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Slap Bass – Swung Sixteenth Note Grooves

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This video course covers bass grooves that are played with a swung sixteenth note feel. As you will discover, this is a very different feel to the straight sixteenth note feel, but it’s an important one for a bass player to be comfortable with.

The exercises that are covered here are not particularly difficult from a technical point of view and for the most part, feature only elements that were covered in the beginner and intermediate level slap bass courses. The challenge with these lines is becoming comfortable with the underlying swing feel within the groove. This is discussed and demonstrated in the introduction video, but if you want to hear it in action, listen to ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder and ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’ by Jocelyn Brown. Both are great examples of this feel and are a lot of fun to play.

If you require additional help with any of the techniques used in this piece, the following courses (all included in the monthly subscription cost) should prove useful:

Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to get the PDF worksheet and audio files for this piece (available to subscribers only). The worksheet is available with TAB and without, for those who wish to give their reading skills a workout.

This course is 35 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. Introduction

This video will cover the difference between the straight and swung sixteenth note feels. As you’ll discover, each rhythm has a unique feel.

2. Exercise #1

This exercise is built on the E blues scale (E-G-A-Bb-B-D-E) and is an excellent introduction to the swung sixteenth note feel.

3. Exercise #2

This line is in the key of G minor and features a strong groove that very clearly reflects the swung sixteenth note feel. The fourth bar features a bluesy fill.

4. Exercise #3

This exercise is based on an A dominant seventh chord and is another great illustration of the swung sixteenth note feel. This one contains a complex fill in the fourth bar.

5. Exercise #4

This exercise is in G minor and is based around simple slap and pop octave figures. As with the other exercises, the challenge here is making the line feel good.

6. Exercise #5

This exercise is challenging to play due to the slow tempo. Playing slow tempo lines can be unforgiving as they expose any rhythmic accuracies in your timekeeping.

7. Exercise

This is a groove based on a Bb dominant seventh sound. The bassline features some rapid double popping, which is used for rhythmic effect.