Learn AND Apply Two Hand Tapping: Technique + Theory

Two-hand tapping is one of the more impressive sounding (and looking) techniques you can learn on the guitar. That makes it appear difficult, but in reality, the method is easy to ramp up toward blazing speeds.

Compared to other guitar techniques, the basic two-handed tapped arpeggio doesn't require a lot of moving around - your hands will pretty much be locked into a small area, and you sincerely only need to learn three moves.

This lesson is a guide through those three moves, the tiny 3-step sequence that I promise you'll be able to play.

How to Do Two-Hand Tapping (Quick Version)

Here's a quick summary of the technique. To perform the classic two-hand tapping trick, find three notes of a major or minor arpeggio. Then…

1. Tap the highest note with a finger on your picking hand (index or middle, usually).
2. Perform a pull-off with that finger, snapping the string down, to allow the lowest note in the pattern to ring out.
3. Hammer-on with the fretting pinkie or ring finger to the middle note of the arpeggio.

Repeat.

Here's what's critical: the very moment that you repeat the sequence at step 1, your hand needs to be in position for step 2. A millisecond after you tap, your hammer-on finger must get off the fret and get ready to slam back down. This step is taught in detail in the video.

How to Practice This Lesson

Once you've memorized the three steps taught in this lesson, it's critical that you have high-frequency practice sessions. That means you need to practice often, but not for long.

5 minutes in the morning, afternoon, and evening on these patterns will result in huge improvements. That's far more effective than practicing for an hour every other day. After just a few weeks, you'll start finding that speed that you might have thought was inaccessible.

Arpeggio Sequences Are Just Chord Progressions

This little pattern you've learned is extremely versatile if you know your music theory. Since it's just an arpeggio, and an arpeggio is just the notes of a chord, you can string together beautiful sequences of arpeggios that outline full progressions.

To learn that skill, I made this free guide that features my most popular lessons.

To apply all that knowledge on the guitar, I recommend my Theory and Songwriting course. It's taught on guitar and teaches the absolute fundamentals all the way through advanced concepts like modes.

Once you're finished with the course, you'll be able to take simple ideas and turn them into full songs with bass lines, drum grooves, melodies, and complex chord progressions. The course has 5-star reviews and a full 15-day money-back guarantee, so there's no reason to not give it a try!