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Swung Sixteenth Note Grooves

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In this video course we’re going to be playing some bass grooves that have a swung sixteenth note feel. As you discover, this is a very different feel to the straight sixteenth note feel, but it’s an important one for a bass player to be comfortable with. The exercises that we will be looking at in this course are not particularly difficult from a technical point of view and feature only elements that were covered in the Beginner and Intermediate Slap courses: slaps, pops, fretting hand slaps etc. The challenge with these lines is becoming comfortable with the underlying swing feel within the groove. This is discussed and demonstrated on the Introduction video for this course, but if you want to hear this feel in action, I recommend listening to ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder and ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’ by Jocelyn Brown. Both are great examples of this feel and are a lot of fun to play.

1 - INTRODUCTION

In this video we'll be discussing the difference between the straight sixteenth note feel and the swung sixteenth note feel.

2 - EXERCISE #1

This exercise is built on the E blues scale and is an excellent introduction to the swung sixteenth note feel.

3 - EXERCISE #2

This line is in the key of G minor and features a strong groove that very clearly reflects the swung sixteenth note feel. The fourth bar features a bluesy fill.

4 - EXERCISE #3

This exercise is based on an A dominant seventh chord and is another great illustration of the swung sixteenth note feel. This one contains a complex fill in the fourth bar.

5 - EXERCISE #4

This exercise is in G minor and is based around simple octave figures.

6 - EXERCISE #5

This exercise is challenging to play due to the low tempo - low tempos can be unforgiving as they expose any rhythmic accuracies in your timekeeping. This line also features a complex fill in the fourth bar.

7 - EXERCISE #6

This is a groove based on a Bb dominant seventh sound. The bassline features some rapid double popping, which is used for rhythmic effect.