Guitar Tapping for Beginners
Tapping extends legato (see [[hammer-on-pull-off-guitar:the article on hammer-ons and pull-offs]]) by letting the picking hand's finger act as another 'hammer', not just the fretting hand - this reaches notes physically out of range for the fretting hand alone within one position.
The basic pattern: tap, pull-off, hammer-on
The classic pattern: the picking-hand finger strikes a far fret sharply (the tap itself), then comes off with a tugging motion like a pull-off (see the article on pull-offs) - sounding the note the fretting hand is holding - and the fretting hand then hammers onto the note in between. Three notes, one pick strike at the very start.
A tap is a strike too, not a touch
Same logic as an ordinary hammer-on (see the article on hammer-ons): the sharpness of the strike produces the volume, not the pressure. A weak, hesitant tap sounds noticeably quieter than the rest of the phrase - the picking-hand finger needs to strike the fret just as confidently as the fretting-hand fingers do.
Without muting, tapping sounds messier than usual
While the picking hand is busy tapping, it's no longer holding the pick against the strings - neighboring strings stay completely unmuted, and it's especially noticeable with distortion (see the article on playing with distortion). Whatever part of the picking hand isn't busy tapping should rest against neighboring strings, deadening them - the same principle as ordinary muting (see the article on muting).
Start on one string, very slowly
Take one string and just three notes (the tap, the note in between, and the open or fretted bottom note) - get all three sounding evenly loud at a comfortable tempo before adding a second string or speeding up. Tapping looks impressive even slow, so there's no reason to rush for effect.
The picking hand returns to the pick without a gap
After a tapping phrase, the picking hand needs to get back to normal pick strikes with no noticeable delay - drill exactly that transition on its own, because the hand physically has to switch roles (from 'hammer' to 'pick') within a split second, and that's a separate skill from the tapping pattern itself.
Try it in practice
Open the metronome