It may be considered an extended technique, in that it is executed by using the fingers of one hand to 'tap' the strings against the fingerboard, thus sounding legato notes; often in tightly synchronized conjunction with the other hand. Hence, tapping usually incorporates pull-offs or hammer-ons as well, whereby the fingers of the left hand play a sequence of notes in synchronisation with the tapping hand.

The Chapman Stick is an instrument built primarily for tapping, and is based on the Free Hands two-handed tapping method invented in 1969 by Emmett Chapman where each hand approaches the fretboard with the fingers aligned parallel to the frets.

The Hamatar(myspace.com/hamatar), Mobius Megatar, Box Guitar, and Solene instruments are other instruments designed for the same method, and the Bunker Touch-Guitar is designed for the two-necked tapping technique developed by Dave Bunker in 1958, but with an elbow rest to hold the right arm in the conventional guitar position. The [[NS/Stick and Warr guitars are also built for tapping, though not exclusively. These instruments use lower string tension and low action to increase the string's sensitivity to lighter tapping.

Some guitarists may choose to tap using the sharp edge of their pick instead of fingers to produce a faster, more rigid flurry of notes in a style closer to that of trilling (see pick tapping).

One-handed tapping

One-handed tapping (perhaps misleading in name, in that both hands are actually used), performed in conjunction with normal fingering by the fretting hand, facilitates the construction of note intervals that would otherwise be impossible using one hand alone. It is often used as a special effect during a shredding solo. With the electric guitar, in this situation the output tone itself is usually overdriven — although it is possible to tap acoustically — with drive serving as a boost to further amplify the non-picked (and thus naturally weaker) legato notes being played. Because of the amount of distortion generally present, the player should also focus on reducing unnecessary noise during tapping; for instance, by using the palm of the tapping hand to mute any open strings that might otherwise ring out.

The actual passages that can be played using this one-handed technique are virtually limitless. The note intervals between both hands can be shifted up or down the neck, or onto different strings, to form familiar scalar patterns, or even 'outside' tones by randomly streaming through any chosen notes for mere show (often by using chromatics or otherwise dissonant intervals).

As far as the actual technique goes, there are many ways of performing a one-handed tapping passage. The most common one involves rapidly repeated triplets played at a rate of sixteenth notes, using the following sequence: