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Finger snapping

Snapping (or clicking) one's fingers is the act of creating a snapping or clicking sound with one's fingers. Primarily, this is done by building tension between the thumb and another (middle, index, or ring) finger and then moving the other finger forcefully downward, so it hits the palm of the same hand at a high speed.

"Snapping" redirects here. For the Chungha song, see Snapping (song). For the book by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, see Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change.

A Georgia Institute of Technology study in 2021 analyzed finger snapping, and found that a given audible snap sound occurs in just seven milliseconds. For reference, the blink of an eye takes place in 150 milliseconds.[1][2]

In music[edit]

In many cultures, finger snapping is a form of body percussion.


Sounds of a fingersnap also are sampled and used in many disparate genres of music, used mostly as percussion; the works of Angelo Badalamenti exhibit this in the soundtracks to, e.g., Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, as does the theme song from the television series The Addams Family. Furthermore, a subgenre of hip hop known as snap music formed in the early 2000s in the southern United States.

Place hands together and rotate until the three right hand fingers are at the junction of the hand and fingers.

Rest the right middle finger on the left hand securely.

Then using the tension provided by the left thumb, snap the right index finger onto the gap between the junction and right middle finger.