Improve Your Guitar Tapping Instantly (with a DIY Fretwrap)

You’ll get better by practicing consistently, not looking for shortcuts. In the case of tapping, however, even the best guitar players like Guthrie Govan “cheat” a bit from time to time.

The key to instantly improving the sound of your tapping is to use a fretwrap. This accessory isn’t big news to most of you, but if you’re like me, you hate spending money on trinkets that are overpriced and that you don’t really need.

In the video below, I show you a DIY solution to creating your own fretwrap that'll take about 20 seconds. The two materials you need should be hanging around your house or can be purchased at a hardware store for a total of about $1.

Fretwraps don’t make up for poor technique, so those of you scoffing at this suggestion as a replacement for practice should understand this tool is primarily used to clean up excess string hum and feedback, kind of like a manual noise gate. While fretwraps are often used in the studio to maximize efficiency for recording, some guitar players, including Govan, whip out their fretwraps live.

Tyler Larson is the founder of the guitar-centric brand Music is Win. His insightful, uncomplicated guitar lessons and gear demonstrations along with entertaining, satirical content about life as a musician receive tens of millions of video views per month across social media. Tyler is also the creator of the extremely popular online guitar learning platform, Guitar Super System. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Tyler has been teaching guitar for over a decade and operates a production studio in Nashville, TN.