John 5 on combining sweeping with tapping

In this video lesson solo artist and Rob Zombie guitarist, John 5 shows you an insane lick that combines sweeping and tapping. You can follow John's playing by using our free tab

Bar 1 of this slippery lick begins with a well-used country cliché, ending in a slide up to the 12th fret on the sixth string. Be sure to use your second finger here, so that you're in position for the hammer-ons in bar 2.

The fun begins in the second half of beat four when John 5 adopts a familiar Fmajor7 chord shape with a downward sweep of the pick followed by a hammer-on into bar 3. Use the middle finger of your picking hand to tap the A note on the 17th fret, pull off back to the G (15th fret), then pull off chromatically back down to the 12th fret before starting again with the Fmajor7 shape.

This time, tap the 17th fret as before but slide with the tapping finger up to the 20th fret and back down to the 17th fret, before repeating the chromatic pull-offs.
This part of the lick is at lightning speed, but will only sound as good as John 5's example if the notes are played clearly, so be prepared to do some hard work!

If you want to watch another John 5 lesson then check out his lesson on using open strings to move around the fretboard. For more information visit the official John 5 website