• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Help With Tapping (In Metal)

I am going to try to learn a song by a metal band with some serious bass tapping in it, it would definately be the hardest song I've attempted yet, but I really like the song and want to give it a try. Does anyone, especially anyone who plays metal songs on bass, have any tips about tapping? I really have never done much of it and just need any help I can get with it really. Thanks everyone!
 
I play a decent amount of tapping stuff on bass (metal). Really it all just comes down to practice. Practice the pattern slowly and eventually the speed will come. Also might want to play around with your setup. Once i started doing more tapping stuff, i lowered my action a tad, might be cheating, but the lighter pressure you can get away with the better IMO.
 
Like Antares said, lowering the action a bit will help a lot, if you can get away with it. When I was first learning to tap I would constantly miss the strings, especially the D and G. When I lowered my action I found it much, much easier. Also like Antares said, practice the patterns slow, and eventually you'll have them down and be able to play them fast.
 
i play heavy rock not so much metal but yeah i learned how to finger tap by listening to Stuart Hamm and Arif from Protest the Hero Weird combo i know but both amazing bassists but i finger tap in one of my bands songs called a king of all nights dreaming, check it out at myspace.com/timetoleave all i could so it practise really slow and just build it up and never give up keep at it
 
Wow that was THE most shameless band plug I have ever seen.

So, I'm just figuring rather than start a new thread on the same subject, I'll also drop a question in. How does one do tapping that spans multiple strings without it sounding sloppy? If it's one string I'm good, but if the riff calls for tapping on two strings at the same time it all goes downhill. Any pointers aside from practice slowly? Thanks in advance!
 
just lots of practise and if its your own songs making sure those two notes go well together and can flow into something amazing, only other thing i do is with my fret hand i deal with deep notes and my other hand i hold both sides of the neck and tap all the other notes.
 

Latest posts