[mangablade]

i have to say, pretty cool technique and all but... it was easy to learn (hard to do but you know). maybe you could try expanding more, this is kind of short to be a lesson imo. 4 stars

[stupid_fool06]

3
0

[jking327]

I guess it'd be cool to throw that in a little bit. But to tell you the honest truth, I'd be more impressed if you could pull off that little sweep lick by using three fingers of your left hand. Less flashy, but a lot more impressive in my opinion. I guess I just love 8 finger tapping.

[jking327]

Sorry, I meant three fingers of your right hand.

Cool technique.

[the fendernator]

ok its easier than i first thought, but still bloody hard!

[danadz]

very good technique, but damn hard!! i think, this trick is fit for angelo batio..

[And2001PT]

very good technique, but damn hard!! i think, this trick is fit for angelo batio..

He does it.
Somewhere in Yngwie's website they mentioned MAB doing this and Yngwie not being able to do it.

[Peterjs]

This seems like a fun thing to do after I can tap well. Not quite there yet though.

[nathanroach21]

Thanks for the stuff kool dude!!

[metal_man696]

nice job dude but this shit is for michael angelo batio man. its hard

[Evil_Empire24-7]

anything for my friends

[Mr Fevpump]

ahhhahah if you can do this tell everyone you can out "tap" Yngwie... J/k this is quite intersting and looks awsome lol but hard as hell i guess if your doing alotta live gigs you should give it a shot but yea... interesting stuff dude 4/5 stars

[abigape]

i like it

[nj3kted]

damn.. so confusing..

[fernan]

dats 2 easy 4 me!!!..

[Coheed_Fan105]

uhhhhh.....okay.

[benjy118]

i seen Steve Vai do this in the fainal dule in Crossroads and is too hard for a fello 14 yr old ... but ill keep trying till ive got it perfect then show it off 2 my freinds

[captain_steve_o]

Hey peeps.....looks good.....any of you seen steve vai and billy sheehan pulling off the cross-tapping and shyboy.....looks amazing!!!!!

[captain_steve_o]

Hey peeps.....looks good.....any of you seen steve vai and billy sheehan pulling off the cross-tapping and shyboy.....looks amazing!!!!!

[captain_steve_o]

Hey peeps.....looks good.....any of you seen steve vai and billy sheehan pulling off the cross-tapping and shyboy.....looks amazing!!!!!

[captain_steve_o]

Hey peeps.....looks good.....any of you seen steve vai and billy sheehan pulling off the cross-tapping and shyboy.....looks amazing!!!!!

[WILL334]

somthink to impress beginer

[battleaxe]

I've seen Vai doing it and it looks amazing!! Pretty amazing!!

[xXTheSilenceXx]

Man that crap's way too hard for me...probably because I'm really crappy at tapping, but I can hammer-on and pull-off some really complicated lines, so when I do this, it comes out with the hammers and pulls going really fast, and slowing down for the taps. And it sounds really weird. =D

[SG Special]

I like how you stated everything, even though to most people it wouldnt make so much sense. Also, you should go alittle more in depth with this subject of tapping, myabe it might help people understand the whole catigory better.

[scottishmob]

I don't understand the point of cross-handed tapping at all. But this did teach me how pretty well.

[perpetual shred]

yeah, i saw vai and billy sheenean do it in shyboy live at the astoria.fast as hell, pointless as hell,awesome!

[fingersofflame]

this quite hard...it is really awesome,but...sheesh!good lesson man!

[fingersofflame]

fingersofflame wrote:

this quite hard...

i would like to revise that statement, after trying this out and sitting down to it for a second, it turned out to be quite easy...you just gotta take it slow, and everything turns out alright...that must sound so corny, but it is true...all it takes is time and effort...good lesson man!

[pinkfloyd_syd]

This is fun stuff to experiment with, All ya gotta do is start off slow and keep getting faster everytime and its easy.. ive used this technique to start low and hammer on right through scales and then pull of all the way back.... fun lesson

[last_biscuit]

Awesome!! Cheers, can't wait to actually use it live. My friends are impressed though.

[ivanglam]

a perfect example of some of this shieet

www.justinking.com

Hi Res -
http://www.justinking.com/video/JustinKing_SoloGuitarVide
o_VidFull_300.asx
Low Res -
http://www.justinking.com/video/JustinKing_SoloGuitarVide
o_VidFull_56.asx

I think this guy just outplayed a crapload of people.

[MiniMusicMasta]

Its quite easy if you start off slow then build up.

Good lesson.

[patmann3]

talk about difficult!!!

[HIM247z]

another perfect example of this-
watch any solo from Dragonforce
I dont really like their music, but those guys can play guitar man

[TySkby]

I posted something like this on the other tapping lesson, but there's a lot of music that requires two handed tapping, not just for show, but because it's actually necessary.

Examples (again): Daktoa/Dakota, Piglet, Don Caballero, When All the World Sleeps, Maps and Atlases, etc.

[Lead guitarist]

Great lesson

[ACDC-Rocker]

nice!- slow and easy does it!
i also made my own in like 10 secs, is it any good?, lol-

e|--h1-t5-h2-t6-h3-t7-p3-
t6-p2-t5-p1--|

When you hammer-on the 1,2 and 3 keep ur fingers there to help with the pull-offs.

e|--h1-t5-h2-t6-h3-t7/5-p3-t6-p2-t7-p1--|

I would only use these to practise getting the tapping and hammer-on tap, pull-off feel, then move ur fingers further around the fretboard.
Hey it works for me might as well try it. lol

[ACDC-Rocker]

, almost forgot, thanks for the lesson, i didnt even know about cross-handed tapping!

[Rattlehead.90]

If you could do this fast enough it would be cool as some sort of rubato technique...that thought just came to me...thanks for the lesson

[eruption is me]

pretty good it looks cool but not that useful

[BELIAL87]

As cool as this looks, you look like more of a show off than you would by simply tapping. I've only shown two people and they already think I'm a show off.

That said, it's still cool.

[l0ssOfHuman1ty]

this is nothing compared to chris brodericks 5 octave arpeggios.. at Chrisbroderick.com (video and audio)

[I'm a real boy]

thanks man this is pretty cool and easy as to do.(doing it fast is not that easy) did you make this up yourself?

[Teufel]

I'll give it a try for sure.

[chocobo rally]

good idea and nice lick but would be better without the sweep so u can add more notes btw sweepin doesnt acually make a player faster just looks it and most sweeeping songs are very linear anyway

[RollingFree]

cool thing to learn but I h8 sweeping cause it's so dang hard!

[Metallica_Man55]

this is retarded. nobody even does this, it's so dang hard!

[sevenchurches]

You start by hammering a note with your left hand, and then tap another note with your right hand. Then bring your left hand under your right and tap another note. Then you bring your right hand over and tap, ect. Yeah that didn't make a whole lot of sense, so let's demonstrate.

i showed this to my left handed friend. It was so funny

[jazguitardude92]

yo dude, this is a cool technique. i am going to start practicing it. but does anyone have any ideas on how to mute the strings. when i try to mute them my hand rubs against the strings and makes a lot of noise. and if i dont do anything all the strings just ring out

[Metallisti_]

This is really an interesting technique And it sounds nice if you do it right :P I'm going to start practice this :P Great lesson!

[W.h.o.r.EGuitar]

actually, if you use this right right you can do some amazing things its more than just looking flashy... try doin some taps beyond the left hand with ur right and also normal ones with your left. If you keep one note fretted with your left, you can simultaneously move higher in pitch by going in opposoite directions...

[justinb904]

wow, ive never seen this befor, looks awsom, just wish their was a little more

[edski6]

i can finger pick but this is a little harder

[JD Close]

Better than Kristopher Dahl talking about "the lazy mans way of speed"! Very helpful 5/5 stars