This week’s exercise is a slap and pop groove. Although the first three bars of this exercise are relatively simple, there is a complex fill in the fourth bar, based on Victor Wooten’s ‘open-hammer-pluck’ technique. For the first three bars of this exercise you will be playing basic slap and pop octave figures, using conventional […]

This exercise is a rock bassline played over a 5-4 time signature. It’s played with a pick and sounds great when played with some distortion. This bassline is in the key of F# minor and is built on the F# blues scale, which is essentially just the minor pentatonic scale with an added note, a […]

This exercise is a fingerstyle funk groove that works over a G dominant seventh chord. The first three bars of this line are fairly simple, but in the fourth bar we have a more complex fill that uses the half step-whole step diminished scale. In bar 1, the bass enters with a low G on […]

This exercise is a challenging slap bass groove that uses techniques popularised by French-Canadian bassist Alain Caron. This style of playing is similar to the grooves Caron played on tunes such as ‘D-Code’ and ‘Slam the Clown’, both of which would be great pieces to look at in detail if you enjoy this exercise. This […]

This exercise is a slow-tempo fingerstyle funk groove that recalls the playing of the legendary Jaco Pastorius. This challenging line requires precise timing and smooth technique with regard to string crossing. When playing the first bar of this exercise, I recommend fretting the F at the third fret of the D-string with your fourth finger, […]

This exercise is a rock bassline that’s played with a plectrum. The blues scale is put to good use here and you should find that this line makes for a great workout for your picking technique. In the first bar of this exercise, all of the notes are played on the A-string. As this bar […]

This exercise is a slap and pop groove written in the style of Level 42 bassist Mark King. As well as conventional slap technique, this line makes use of fretting hand slaps and double stop tenth chords. The first bar of this exercise opens with two notes played together: an open E-string and the D […]

This week’s exercise is a fingerstyle funk line that features double stops and some challenging phrases that use open strings. The first bar of this exercise is a lick that uses the G blues scale (G, Bb, C, Db, D, F). When playing this, it’s important to play all hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides as written, […]

This exercise is a funk groove that sounds great when played with a muted plectrum technique. Before playing this exercise, it’s worth reminding yourself of the correct application of the plectrum technique, particularly with regard to playing semiquavers. A group of four semiquavers (one beat), should be played with a down-up-down-up picking sequence. Sticking to […]

This exercise is a percussive line that’s played with the palm muting technique and unusually, includes some fretting hand slaps. One of the most important parts of this line to master is the percussive element. A strong backbeat is required, so you’ll need to accent beats two and four of each bar. When playing beat […]