{FfttffinI-EI*

I think of a newtechniqueor lick at the strangest

Sometimes
times.When I got the ideafor right-handtapping,I wasin the
bathroomwith my guitar.This techniqueis oftenwritten incorrectly
in booksandplayedwrong,sohere'show it works.To understand
theidea(behindright-handtapping),first play this trill with your left
hand:

Anothereasyright-handtechniqueis harmonictapping.Examplesof thiscanbeheardon "SpanishFly,""WomenIn Love"

[bothfrom ZanHalen Il),"Eruption,"and"Top Jimmy"I I984f.ln
orderto producea harmonic,just tap I 2 fretsabovea note,directly
on thefret (removeyour right-handfingerquickly).Althoughyou
cando this techniqueon an acousticinstrument,you'll getbetter
resultson an electric(seeFig. 5).

Now tap a finger of your right hand-I usually use the I st or

2nd-to produce the first note, and then pull it off of the string to
sound the second(seeFig. 4). The pull-off motion should be toward

Fig.4
you,andshouldslightlycatchthestring.Wholedescending
scalescan
be playedin this way; try it with the first bluespatternwe discussed.

CIp

Op

Once you understand the basic moves oftapping (sounding the

note with your right hand and pulling off), then you're ready to apply
*Eruption,"from Van
it to a lick. Here's a thing I do in the last part of
Halen (it can also be played on the third string). It's really easy, and
makes a great exercise. Notice that after you tap and pull off, you
then hammer down to get the third note. Experiment enough with
this technique and you'll realizeyou can get many other combinations.
60

1984
cLrr.{R PLAYER,JULY

Now that you know someofthe basicingredientsofrock androll,

rememberthat your playinghasto havefeelingandtaste.The goalis
to makemusic,not alwaysto play machinegun-typestuff. To me,
musicis entertainment.You shouldn'tbeplayingit to savetheworld
to makeyou
or showpeoplehow greatyou are.It'sjust supposed
happy,makeyou cry, makeyou gethorny, or whatever.If it doesnt
do that, thenit's not music.And remember:You learnby making
mistakes.Donl beafraidto try somethingnew.If I'm thrown into an
unfamiliarsituation,suchasplayingwith Allan Holdsworth,I don't
panic.SometimesI skin my knees,but mostof thetime I land on my
feet.My dad hasa Dutch sayingthat putsit muchbetterthan I can:
Translated,it means,"Ride your bicyclestraightthrough." If you
D
screwup, just keepgoing.

UanFffm]*ra
ffi*df;s
& Ssfissm$
ffif,smmgraphy
With Van Halen(all on WarnerBros.):VanHalen,BSK30751
YanHalenII, HS 3312;WomenAnd ChildrenFirst,HS34l5; Fair
Vl/arning,HS 3540;Diver Down, BSK 3677;1984,1-23985.
BSK
Withothers:Nicolette
Larson,Nicolette,WarnerBros.,
3243;MichaelJackson,Thriller,Epic,QE 38112;Brian May, Stor
FleetProject,EMI, MLP-15014.