Slap Bass Archives - Page 2

Yes, you read that right: Country/Fusion slap bass. Brazilian bassist Fernando Molinari posted this play-along of the song “Taffontry 20mg” from his album Identidade, which is kind of like a honky tonk song on speed. More of the fusion part of the equation comes out at 1:55 when Molinari plays some blazing tapping lines in unison with the guitar. I’m...

Bassist Henrique Corrêa sent us this video of him laying down a sweet groove. What more needs to be said?

Bassist and educator Thomas Risell – perhaps best known as MarloweDK – has released his “Beginning Slap Bass” lessons in the form of an iPad and iPhone app. Beginning Slap Bass with MarloweDK features 25 licks covering all the fundamentals – slapping, popping, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, double thumbing and more. Each lick includes four different videos – three set...

I’m working on a new concept in double thumb slap bass, which basically is an “in reverse” technique. This means the “down” thumb is on the offbeat, and the “up” thumb is on the downbeat. This creates a whole new feeling worth exploring. You can follow along with the notation (PDF) and the video below. Let me know how it...

Here’s some sweet double bass action by Stephane Barral. His right hand technique is so fast, it looks like a blur!

This time around, I have two lessons in one for you to try out. The first part touches on the concept of practicing with a metronome. In this example, the metronome is counting on beats two and four. To make this fun, the other part focuses around a sort of offbeat, Larry Graham-style rhythm. We tie it all together –...

Bassist/educator and Youtube bass phenom Thomas “MarloweDK” Risell has taken his excellent how-to approach to DVD with the release of Beginning Slap Bass DVD with MarloweDK. (MarloweDK is also a No Treble contributor). The DVD includes 25 slap bass licks and exercises, complete with onscreen notation and tab, close ups and slow motion video. Each lesson starts at full tempo,...

Stuart Clayton shared his brand new video with us, performing Alain Caron’s “D-Code” on his newly acquired Bogart bass. “This great track by Alain Caron features some innovative slap techniques that I have been working on for the past few months,” Stuart shares. “I was inspired to work on this piece again after picking up this Bogart bass at the...

In this installment of our new bass lesson series, we’re focusing on a slap-based, percussive bass technique widely known as “Double Thumbing” or the “Victor [Wooten] style”. This technique involves an approach to slap where you hit the string with your thumb and follow through, landing on the next string. So the first note – an open E – would...

Hal Leonard has released Bass Aerobics, a new book in their Bass Builders series, offering a 52-week, one excercise per week workout program for bassists. Authored by bassist Jon Liebman, Bass Aerobics focuses on developing, improving and maintaining technique on the bass guitar, for beginner through advanced players. The 112 page book is designed to increase speed and improve dexterity,...

Bassist Robert Lemas has released two new bass instructional videos. Tap Bass Vol. 1: Chord Tapping covers tapping techniques using common jazz and pop chords, using the chords in common progressions, plus Latin styles. Tap Bass Vol. 1: Chord Tapping Preview: Tap Bass Vol. 1: Chord Tapping Chapters: Introduction and tuning Tapping the seventh chords cycle of fourths Tapping 2-5-1...

Inspired by Victor Wooten, bassist Bartek Krolik, composed this tune, “Fiku Miku”, back in 2000. The tune was later recorded for the album, No Bass No Fun. Here, Bartek performs the tune once again on his ’76 Musicman StingRay. Funky!