The exercises in this course make use of the fundamental elements of the slap bass technique: thumb slaps, popped notes, hammer-ons and pull-offs. In addition to these basic elements, you’ll need to give consideration towards muting the strings that you aren’t playing, in order to prevent them from ringing unnecessarily.
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 & 37 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
This exercise is predominantly based around root-octave figures but also includes some sliding figures. It requires only basic slap and pop techniques.
This exercise features a lot of space and recalls the playing of slap bass pioneer Larry Graham. When playing this, be sure to keep all staccato notes nice and short.
This exercise is played at a quick tempo and is mostly performed with the thumb. The staccato eighths on beats 1 and 3 need to be keep short and punchy.
This exercise is a slower groove that nicely reflects the sound of the D9 chord. Watch out for the syncopated figures on beats 3 and 4 of the second and fourth bars.
This exercise is a real workout for the thumb as there are no popped notes at all. As you slap on different strings, your here should be on consistent volume and tone.
This line makes use of an ascending slap/pop octave figure that uses slides. When playing these sliding figures, be sure to allow the lower note on continue ringing.
This exercise is a slow tempo groove based on the F# blues scale. The rests in the second bar make this a challenging line to play accurately.
This line will give your thumb a workout! When playing the ascending hammer-ons, take care to mute the strings below the one on which you are playing.
This one is another workout for the thumb. You’ll need to give careful consideration to the fingering that you use when playing the ascending figures in bars 1 and 3.
This exercise is a slow tempo groove in A minor. As with all slower bass grooves, rhythmic accuracy is crucial here, as is control of note length.
This exercise opens with a double stop (two notes played simultaneously). In this case, the double stop is a major tenth, which clearly indicates the major tonality of the line.
This line makes use of simple root-octave figures, but also includes some more intricate parts – watch out for the phrase in the second half of bars 1 and 3.
This exercise makes use of tenth intervals (compound major/minor thirds) once again. You’ll need to give careful consideration to the fingering you use in the opening lick.
This fast-paced line is predominantly built on the G minor pentatonic scale. Accurate muting of the lower strings is crucial when playing up-tempo lines like this.
This exercise is a slow-tempo groove written in the style of legendary bassist Marcus Miller. You’ll need to use both the first and second fingers to pop notes in bar 3.