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Using Tenths

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Tenths – compound major and minor thirds – are an important part of the bass player’s toolkit, regardless of which playing style you are using. When it comes to the slap technique, tenths are often employed as an alternative to popped octave notes, bringing the added benefit of greater harmonic clarity to a line.

There are two kinds of tenths – major and minor. Each is essentially just a major or minor third interval but played more than an octave above the root note. Tenths allow bass players to suggest or reinforce harmony and occur often in slap bass lines. Tenths can also be played using open strings, something bassists such as Stanley Clarke and Mark King often do in their playing.

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

Exercise #42

This exercise uses both major and minor tenth intervals to reinforce the harmony. Try to let the two notes in each tenth ring briefly together.

Exercise #43

This exercise uses open string tenths to reinforce the harmony. Using tenths in this way is something that Stanley Clarke often did in his early solo material.

Exercise #44

This funk rock exercise uses an open string minor tenth for the E minor chord, then fretted major and minor tenths for the Cmaj7 and Bm7 chords.

Exercise #45

This up-tempo line requires you to play both notes of the tenths simultaneously. To do so, pluck the root note with the thumb and the tenth with the first finger.

Exercise #46

This line uses sliding tenths and is reminiscent of Mark King’s work with Level 42. Fretting hand slaps also play a key role, another important element in King’s playing.

Exercise #47

In this line, tenths are clearly used to outline the basic harmony. As in other exercises, try to allow the two notes in each tenth to ring together where possible.