Chet Atkins & Stanley Jordan: Tap vs.Traditional

Chet Atkins & Stanley Jordan “Stardust”

I know, this is electric guitar but, it’s Chet!

And with him is Stanley Jordan who was very popular with his tapping style of guitar a while back.

Kind of a cool contrast of styles here and a great video to hear the difference of tone that’s created by both styles.

Now I have a theory about the tapping and why a lot of people don’t care for it..  I think it’s due to the tone that’s generated when you hammer on a note as opposed to picking with a pick or fingerpicking.  It simply doesn’t have the tone quality but, it does offer some other advantages such as deeper chord voicings, more noting opportunities and a larger vocabulary similar to a piano. I know, why don’t you just play a piano?

I’m intrigued by the tapping style, and since I can’t seem to do it, it makes it even more amazing to me.  But to stop getting depressed, Chet comes to the rescue.