FOLLOW US ON:
0 Cart £0.00

Slap Bass – Combining Techniques

< BACK Subscribe Now Subscriber Login

If you've worked successfully through all of the other courses in the advanced slap bass section, you will now have at your disposal a very versatile collection of slap bass techniques. But of course, there are always further ways to enhance the technique, and doing so is the focus of this course.

As you'll discover, the slap technique can be easily combined with other techniques such as tapping, strumming and harmonics to play some particularly outlandish material. Many of the slap and pop masters such as Stuart Hamm, Marcus Miller, Les Claypool, and Victor Wooten are adept at using these styles and their bass parts are often based around combinations of techniques.

Remember that these lines are merely illustrations of what can be achieved by combining techniques. While these bass parts may have a home on a flashy solo bass record, they shouldn’t be overused!

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 course (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 44 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. Exercise #1

This exercise has a fairly conventional slap and pop groove in the first three bars, followed by a fill in the fourth bar that combines slapping with linear tapping.

2. Exercise #2

This is a complex line that combines slap bass and the tapping technique. You’ll be required to switch rapidly back and forth between the two techniques.

3. Exercise #3

This exercise again combines slap bass with tapping, this time at a slow tempo. As well as tapping, this line also requires some double popping.

4. Exercise #4

This exercise combines slap bass with harmonics. This might seem unusual, but Victor Wooten and Michael Manning have proved how well the two can work together.

5. Exercise #5

This exercise also combines slap bass and harmonics. In this line, the fills in the second and fourth bars that are made up of harmonics played with double thumbing.

6. Exercise #6

This exercise also combines slap bass and harmonics and is played at a fast tempo. This line also makes use of fretting hand slaps.