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Guitar Gym: Tapping

Tapping exercises to take your playing to the next level

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Guitar Gym: Tapping
Chris Buono

Chris Buono

Educator

multi genre

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About this course

In this edition of Guitar Gym, it’s all about transforming your picking hand into a monster legato tool. Split into three leveled sections, these workouts guide you through a comprehensive, rigorous practice regimen designed to get this uber-cool technique locked in and solid. Buono will guide you through 27 Workouts across 3 levels. The workouts are organized into 3-tempo s sets (slow, medium, fast) each with an accompanying overview video where Buono explains the ins and outs for practicing the workouts. Each Workout is also clearly laid out for you in Guitar Pro, which can also be adjusted to any tempo. Buono will perform each workout on video (in various views) for the prescribed amount of time and so you’ll always have your coach there to playalong with and sweat it all out with in Guitar Gym.

Each Guitar Gym course focuses on a specific guitar technique by guiding the student through a deliberately prescribed series of optimized workouts, organized across a series of levels with increasing intensity. Buono demonstrates each of the workouts by explaining how the workout is engineered and then showing you how to play the workout correctly.

The workouts are ALL interactive video playalongs -- Buono performs each workout with you, for the correct amount of time, at all of the prescribed tempos. You will not be alone in the shed!

All of the workouts also include text guides, PDF charts, Guitar Pro files and all of the practice metronome tracks, at all of the prescribed tempos. Everything you need to develop monster chops by practicing correctly is included.

Practice does NOT make perfect -- "perfect" practice does. We've heard this time and again from our instructors and we get it; practice the wrong thing, or practice the wrong way, and you'll learn how to play it perfectly wrong. Makes "perfect" sense but what exactly do we practice, and how specifically do we practice it? TrueFire's resident Professor of the Deep, Chris Buono has invested the last couple of decades coming up with the answer.

Developing solid guitar techniques is particularly subject to the quality and intensity of your practice regimens -- you'll only get so far relying on repetition and frequency alone. Chris Buono's Guitar Gym workouts will take you the rest of the way with 12 collections of tried, tested and proven intensive workouts for Triad Arpeggios, Tapping, Hybrid Picking, Alternate Picking, Hammers & Pull-Offs, Power Chords, Scales, Speed Picking,Triads, Harmonic Minor Triad Chord Scales, Major Triad Chord Scales and Melodic Minor Triad Chord Scales

Guitar Gym -- your path to "perfect" chops!

What you'll learn

  • Perform ghost hammering technique for ascending four-note-per-string runs
  • Execute complex tapping sequences across multiple positions on the neck
  • Navigate position shifts while maintaining tapping accuracy
  • Apply tapping technique to three different modes (Ionian, Mixolydian, Aeolian)
  • Build speed incrementally from 60 to 120 BPM
Release date: 11/20/2013 • 2h 48m runtime
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Sample lessons
Tapping: Level 1
Tapping: Level 1
Workout #3: Overview
Tapping: Level 1
Tapping: Level 1
Workout #3: 40 BPM
Tapping: Level 2
Tapping: Level 2
Workout #1: Overview
Tapping: Level 2
Tapping: Level 2
Workout #1: 80 BPM

What's included

42 lessons • 27 charts • 36 Jam Tracks

Guitar Gym: Tapping
Chops: Our heroes have'm and we all want'em. In order to get'em you gotta do what any other person training to better themselves in some way would do - get to the gym! Well, that's exactly what you’re going to do - welcome to the Guitar Gym series. No matter what level you're at or if you have various strong and weak points in your technique, Guitar Gym has you covered. Each course is comprised of a collection of leveled Workouts waiting for you to dig into.

Here in Guitar Gym | Tapping it’s all about transforming your pick hand into a legato tool! Split into three leveled sections Guitar Gym | Tapping guides you through a comprehensive, rigorous game plan for you to get this uber-cool technique together. Each level is split up into three Workouts made up of 13 video segments starting with the Overview where I'll give you a quick synopsis of what's in store. The following 12 videos are the three Workouts further split up into three tempos - slow, medium, fast - that all have an accompanying Introduction video where I explain the ins and outs on how to play the Workout. Each Workout is clearly laid out for you in Power Tab and will be readily available for you to download right from the TrueFire player. In the three actual Workout videos I will play through the Workout for the amount of time I prescribe in the Overview and Introduction videos so you always have me right there with you (in various views) as you sweat it all out here in Guitar Gym.

At the heart of any drilling regimen including this one is precise timing. It not only keeps things orderly in all aspects of music, but it also serves as a guide and indicator as to how you're progressing. What's more, anyone who has been in the chops shed knows that one of the most important practices is to increase the tempo incrementally one-by-one. While the three parts of each Workout will be presented in a slow-medium-fast fashion in regards to tempo, it's up to you to take the Workout into your own shed and incrementally up the tempo while you practice, preparing you for the next tempo mark. Dig?

Ready!?

Let's do it do it!!
Working Out In the Gym
Developing great chops is not about just mindlessly drilling an exercise over and over. There has to be a method to the madness...

First and foremost you need to create what I call in my Guitar Gym Online Classroom a Workout Schedule. My Workout Schedules carve out a set amount of time on set days of the week that slot out precisely what it is your going to play. This helps big time and the results are inspiring to say the least! And, this is not as much time as you might expect. If you're working on just one skill such as the one here in this course you need but 15-30 minutes a day depending on how many Workouts you want to drill down. That said, you could set it up so you do a morning and evening session. The key is focused, disciplined practice time with a metronome. Just stick to your "WS" and let your fingers do the rest!

Speaking of focus and discipline when starting to put together your own WS keep this mantra in mind: You absolutely must start out playing the Workouts slow and gradually climb up the tempo ladder to the top tempo tier. No if's, and's or lazy butts about it. Even if you think you can play the Workout at the medium tempo, trust me, knock it down to the lowest tier and build. You may be masking playing anomalies you don't even know are there by jumping into passages at a medium to high tempo. Slowing down what you're playing will reveal what you may need to work on. Do it!

Not only does starting out at the lowest tempo tier ensure you'll get the most out of your practice time, but it will also help to prevent any injuries. Notice I mentioned 15-30 minute Workout Schedules, spaced out if you want to do more, and not marathon sessions. Playing in reasonable blocks of time is a much safer way to build your muscle memory as well as help you attain the ultimate skill in playing proficiently on the guitar: The art of relaxation. If you're relaxed and keeping your practice time calculated and spaced out, you'll be safe and successful.
Tapping
The tapping Workouts you have before you will help develop this highly efficient and very cool playing technique, but not without putting the time in. Here in Guitar Gym :: Tapping you'll go from basic touches on the neck with your newly formed tap finger (T) to performing pull-offs to open strings while you add fretted notes in to the mix. And, that's just Level 1! In Level 2 you'll go down the path of the tried-and-true triplet-based tapped arpeggio sequence as well as working them out in 16ths. Level 3 delves into scalular tapping with runs on must-know Heptatonic modes including Ionian, Mixolydian and Aeolian.

Tapping is a technique that makes use of your pick hand fingers as possible legato playing instruments. For our purposes in this course you'll be using your pick hand 1st (T1) or your 2nd (T2) finger. In the charts throughout the course you'll just see a "T". I will leave the decision up to you as to whether you want to tap with your pick hand 1st finger with no pick in hand or your 2nd finger while cupping the pick in your pick hand 1st finger.

Level 1 starts your tapping development slowly and carefully by simply making contact with the strings on the neck in the form of hammer-ons with your chosen tap finger (T) in the first half of Workout #1. The second half will incorporate open strings to start introducing pulling-off with your tap finger. Workout #2 takes off from #1 by adding a fretted note in to the mix, while Workout #3 adds yet another. Ready?!
Tapping: Level 1
Workout #1 is crucial because it introduces you with making contact with the strings on the neck with your pick hand finger, which is now your tap finger! Just look for the "T" on the chart to know which notes to tap and you're off and, well, tapping!

Listen carefully to the suggestions in this Overview video where I give you a few suggestions on how best to start developing a tapping technique such as which finger to use, where to hide your pick if you decide to keep the pick in your hand and more. Take it slow, stay focused and you will get the results you're looking for.
Tapping: Level 1
Workout #1 is crucial because it introduces you with making contact with the strings on the neck with your pick hand finger, which is now your tap finger! Just look for the "T" on the chart to know which notes to tap and you're off and, well, tapping!

Listen carefully to the suggestions in this Overview video where I give you a few suggestions on how best to start developing a tapping technique such as which finger to use, where to hide your pick if you decide to keep the pick in your hand and more. Take it slow, stay focused and you will get the results you're looking for.
Tapping: Level 1
Workout #1 is crucial because it introduces you with making contact with the strings on the neck with your pick hand finger, which is now your tap finger! Just look for the "T" on the chart to know which notes to tap and you're off and, well, tapping!

Listen carefully to the suggestions in this Overview video where I give you a few suggestions on how best to start developing a tapping technique such as which finger to use, where to hide your pick if you decide to keep the pick in your hand and more. Take it slow, stay focused and you will get the results you're looking for.
Tapping: Level 1
Workout #1 is crucial because it introduces you with making contact with the strings on the neck with your pick hand finger, which is now your tap finger! Just look for the "T" on the chart to know which notes to tap and you're off and, well, tapping!

Listen carefully to the suggestions in this Overview video where I give you a few suggestions on how best to start developing a tapping technique such as which finger to use, where to hide your pick if you decide to keep the pick in your hand and more. Take it slow, stay focused and you will get the results you're looking for.

+ 35 more lessons

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Reviews

8 results

milion

12/22/24

Great introduction to basic tapping techniques

Great introduction to tapping technique, perfect if you're a beginner. But now we need a volume 2 please ! With multi finger tapping (with both hand), exercises mixing pick and tapping, more chords etc.

Ohio5665

Verified buyer

04/15/23

I don't do alot of tapping and this course has helped me to get going and to learn the basics and practice the technique in the right way. The Guitar Gym series are a great way to learn.

mrandy

Verified buyer

02/28/22

Taptastic!

A great course - well organised with realistic progression, great resources and clear instruction. Recommended!

Al B.

10/06/21

This course works for me

This course has taken me from an tapping beginner through to a tapping intermediate reasonably quickly. I can also see that as I continue to work through the course it will take me to an advanced level. This course is clear and has led me to purchase other Guitar Gym courses. Thanks Chris.

solinski

Verified buyer

12/26/20

Guitar Gym Rocks

This is another excellent installment of the Guitar Gym series. Having had no experience with tapping before, it helped me not feel intimidated. The exercises are explained very well and start off easy, training the tapping hand (the left hand for me, as I'm a lefty) to do something other than hold the pick. The Guitar Pro files are also very helpful, because they can be slowed down and increased 1 bpm, which is the approach I am taking. Chris is a great instructor, and this is another great course in this series. Definitely recommend it.

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