Bass technique question.

[Musician78]

Well that was a hell of a lot of info that is going to be beneficial that you gave me so far. I guess if you can give me a couple of songs that have some moderate slap to "get my feet wet". Then with the info you have given me, I can "go to town".

[horns666]

Endy just wrote the fuggin' gospel on Bass IMO!! That shit is Bible.

I would start with the slap bass "standard" RHCP's version of "Higher Ground". That's the very first slap riff I showed my son and he picked it up in a couple days. It's just three octaves. Open, then third and fith positions. Lightly thump your thumb down on the E near the end of the neck and pluck the octave with middle finger. I'm sure Youtube has a bazillion cover examples of it..

You want to get a percussive sound and feel. Start slow..get the feel of the groove, and go from there. That'll open the floodgates.

..and it's Flea..he's a Nihilist!

[Musician78]

Flea is the man. Victor Wooten is the man's man... but I could never do what he does. Shit, I don't think I could do it on guitar, lol.

Thank you all for your help... especially Endrik for the time to write that novel, lol. I am sure it will be abig help. I honestly didn't know where to start and was kind of frustrated because my technique, which was obviously not entirely correct, was getting me nowhere, and I certainly don't want to be a bassist who just plays root notes with little technique. They give bassists a bad name. I think because of this, most people don't really understand what can be done as a bass and that it doesn't have to be just a background instrument.

[Endrik]

I just wrote a bigger bible along with tons of links to videos and suddenly... all gone. I'm gonna do it again in a few days, right now I'm too angry.

[Endrik]

Ok, let's try this shit again.

I believe you should play whatever you like but I also believe that to get good you should play what I like

Seriously, there's two types of bass playing in popular music: 1)Pre-James Jamerson bass playing 2)James Jamerson influenced bass playing.
Before Jamerson came around everyone played walking bass lines. In Jazz, rock'n'roll, blues, bluegrass, country, polka whatever. Walking is still played all the time mainly in classic jazz. It doesn't hurt to know it. Walking bass lines help you understand all kinds of chordal and modal structures and whatnot. Also it's good for soloing, many cool bass solos are based on walking bass lines, the main trick is to speed them up twice and play octave higher.
But the truth is, walking bass can be boring for many people. If you are interested in it check out guys like Paul Chambers and Ray Brown, they played with everyone.

A lot of R'n'B, doo-wop and early soul had more simplistic bass lines, focusing on the root of the chord. But everything changed when James Jamerson came around. Thanks to him we have what we can really call a true bass groove. He was the first one who made the bass sound upfront and one the focal points of a band. He also followed vocal melodies and that way he created a lot of cool fills and whatnot. Everyone on electric bass are influenced by him wether they know it or not.

Playing grooves is the most fun and it helps your timing the most. A great groove carries the tune so well that you can play the same thing during the entire song and don't get bored.

Let's start with 60's early 70's soul. Specially Motown since Jamerson was the main bass player and they pretty much invented funk. Good, fun and simple tunes to play which will help your finger get in shape.
At first try Jamerson stuff like:
Martha Reeves and The Vandellas - Nowhere to Run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQRIOKvR2WM
Jr. Walker and The All-Stars - Shotgun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMs9NudasVI
The Temptations - My Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltRwmgYEUr8
or Bob Babbitt with
The Temptations - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qh-8ZMoLeY
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkQKk2ukiyw
or Wilton Felder with
Jackson 5 - ABC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7796-au8U

Now let's try some trickier grooves by Jamerson
The Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDm3qr1Knk
and Bernadette http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pVM00eoohI
and the incredible lines in Marvin Gaye - What's Going On http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7uhMY9s

There's so much cool Motown stuff to jam along with it's insane. But not only Motown, Stax records had Donald Dunn.
Booker T & MG's - Green Onions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-7QSMyz5rg
Otis Redding - Can't Turn You Loose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXq_vLCjco

Or Philly Soul, I really love this tune and bass line for it's moody feel
The Spinners - I'll Be Around http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPVbXzRqt-M

All the British bands copied that stuff but they made it their own. Also very good learning material. Like..
The Beatles - Taxman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Maz9ddxEQnM
The Rolling Stones - Miss You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOf0FsA0Fio

not to mention all the Zep, Who etc. material.

Ok, let's get to Funk and Disco. Let's stick to fingerstyle funk at first.

James Brown of course. Specially the stuff with Bootsy Collins who so incredibly influential.
Superbad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otF5XwyVy2M
Soul Power http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qMX9Twq3is
Get Up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynfk7izWNE8
or with Bernard Odum
Cold Sweat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyijSTJ_BCo

George Clinton with Parliament & Funkadelic (the latter one was more psychedelic rock) either with Bootsy or Billy Nelson
Give Up The Funk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UypeE3zTwBs
Do That Stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeE9cIyB0I4

The Meters, great New Orleans grooves by George Porter jr.
Cissy Strut http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HVFZtfTKJQ
Funky Miracle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RaZs0taNdk
People Say http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcExxrf9zl4

By now you should have your fingers movin' n' groovin'.
If you feel comfortable you can try some busier stuff.
Like Rocco Prestia's muted 16th note style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agqo3aOahOc

Bernard Edwards of Chic with his turbo disco style was sick.
Everybody Dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJpgmcMV3n4
Dance Dance Dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSlWDCOq6ck
Le Freak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqupk71a-O0

If you want funky stuff with a bit different feel then try Tony Levin's grooves with Peter Gabriel, like Steam for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyTLe7Li--s
That being said everything with Tony Levin is worth listening to. One of the coolest things I've ever heard on a bass is his groove-melody on Peter Gabriel's "Secret World" which sounds like African tribal singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCYXL86rdug it starts at 3:26, on the studio version he also plays incredibly musical melody at the outro part.

For slapping listen to a lot of Sly & The Family Stone and Graham Central Station. Larry Graham is just incredibly funky. Start with more simplistic stuff at first. And watch his instructional video which shows what music is all about - having fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipjTvRe7-Zg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENe5snEvzHM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq8VZDz5lEc

Marcus Miller is the man from who you can learn a lot from and he has the best slap tone ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHf7DvVpeiU

he also played in some cheesy 80's tunes which have great slap grooves to jam with

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyef-BItce8

Now Louis Johnson was a sick mofo but he also played some laid back slap grooves in The Brothers Johnson.
Strawberry Letter #23 is an excellent groove to learn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbxUtFDKz8k

Now if you are interested in slapping with your bud, I'm sure Bill can give you some great advice

But there's tons of cool techniques.. all kinds of tapping stuff etc.
But for more percussive stuff you can try this flamenco-ish strumming which Stanley Clarke does often.
School Days is probably the most famous tune for this technique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctTX2M_mmp8
There's of course tons of stuff to learn from Stanley, melodies, solos, technique etc. He's the grooviest fusion player for sure. But you know there's many great fusion cats, Jeff Berlin, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Manring, Jonas Hellborg etc. But it's very demanding stuff which would be better to learn when you got the timing and groove down.

[mjtripper]

Another thing to try is to get some classical guitar training books. There are right hand exercises and techniques that have been tuned and proven successful over literally hundreds of years. Just skip the stuff that doesn't look like it translates well.

[horns666]

Wassup Guys..I knew E would elaborate like the bass-o-holic, groove-o-matic, mo fo that he is. I must say we are on the same page..prolly the most like-minded two members on this forum when it comes to playing bass.

MJTipper brought up an interesting point, and something I used to dabble in myself. Not that it was really "classical" but I use to always attempt the two handed tappin' stuff I always did on bass ..on guitar. But because of string spacing and my hand size..it was something I never adjusted to. I recently saw a youtube vid of Chris Broderick doing something pretty neat..I'll go find the vid..

Not exactly what I used to do like playing bass/teble cleff on bass like Stu Hamm's "Linus & Lucy" theme or Stanley Jordan's masterful style for IE. But I do like how he's hitting the root notes with his thumb..kinda cool..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsYfLjsHBDE

[horns666]

Now this is cool. Chris B has been doing alot of woodshedding..I must say. This is pretty advanced tapping stuff. Much more complex than Jeff Berlin's "Dixie" or Stu Hamm's Moonlight Sonata"..which is a MUST learn IMO!!!. But this is probably beyond my abilities.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xohcx...eature=related

[horns666]

Found another one. I just seen these for the first time...not that I'm a huge Chris B fanboy. But this fucker MUST dabble with bass. He just apllies in a jazz/classic context instead of Funk. I Play funk whenver I pick up a bass...if I'm not forced to play metal.. even then I'll thrown in slaps and pops! Here's Chris B again ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl3g8seYy74&NR=1

Hey man, alot of Michael Anthony bass lines I had to learn were totaly 70's funk style..same grooves, octaves, and patterns. He just didn't make it "percussive". He's actually a pretty damn good bass player. Learn some old VH ..that's always fun. In all seriousness, that was alot more challenging than many Steve Harris songs. Just because Harris stood out more didn't mean it was complex. In fact I thought alot of what he does is quite simple and redundant..be he has a style all his own. He actually applies alot of Bagpipe patterns and vibe to his songs. Yes..Bagpipes. Listen to many Maiden songs and you can easily hear his lines sounding much like Bagpipes..at least I do.

BUT..he's the one that got my fingers galloping..he is creative and definitely cultivated his own style.

[Endrik]

I personally don't like Broderick's tapping or slapping stuff, sounds kinda choppy-sloppy timing and dynamic wise and the tone isn't really good either. I love Stanley Jordan because his rhythmic feel is sick.
Chop and tone wise TJ Helmerich is the man of course http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNNsgx5HNFs
But generally that stuff leaves me cold on the guitar, bass and stick players have much more musical ideas when it comes to 8 finger tapping.

[horns666]

I absolutely Agree! Tony Levin got me "tappin' on the bass in '81/'82 with King Crimson. I was so blown away!!! I didn't know where or prolly couldn't afford a Chapman stick..so I just apllied that stuff on my P bass. Stanley Jordan rules..he plays pieces like a piano player..it's no "trick".

I was just kinda surprised to see Chris doing that..I never seen him do that kinda shit..

Yeah man..THIS literally changed the way I looked at bass forever..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKhXQ...eature=related

[horns666]

The "Porky Pig" of Funk..Nigel Clusterfuck!!!!....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BWBy...eature=related

The dude ..well...he's percussive..but so is a blowout a 150MPH!!!:ROTF:

He's got a pretty nice bass tone..all he's needs to do is ..well..play something!!!

[Endrik]

I've seen some Nigerian and Senegali bass players do that really fast double thumbing shit but they were much more interesting to listen to. But that does is just funny


I almost forgot, for OP, Doug Wimbish has many unorthodox techniques, flamenco tap or whatever the heck he calls it. Check this vid. where he messes around with effects and whatnot and he does this whacky thing at 2:21 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f35NVX_PU0