A method and apparatus is disclosed which reduces tape stiction during tape acceleration and deceleration. Tape tension is adjusted to eliminate the effects of tape stiction when the tape is either accelerated from a stationary position to a steady state velocity, or decelerated from a steady state velocity to a stationary position. This method uses tape tension, tape velocity, and tension reference profiles stored in a microprocessor to dynamically adjust the tape tension during tape acceleration and deceleration. The tape tension is adjusted as a function of tape velocity by the use of both a current generated by the tension reference profile and a feedforward current. The feedforward current is determined by the sum of the tape velocity and tape tension profiles. This dynamic adjustment of tape tension essentially eliminates tape stiction in tape start and stop operations. The tape drive system can therefore function more error-free and more efficiently with tape drive systems which use constant tape head air pressure.