Two-Handed Tapping

On guitar, this is a tapping technique in which both the picking and fretting hands, either independently or in conjunction with one another, hammer-on or tap the fretboard in order to sound notes. Two-handed tapping can be utilized to play polyphonic and counterpoint music on a guitar by using eight (and even nine) fingers. For example, the right hand plays the treble melody while the left hand plays accompaniment or a bass line. While initially popularized by rock guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen for playing arpeggios, scalar lines, and for adding the occasional note, subsequent players have further developed the technique. Jazz guitarist, Stanley Jordan, was an early proponent of the two-handed tapping technique, using it to solo and accompany himself simultaneously. Two-handed tapping has since become the basis for an entire genre of fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing.