Eight-finger tapping has been pretty popular lately.
There's been so much talk about it that I've decided to do a lesson based on a relatively simple Cmaj7 arpeggio using this technique.
Please check out the three figures below and be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this blog post for additional help.
Also, be sure to check out my four previous lessons, which are listed to the left under "RELATED CONTENT."
And now for the lesson:
FIGURE A shows us this arpeggio ascending, ending on the major seventh of the arpeggio. A dampener can make life easier for this, but depending on how much gain you are using and your guitar's setup, it isn't absolutely necessary.
FIGURE B shows the Cmaj7 descending in a slightly different manner, just to give it a little bit of an exciting and complex twist.
The last example combines FIGURE A and FIGURE B, so you can play one long ascending and descending arpeggio. Also, you will notice the specific fingers for the fretting hand notated by numbers ('1' for index, '2' for middle, '3' for ring, '4' for pinky) and the specific fingers for the tapping hand notated by letters ('i' for index, 'm' for middle and 'a' for ring).
Cyamak Ashtiani is an award-winning rock/pop guitarist and songwriter who has written, toured and recorded with a multitude of major and indie recording artists. Recently, he has toured with Rockstar: Supernova's Lukas Rossi and country/rap artist Mikel Knight. You can catch his new project with former Dry Cell frontman Jeff Gutt at ShadesOfTheVillain.com and his clothing line at 1251Clothing.com, of which he is a cofounder.
