Harvey Mandel, the renowned guitarist best known for his work with Canned Heat, recently spoke about his use of the tapping technique long before Eddie Van Halen made it famous.
The origins of tapping remain widely debated, with no single guitarist from the 20th century definitively credited as the pioneer. Some attribute it to Steve Hackett, others to Mandel, and some even reference Roy Smeck’s 1920s ukulele performance. The technique itself dates back even further, with Niccolò Paganini incorporating similar approaches in his compositions. However, what made Eddie Van Halen stand out was how he revolutionized and popularized the method, bringing it to the forefront of rock music.
Despite his early use of tapping, Mandel feels his contributions remain largely unrecognized. Speaking to Guitar World, he addressed whether he has received proper credit:
“Not really. On YouTube, I get credit for it, but the truth is that, back then, unfortunately, when I was doing the tapping, I wasn’t with a known band. Van Halen, on the other hand, had a hit record, so when he did it, the world got to hear it. My audience was much smaller.”
Mandel explained that he first learned about two-hand tapping from guitarist Randy Resnick in the late 1960s when the two played together in several bands.
“He did it in a very melodic but simple way,” Mandel recalled. “I didn’t want to do it in front of him. But once I saw him do it, I was able to practice and figure out how he was doing it.”
Most significantly, Mandel emphasized that his use of tapping predated Van Halen’s. “I was actually doing it way before Van Halen and before almost everyone else who came after him,” he said. “People heard my playing and thought I was a jazz guitarist!”
The debate over tapping’s origins resurfaced recently when Ace Frehley claimed that a young Eddie Van Halen attended a Kiss show and saw him tapping with a pick, implying that this was where Eddie picked up the idea. However, Mandel asserts that Van Halen took inspiration from watching him perform.
“I was playing at the Whisky and the Starwood, and guys like George Lynch, Van Halen, and others saw me using it,” Mandel stated. “Next thing I know, he’s [Van Halen] doing it all the time and taking it to another level. He played great; I can’t say anything bad about Van Halen. He was a phenomenal player! But he was more of a gymnastic player.”
Mandel further noted that Van Halen’s approach to tapping was centered around flash and technique, while his own style focused more on musicality.
“I still did the fast tapping and everything, but I tried to make it more musical, integrating it into melodies rather than just using it for flashy tricks,” he explained.
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