Tenths are a very popular musical device for bass players to use as they help to clearly define harmony. Tenths are by no means limited to slap bass, and you’ll find a use for them in all areas of your playing. When playing slap bass grooves, tenths are often used in place of octaves. This […]

This course covers an unusual rhythmic device known as the ‘machine gun triplet’. This is essentially a very fast triplet, made possible by splitting the work between the two hands. Machine gun triplets have been used by many bass players over the years, but are probably most closely associated with Mark King, bassist with Level […]

This course will look at ways in which double stops can be incorporated into slap bass grooves. A double stop is simply two notes – any two notes – that are played together. They can be used to add more character to a line and to reinforce the harmony. Simply put, they are a great […]

Chord strumming is a relatively simple technique to add to your repertoire, but as you’ll discover from this course, it can add considerable scope to your slap bass grooves. All of the most influential slap players have used strumming at some point, and so in this course you’ll learn how to incorporate this new concept. […]

This video course covers bass grooves that are played with a swung sixteenth note feel. As you will 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 are covered here are not particularly difficult from […]

This video course will examine the challenges of playing slapped lines over the shuffle feel. Shuffle grooves are based on a triplet subdivision, where the beat naturally divides into three, rather than two or four. This gives the music a very different feel. For examples of slapped shuffle grooves, listen to ‘Higher Ground’ by Red […]

This final section features a series of exercises that utilise all of the techniques that have been covered. These include fretting hand slaps, machine gun triplets, tenths, double stops and chord strumming. Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above in order to download the PDF worksheet and audio files for this course (available […]

This short course will cover some of the basics of the slap bass technique. These include the best position to wear the bass, how to set up your action for the technique, and how to approach practising it. Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to receive the PDF that accompanies these lessons […]

This course covers the basics of the slap bass technique and will get you playing some simple exercises. It also covers fretting hand muting technique, which is an important – and often overlooked – component of playing slap bass. Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above in order to download the PDF worksheet […]

This course will show you how to add popped notes into the slap bass technique. Doing so will add considerable scope to the kinds of lines that can be played. The fretting hand muting technique – an important element covered in the previous course – will also be adapted for use with popped notes. You’ll […]