I need an expert on this one.

Julian Barton · Mar 20, 2018

So I have a question that I can’t seem to answer. I was writing a PDF for a friend who is learning but I ran into an issue. I was about to say tapping is legato (because it has been said that your right becomes an extension of your left). But it could also be pizzicato because you are plucking the strings technically. So does anyone have any answer to this?

idssdi · Mar 20, 2018

I’ve never heard of the term pizzicato but tapping is not legato. Legato literally means fluently(or something like that) so I don’t think you can reer to tapling as being legato they are two different things

Guest · Mar 20, 2018

Pizzicato is a very classical term, a technique often used with Violins, Cellos, Violas etc. I’ve never really heard anyone called tapping a pizzicato cause I guess technically you are not plucking. I’d just calling it tapping personally, though I do like your description of it!

D K · Mar 20, 2018

Well, since in guitar playing the term legato is usually used for techniques involving only hammer-ons and pull offs (see for example Syns’s legato etudes) I would say tapping is legato, since tapping is basically hammer-ons and pull offs with your right hand (or left hand if you play left-handed). But i’m by no means an expert.

Julian Barton · Mar 20, 2018

Well you see D K that is where I was running into problems lol

Guest · Mar 20, 2018

You could call a legato lick that uses a tap all together legato, but you are still tapping. Legato in general means a smooth flow of notes, which can be from any instrument, but you are still tapping with your other hand to create the legato. Julian, that definition you use…’right hand is the extension of the left’ works very well. I would put it as ‘So I start off with this really nice legato lick in G minor and tap the minor 3rd up two octaves’. For example of course!

Jak Angelescu · Mar 21, 2018

I see we’re still having this debate you and I were trying to uncover The truth on this on Instagram. I’m going to ask my classical guitar instructor. I haven’t spoken to him in years but I’m starting lessons again in a few weeks. I still feel pizzicato isn’t the same thing as Tapping because with tapping you’re not exactly plucking the string. It’s literally the same sensation as a hammer-on or pull-off but with the right hand. So by this logic, hammer-ons and pull-offs would therefore be pizzicato and clearly it’s not. But I could be totally wrong! If you’re getting this into Theory lately and delving into classical terminology, I strongly suggest you starting classical lessons

Guest · Mar 21, 2018

I wanted to google “Is tapping pizzicato” but google suggested i look up “Is tapping pizza dough?”

Jak Angelescu · Mar 21, 2018

Bahaha!!!!

Well Ben, what’s the answer? Is tapping in fact, pizza dough?

Guest · Mar 21, 2018

Well, somehow I dont quite think there is any relation between pizza dough and tapping! Unless we guitarists start tapping whilst eating pizza dough starts to trend!

Guest · Mar 21, 2018

Wow, funny thought of some guitarist playing the intro to ‘Hot for Teacher’ using raw pizza dough

Josh Wright · Mar 21, 2018

I think we should try it Ben, no reason we shouldn’t test and see if tapping is in fact pizza dough .

Elton Breaux · Mar 21, 2018

I think im about to order pizza now lol

Ed Seith · Mar 21, 2018

pizzicato is plucking, and it SOUNDS like plucking. Tapping may or may not be legato (I would personally classify it that way, since it’s technically all hammer-ons and pull-offs with no picking), but it’s definitely not pizzicato.

In a real sense, most “normal” guitar playing is closer to pizzicato than tapping is.

Julian Barton · Mar 22, 2018

I love that this has turned into a massive debate and debacle involving pizza dough xD

Julian Barton · Mar 22, 2018

I have debunked the mystery. Tapping is not pizza dough because you toss pizza dough and you do not toss your guitar while tapping. This took extensive research and multiple college professors but tapping is indeed not pizza dough.

Ed Seith · Mar 22, 2018

The best pizza is found in local joints in northern New Jersey. You’re welcome.

Guest · Mar 22, 2018

Like music, Pizza is happiness – A great man once said.

Sayonil Mitra · Mar 22, 2018

I am not an expert, not at all. But i will share what i think. maybe we should use terms like legato and tapping only in the context of guitar. it may happen that the meanings of a term differs slightly in flavour from instrument to instrument just for the difference in playing style. For example, a pitch bending and a vibrato is done differently on a piano. But A bend and a vibrato is done in the same way on a guitar. I think the confusion will not arise if we just stick to guitar. legato is a mixture of Hammer-ons and pull-offs. Tapping is hiiting the string to the fretboard. legatos can be done without the other hand. Tapping needs the other hand. Let me know what you guys feel.

Brian Haner Sr. · Mar 22, 2018

I’ve never really thought about it before, but I’ll weigh in. Legato in classical music means that one note flows smoothly into the next. No gaps in between notes. We guitarists have bastardized that into meaning “one note flowing smoothly into the next” AND not using a pick, i.e. hammer ons & pull offs. And in some circles, guitarists have taken it to mean JUST hammer-ons & pull offs – regardless of the smoothness. I would disagree with that definition.
I would suggest that tapping COULD be legato if it was used in a smooth manner. But tapping can be very staccato at times – which would technically not be legato at all.
SO – I would say that in a broad sense – tapping COULD be considered legato under certain circumstances.
On a side note – I have never heard any guitar player refer to tapping as legato. They have always been considered two different things. So this may be a case of way overthinking something. A solution in search of a problem. lol
On the other hand – we may have just re-defined tapping in regards to legato. And if that is the case – the guitar world should thank us.

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