This final section of the beginner slap bass course contains exercises that combine everything that was covered in the previous courses. This includes basic slapping and popping, fretting hand muting techniques, ghost notes, hammer-ons, pull-offs and trills.
If you require additional help with any of the techniques used here, 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 1 HOUR & 10 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
This video briefly covers the content of the course. This is followed by Exercise #1, which was inspired by Stuart Zender, the original bassist with Jamiroquai.
This exercise has a quicker tempo and makes fairly extensive use of glissandos (slides). When playing this, be sure to play the rests as rests.
This exercise has a real bounce to it and can be used to refine your fretting hand muting. Staccato notes are very important to the feel here.
This is a classic funk bass groove, Most of the techniques that have been covered on this beginner slap bass course are put to use here.
This exercise is a busy slap and pop groove that is based around the G Mixolydian mode, but which also makes use of the blues scale.
This exercise may seem a bit frantic, but the slower tempo and extensive use of pull-offs makes it easier to play than it looks or sounds. String bends are also used here.
This exercise features the same figure at the beginning of the first, second and third bars. This opening figure is followed by different fills in the upper register.
This exercise features a descending series of hammer-ons popped on the G-string. These hammer-ons are played over the open A-string.
This exercise features a lot of sixteenth note ghost notes. These are used to ‘fill in the gaps’ and add rhythmic excitement to the line.
This groove features a lot of space and many of the notes that are played are heavily syncopated. Be careful with your timing on this exercise, it needs to be accurate.
This is an energetic exercise that exclusively uses the G major pentatonic scale (G-A-B-D-E-G). Ghost notes also feature heavily here.
This exercise uses the A minor pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G-A). The fill in the fourth bar is a busier version of the classic slap fill from the disco classic 'Car Wash'.
This exercise uses the G Mixolydian mode. A double hammer-on is played in the fourth bar: the string is slapped once, then two hammer-ons are played.
This exercise uses the D Dorian mode (D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D). Note how colourful the B is when it arrives in the second bar: this is one of the most important notes in the mode.
This busy line in E features a lot of hammer-ons. Lines such as this work really well in this key as it's easy to get back to the open E-string from any point in the riff.
This busy line recalls Mark King's playing and is built on the B major pentatonic scale. The thumb is used as a rhythmic device here, bouncing between popped notes.
This exercise is reminiscent of early nineties Red Hot Chili Peppers. The line here is based on the G blues scale and can be played quite aggressively.
This exercise is a hyperactive slap and pop groove played over an E7 chord. The same two-beat figure is used to open the first three bars.
This exercise is built on the A Dorian mode (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G-A). Harmonically, it's a simple line, but ghost notes are used to add rhythmic interest.