However, Eddie has said he got it from watching Jimmy Page do pull-offs, and may have told an old friend a long time ago that he got it from watching Harvey Mandel do it. So who knows for sure.

Regardless, what is solid is that Brian did tap before Ed burst on the scene, and Ed knew about it; that Brian got it from someone who saw Billy do it; and now the well-known tapping bassist Billy Sheehan said that he learned tapping not from legions of ’80s guitarists but: “Billy Gibbons is the guy I got hammer-ons from…back in 1974….”

That’s what he says in the following DiMarzio video – just watch up to 2:11.