Palm Mute + Hammer-On + Tap? This Weird But Awesome Fingerstyle Trick

Neil Chan
Jun 28
1 min read

n this lesson, we dive into a fingerstyle guitar technique I came up with while writing my song Follow Me from my new album The Word. You can stream the whole album on any major platform—and I’d be so glad if you gave it a listen.

The technique blends three actions into a single note: a hammer-on, a right-hand tap, and a palm mute. It adds this gritty, percussive edge to the riff—something subtle, but it transforms the groove completely. In the video, I break it down step by step: how to position your thumb and palm, how to time the tap and hammer-on together, and how it all fits into the context of the song.

If you want to explore this further, I’ve created a free tab that you can download from my website—just follow the link in the description. And if you’re serious about developing your fingerstyle playing, check out my full online course, Fingerstyle for the World. It’s designed to take you from beginner foundations all the way to advanced arranging and technique, step by step. I’d love to see you in there.