Finger tapping is a piano technique developed by Alberto Guerrero

Alberto Guerrero

Antonio Alberto García Guerrero was a Chilean-Canadian composer, pianist, and teacher. While he is most famously remembered as the mentor of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, Guerrero influenced several generations of musicians through his many years of teaching at the Toronto Conservatory of...

 for his pupil Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

. According to Guerrero, the idea for the technique came from a circus show with an extremely flexible young boy.

Technique

Finger-tapping consists of placing one hand with the finger pads on the keyboard, with the PIP joint as the highest point, and then using the other hand to tap on the DIP joint or the fingertips, then releasing the fingers, allowing them to return quickly to the surface.

The technique is intended to make the hand learn how to minimize the effort on keys, allowing for faster play.