Level Up Your Guitar Tapping With This D Minor Scale Trick

Level Up Your Guitar Tapping With This D Minor Scale Trick

This is guitar tapping for beginners, level two… learn to walk up the D minor scale with this cool, flashy lick that will take your solos to the next level.

Alright, let’s dive into guitar tapping for beginners, level two. Here’s what we’re going to learn right now. It’s a really cool-sounding lick that moves across a few strings and incorporates a slide to finish it off. Be sure to follow if you find it valuable, by the way.

The Tapping Technique

For this one, just as we have been doing, we’re going to do all of our tapping with our picking hand, specifically with that middle finger.

The basic idea is simple but effective. You’re playing the first two notes of each string in the scale with your fretting hand, and then the third note of each string is added with that middle finger tapping down on the fretboard.

The Lick: A Walk-Up in D Minor

This lick is just walking up the D minor scale. Technically, I’m in D flat since my guitar is tuned a half step down, but for you in standard tuning, this will be in the key of D minor.

We’re going to use a specific three-string pattern and then descend back down before adding a final flair.

The Note-for-Note Pattern

Let’s break it down string by string.

  • A String: Start by playing the 5th and 7th frets with your fretting hand, then tap the 8th fret with your middle finger.
  • D String: Move to the D string and do the same pattern: fretting hand on 5 and 7, tapping on 8.
  • G String: Now on the G string, you’ll play the 5th and 7th frets with your fretting hand, but this time you’ll tap the 9th fret.
  • The Descent: After hitting that tapped 9th fret on the G string, you’re going to come back to the D string and repeat the 5-7-8 pattern. Then, come back to the A string and do the same 5-7-8 pattern.

The Grand Finale: The Slide

To finish the lick, after you play the final sequence on the A string (5-7-tap 8), you’re going to take that middle finger that’s already on the 8th fret and slide it up to the 10th fret on that same A string. This gives the whole phrase a nice, resolved feeling.

FAQ

  • Which finger should I use for tapping?
    For this lesson, we’re going to do all of our tapping with the middle finger of our picking hand.
  • What is the basic concept for this tapping pattern?
    You play the first two notes on each string with your fretting hand, and then tap the third note on the string with your middle finger.
  • What scale is this lick based on?
    The lick is based on walking up the D minor scale.
  • What is the fret-by-fret sequence for the lick?
    The sequence is: A string (5-7-tap 8), D string (5-7-tap 8), G string (5-7-tap 9), then back to the D string (5-7-tap 8), and back to the A string (5-7-tap 8).
  • How does the tapping lick end?
    After tapping the 8th fret on the A string for the final time, you take that same tapping finger and slide it up to the 10th fret on the A string.

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