Two Handed Tapping Archives

Today we’re talking tapping! I get a lot of questions about tapping because of Oon, my duo with bassoonist Paul Hanson. I get to play chords, melodies, and grooves – sometimes at the same time. Tapping is a helpful technique to expand the possibilities of the bass, but it must be used with taste! Function comes first. This lesson will...

Q: I have been practicing two-handed taping and can’t get independence between left and right hand. Specifically, I can’t play rhythm patterns with my fretting hand and independently play harmony with the plucking hand. Can you suggest some workout for this kind of problem? A: While I have very limited experience with two-handed tapping, I do have experience with working...

Andy Saxton really brings it in his tune, “A Fire Inside.” The hard-hitting, bass-up-front song features the bassist going nuts with slapping and tapping to drive unrelenting metal rhythms. The track comes from his new EP, Drum and Bass.

Editor’s note: we’re celebrating the holidays this week with some awesome (and sometimes funny) holiday videos. Be sure to check back every day for some holiday cheer, bass-style. We first featured bassist Nick Mason recently, with his all-bass arrangement of Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me“. And then we spotted this fun holiday-inspired performance by Nick, two hand...

This is the Hungarian folk song, “A csitári hegyek alatt”, adapted to bass guitar and performed by L?rincz Viktor, aka Victor L.

In this video Alvaro Martín spotlights a Columbian genre of music called Pasillo, which is typical of the country’s Andean region. The song is called “Espíritu Colombiano” (“Colombian Spirit”) and it was composed by Luis Eduardo a.k.a. “Lucho” Bermúdez.

This is the first in a series of three lessons from my new online course Contemporary Techniques For Bass Guitar.  This lesson is an excerpt from my new book/DVD, Tapestry, which is scheduled for release in September. The song illustrated here is called Ebenella and was written by a good friend of mine, Rob Gourlay. These techniques are the same...