‘Running in the Family’ was one of Level 42’s biggest hits, reaching #6 in the UK charts in February 1986. The song features a relatively simple slap bass part from Mark King, but it’s a line with several hidden treasures: fretting hand slaps, sixteenth note-based licks and major/minor tenths are all put to use here, […]

‘Sir Duke’ is one of Stevie Wonder’s biggest hits and was recorded for his 1976 double album Songs in the Key of Life. The song was written as a tribute to jazz musician Duke Ellington, although the lyrics also contain references to Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. The bassline for this […]

‘Glide’ was the biggest hit for American jazz-funk group Pleasure. Released in 1979, the song was written by bassist Nathaniel Phillips, and reached #10 on the Best Selling Soul Singles Chart. Featuring a fantastic slap bass part, the song has continued to find popularity with bass players over the past forty years. To download the […]

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. Don’t forget to hit the […]

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. Don’t forget to hit the […]

Fretting hand slaps are percussive ghost notes that are performed by striking the strings with the fingers of the fretting hand. This is essentially a more forceful version of the way in which you might lightly touch a string to stop it from ringing. Fretting hand slaps have been used by many bass players over […]

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. Using them in this way adds harmonic clarity to a line. There […]

Machine gun triplets are rapid-fire triplets performed using a combination of picking hand and fretting hand techniques. Whilst by no means an essential element of the slap bass technique, their careful use can certainly add some significant rhythmic excitement to a line. Machine gun triplets are usually performed using a combination of slapped notes, popped […]

Double stops are two notes – any two notes – played simultaneously. Whilst it is not uncommon for bass guitarists to play chords, double stops are useful in that they can often achieve the desired chordal effect, but with fewer notes. Double stops can be performed with any technique and are by no means limited […]

Strumming chords on the bass can be very effective, and certainly works well in conjunction with the slap bass technique. There are many bassists who incorporate strumming into their slap playing, including Stanley Clarke, Les Claypool, Mark King, Victor Wooten, Flea and Michael Manring. Chords are strummed with the fingers of the fretting hand. When […]