Some basslines can be played solely with downstrokes. Others will be too fast, or too complex for this to be effective. Because of this, the most efficient way to use a plectrum is to employ both downstrokes and upstrokes. This is a technique that you should be comfortable using on all four strings. To that […]

The previous courses in this series covered basic alternate picking. If you’ve successfully worked through those lessons, you should now be comfortable with the basic mechanics of this technique. Of course, not all basslines move neatly from string to string, and you won’t always have the luxury of starting on a new string with a […]

The previous two video courses have covered the basic mechanics of the picking technique. You should now be comfortable with alternate picking, as well as crossing and skipping strings in any combination. This course will now take the next logical step with the picking technique and will explore ways to play parts that do not […]

When it comes to popping notes, most players will favour either their first or second finger. It’s nevertheless an excellent idea to be comfortable using either one, as this opens up other options. If you’ve been working through these courses in order, the Double Stops course (Intermediate Level) will have given you the opportunity to […]

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’ […]

The double thumbing technique is a relatively recent addition to the slap bassist’s arsenal. Although several bassists such as French Canadian virtuoso Alain Caron were using it in the mid-eighties, it really grabbed the attention of bassists everywhere in the nineties, largely thanks to Victor Wooten. Through his work with Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, […]

Now that the basics of double thumbing have been covered, it’s time to start adding some other parts of the slap technique into the mix. This course will cover the addition of popped notes into the double thumbing technique. You’ll find that the combination of down and up thumbstrokes combined with popped notes makes for […]

This third and final double thumbing course adds another new ingredient into the mix: double popping. This will enable four notes per string to be played in quick succession using a downstroke, an upstroke and two pops. As you will discover, the combination of these elements will allow you to play almost anything with the […]

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, […]

This is the final video course in the advanced slap bass series. In the exercises that follow, everything that has been covered throughout these courses will be put to the test. These exercises utilise advanced techniques such as double thumbing and double popping, as well as open string hammer-ons. There are also lines that combine […]