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Slap Bass – Open String Hammer-Ons

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This course will get you acquainted with the open string hammer-on technique. This versatile technique has been popularised by bassists such as Marcus Miller and Stuart Hamm. Its most notable user however is Victor Wooten, who used it on tracks such as ‘The Sinister Minister’ (Béla Fleck and the Flecktones), and ‘A Show of Hands’ and ‘Classical Thump’ from his solo album A Show of Hands.

Using open string hammer-ons, it is possible to play more harmonically complex material than is often performed using conventional slap and pop technique. Although a technique should never dictate your note choices, you’ll find that this one really is ideal for playing fast, arpeggiated passages that just wouldn't be playable with slapped and popped notes alone.

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 1 HOUR & 30 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above.

1. Introduction

This video discusses the open string hammer-on technique. A demonstration of how Victor Wooten sometimes uses the technique is also included here.

2. Exercise #2

This exercise uses a common variation of the technique: open-hammer-pop. Here, it is used to play a descending series of second inversion arpeggios in E minor.

3. Exercise #3

This exercise uses the same open-hammer-pop technique as Exercise 2, this time to play descending root position arpeggios in the key of C major.

4. Exercise #4

This exercise uses the open-hammer-pop technique in the context of a groove. This line is based on power chord figures and illustrates how versatile the technique can be.

5. Exercise #5

This exercise uses the open-hammer-pop technique to play a funk groove in E minor. Watch out for the sixteenth note triplet figures in the fourth bar.

6. Exercise #6

This exercise again uses sixteenth note triplet figures, but hopefully by now you’ll have discovered that these are a lot easier to perform than they might sound.

7. Exercise #7

This exercise features groupings of three sixteenth notes: an open A, a note hammered-on to the A-string, followed by a popped open G.

8. Adding Another Hammer-On

This video will examine the technique of following the open string with TWO hammer-ons. This will open up further possibilities for the technique.

9. Exercise #9

In this exercise, the double hammer-on technique is used to play through a line based on descending seventh chords in the key of C major.

10. Exercise #10

In this exercise the second hammer-on note is the same pitch as the open string note that is popped after it. This technique has often been used by Stuart Hamm.

11. Exercise #11

This exercise has a quick tempo. However, because two hammer-ons are being used, the slapping and popping performed by the picking hand is very simple.

12. Further Variations

This video covers another variation on the open string hammer-on technique. This is a variation that Victor Wooten used during his solo piece ‘Classical Thump’.

13. Exercise #13

This exercise uses the new variation on the open string hammer-on technique to play a descending series of seventh chords in the key of D major.

14. Exercise #14

This exercise incorporates the technique into a groove in E minor. Because all of the chord tones are present in each arpeggio, the tonality of each chord is clear.

15. Exercise #15

This is a very complex exercise that uses several different combinations of all of the techniques that have been covered throughout this course.

16. Exercise #16

This is a much slower exercise where the open hammer technique has been used to outline a chord progression, much as a guitar player might.

17. Exercise #17

This exercise features a lot of the techniques that have been covered in this course, including double hammer-ons and double pops.