Tapping has existed in some form or another for centuries.
Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840) used similar techniques on the
violin, striking the string with a bouncing bow articulated by left-hand pizzicato. Paganini considered himself a better guitarist than violinist, and in fact wrote several compositions for guitar, most famously the "Grand Sonata for Violin and Guitar." His guitar compositions are rarely performed in modern times, though his violin compositions enjoy multiple performances. Some musicologists believe he wrote his 37 violin sonatas on guitar and then transcribed them for violin. Well known to frequent taverns, Paganini was likely exposed to gypsy guitar techniques from Romani, "gypsies." He preferred playing his guitar for tavern customers instead of concert hall audiences. Similar to two-hand tapping,
selpe technique is used in Turkish folk music on the instrument called the
bağlama. Tapping techniques and solos on various stringed acoustic instruments such as the banjo have been documented in film, records, and performances throughout the early 20th century. Various musicians have been suggested as the originators of modern two-hand tapping. While one of the earliest players known to use the technique was
Roy Smeck (who used a tapping style on a
ukulele in the 1932 film
Club House Party), electric pickup designer
Harry DeArmond developed a two-handed method as a way of demonstrating the sensitivity of his pickups. His friend Jimmie Webster, a designer and demonstrator for
Gretsch guitars, made recordings in the 1950s using DeArmond's technique, which he described in the instructional book
Touch Method for Electric and Amplified Spanish Guitar, published in 1952.
Vittorio Camardese developed his own two-handed tapping in the early 1960s, and demonstrated it in 1965 during an Italian television show. Tapping was occasionally employed by many 1950s and 1960s jazz guitarists such as
Barney Kessel, who was an early supporter of
Emmett Chapman. In August 1969, Chapman developed a new way of two-handed tapping with both hands held perpendicular to the neck from opposite sides, thus enabling equal counterpoint capabilities for each hand. To maximize the technique, Chapman designed a 9-string long-scale electric guitar which he called "the Electric Stick" (and later refined as the
Chapman Stick), the most popular dedicated tapping instrument. Chapman's style aligns the right-hand fingers parallel to the frets, as on the left hand, but from the opposite side of the neck. His discovery led to complete counterpoint capability, and a new instrument, the
Chapman Stick, and to his "Free Hands" method. Chapman influenced several tapping guitarists, including
Steve Lynch of
Autograph, and
Jennifer Batten. The tapping technique began to be taken up by rock and blues guitarists in the late 1960s. One of the earliest such players was
Canned Heat guitarist
Harvey Mandel, whom
Ritchie Blackmore claims to have seen using tapping onstage as early as 1968 at the
Whisky a Go Go.
George Lynch has corroborated this, mentioning that both he and
Eddie Van Halen saw Mandel employ "a neo-classic tapping thing" at the
Starwood in
West Hollywood during the 1970s. Mandel would use extensive two-handed tapping techniques on his 1973 album
Shangrenade. Another early example of the tapping technique can be heard in
Terry Kath's "Free Form Guitar" from
Chicago's
debut album in 1969.
Randy Resnick (of the band
Pure Food and Drug Act, which at one time also featured Mandel) used two-handed tapping techniques extensively in his performances and recordings between 1969 and 1974. In reference to Resnick's playing with
Richard Greene And Zone at the Whisky a Go-Go in 1974,
Lee Ritenour mentioned in
Guitar Player magazine January 1980 that "Randy was the first guitarist I ever saw who based his whole style on tapping." Resnick also recorded using the technique in 1974 on the
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers album
Latest Edition and has said that he was attempting to duplicate the legato of
John Coltrane's "Sheets of Sound".
Steve Hackett of
Genesis also claims to be an inventor of tapping as early as 1971. Some players such as
Stanley Jordan,
Paul Gilbert,
Buckethead, and
Steve Vai were notably skilled in the use of both hands in an almost piano-like attack on the fretboard. In the mid-1970s, two-handed tapping started to break into the mainstream, when
Frank Zappa started incorporating it into his songs, and performing them to large TV audiences. Eddie Van Halen went on to popularize the two-handed tapping technique in the late 1970s, originally being inspired by Genesis guitarist Hackett's use of the technique. Van Halen himself also claims that his inspiration came from
Led Zeppelin guitarist
Jimmy Page: "I think I got the idea of tapping watching (Page) do his "
Heartbreaker" solo back in 1971... He was doing a pull-off to an open string and I thought... I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around?" File:Nicolo Paganini by Richard James Lane.jpg|
Niccolò Paganini, the 19th-century
violin master, one of the first innovators of musical instrument tapping. File:HisPastimes.jpg|
Jazz guitarist
Roy Smeck, seen in the 1926 short film
His Pastimes, was an early popularizer of tapping. Image:Enver-izmailov-2009-hofheim-003.jpg|
Enver Izmailov, a strictly tapping Ukrainian
folk and
jazz guitar player in 2009. Image:Stanley Jordan 01 (cropped).jpg|
Stanley Jordan, a jazz guitarist, relies extensively on tapping. File:Adt sized.jpg|
Greg Howe using a
scrunchie on the first fret to mute the open strings while tapping with two hands ==Techniques==