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    Ultimate Slap Bass - Beginner Level
    Ultimate Slap Bass - Beginner Level
    Ultimate Slap Bass - Beginner Level
    Ebook159 pages2 hours

    Ultimate Slap Bass - Beginner Level

    By Stuart Clayton

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    About this ebook

    Ultimate Slap Bass is one of the most popular books ever written on the slap bass technique. In this book, the first in the series of three, the technique is covered from the absolute basics. The book starts with basic slapping and popping technique and moves on to cover ghost notes, using hammer-ons and pull-offs. It also covers popular scales and modes for the slap technique and includes a detailed history of the slap bass technique. There are 63 exercises in this book and all have free backing tracks available to download from the publishers website.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStuart Clayton
    Release dateJul 1, 2013
    ISBN9780957485969
    Ultimate Slap Bass - Beginner Level
    Author

    Stuart Clayton

    Stuart Clayton has been a professional musician and writer for over ten years. He has worked as a staff writer for Bass Guitar Magazine since its first issue, written seven bass instruction books for Sanctuary Publishing, including 100 Tips For Bass Guitar You Should Have Been Told, Crash Course: Bass, Bass Xtreme, Basic Bass Workout and Giants Of Bass and toured the world with Carl Palmer. He now runs his own company, Bassline Publishing, which publishes transcription books for legendary bassists such as Mark King, Stuart Hamm, Bernard Edwards and John Entwistle, as well as an acclaimed range of tuition books such as Ultimate Slap Bass and Solo Arrangements for Electric Bass. He is also Head of Bass at the British Institute of Modern Music (Bristol) and is an artist endorsee for Zon basses and Aguilar amplification.

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      Book preview

      Ultimate Slap Bass - Beginner Level - Stuart Clayton

      Ultimate Slap Bass

      Beginner Level

      By Stuart Clayton

      Published by Bassline Publishing at Smashwords

      Copyright 2013 Stuart Clayton

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      The History of Slap Bass

      Before You Start…

      Chapter 1 – Slapping Basics

      Chapter 2 – Adding the ‘Pop’

      Chapter 3 – Hammer-Ons, Pull-Offs & Trills

      Chapter 4 – Ghost Notes

      Chapter 5 – Popular Scales & Modes for Slap Bass

      Beginner Level Exercise Area

      Larry Graham Biography

      Louis Johnson Biography

      Stanley Clarke Biography

      Marcus Miller Biography

      Flea Biography

      Mark King Biography

      Stuart Hamm Biography

      Vail Johnson Biography

      Les Claypool Biography

      Victor Wooten Biography

      Ray Riendeau Biography

      About the Author

      Introduction

      It can be quite daunting taking your first tentative slaps on the bass. As likely as not, the first time you try the technique, it will feel awkward, clumsy, and it probably won’t sound that great either! However, while the slap and pop technique is a very exciting and seemingly complex way of playing the bass, that doesn’t mean that it has to be difficult to learn. When studying anything, be it a new technique or musical idea, the key to success is always through practice and perseverance. None of the best slap bassists were born as amazing players, but their efforts paid off - just as yours will if you persevere with the exercises in this book. Slap and pop is one of the most enjoyable techniques to learn and I can assure you that if you are newcomer to the style you’re going to have a blast learning it. I can also promise you that with a little patience, it won’t be long before you start getting results.

      I originally wrote Ultimate Slap Bass in 2005 and it quickly became a very popular title for bassists all around the world. Now, with the development of digital publishing, I am pleased to be able to present it as a series of ebooks, which can be read on a variety of digital tablets. I decided to spilt the original book (which was of considerable size) into three, with each part corresponding to the main sections in the printed book: beginner, intermediate and advanced. This allows for a more manageable download and has the added benefit that the reader can choose the level at which they want to begin their studies. This is the first book of the three and is the perfect place to start if you are a newcomer to the technique.

      I wrote the original book because I don’t believe a definitive slap and pop tuition book exists. Although there are several available, I have found that very few teach you how to play - most simply provide some vague descriptions of the technique and then bombard you with a barrage of exercises. Whilst you’ll certainly get a lot of exercises in this book - 73 to be precise - I also aim to illustrate the ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’ of the style. My main goal in writing these books however, is to encourage bass players to use the technique in a more musical way - to quote the great Marcus Miller, ‘the technique of slap bass playing is at an all time high - although the musicality of the bass players using it is unfortunately at an all time low.’ My contribution towards rectifying this was to write the exercises in a variety of keys (other than E!) and tempos. Throughout each book you’ll also be encouraged to understand the theory behind what you are playing.

      The Ultimate Slap Bass ebooks have been developed to cater for all slap players, irrespective of their level. Whether you are completely new to the technique, or are just looking to add some new ideas to your playing there will be plenty in these books to keep you occupied. Please note however that this series is not intended for complete beginners to the instrument itself, rather newcomers to the slap and pop technique. I’m assuming that you know the fundamentals already, i.e. the notes on the fretboard, basic playing techniques, major scales in all twelve keys, how to tune up etc. If not, I strongly advise that you learn them. There are many books that can get you started with the basics - I’ve even written a few myself!

      All of the exercises in this book have an accompanying audio track for you to listen to/practice along with. Many of these files are recorded with a backing track so that you can hear how the basslines work in a musical context. By hearing them in this way you will be encouraged to slap in a more musical and creative way. Hopefully you’ll also be inspired to develop these lines further, and come up with some of your own. You can download these files free of charge by visiting the Bassline Publishing website and clicking on FREE Stuff on the main menu - you will need to log into the site to access this area. The audio files are in a zip file which is listed in the section for this book.

      Before I leave you to get started, a word of warning: while this book will teach you how to take the slap and pop technique to the next level, you should remember to use what you learn with taste and sensitivity. The slap technique can be a lot of fun, but it can also be very easy to overuse. There are times to use it, and times when not to. With that said, I hope you enjoy this book, and that it helps you to master the techniques that you want to learn. As usual, your questions and comments are welcomed, so please feel free to drop me an email at info@basslinepublishing.com

      Stuart Clayton

      November 2011

      The History of Slap Bass

      As a bass player, it’s hard to imagine a world without slap bass - although I’ve no doubt some would like to! For over thirty years now, bassists all over the world have been slapping and popping, using this most flamboyant of techniques to lay down heavy funk grooves, solo extravagantly, and endlessly irritate the proprietors of guitar shops. Yet there was once a time when bassists never slapped, and they never popped. Back in the fifties and sixties, the electric bass - one of the youngest musical instruments - was still in its infancy, with Leo Fender having only introduced it in 1951. Throughout this time bass players played with their fingers or with plectrums, happy that they could at least now play at a reasonable volume, many of them having made the transition from upright to electric in order to be heard. Curiously enough, in order to discover the origins of the slap and pop technique, it is to the upright bass that we must first look.

      Slapping the Upright Bass

      Being considerably older, the upright has a longer and more detailed history than its electric counterpart. As the popularity of jazz music began to grow in the early 20th century, one major shortcoming of the instrument was becoming apparent: the combination of gut strings and the absence of any kind of amplification meant that it was often completely inaudible beneath the drums, horns and piano. Understandably, the bassists of the day sought ways to be heard above the rest of the band. In the 1920’s, an early form of the slap technique was to grow from this dilemma. Many upright players such as Wellman Braud (of the Duke Ellington band), George ‘Pops’ Foster (Louis Armstrong), Steve Brown (Jean Goldkette Orchestra) and Al Morgan (Fats Waller & Cab Calloway) began utilising a much more aggressive way of playing - pulling on the strings to allow them to slap back against the fingerboard. This undoubtedly created a louder bass sound, but there was a percussive element to it too, one that would be developed further by many of the great upright slap players. Milt Hinton was one such player. He took the new techniques that bassists such as Braud, Foster and Brown had been using, and put his own unique spin on them, pioneering a percussive technique that involved pulling on the strings, and slapping ghost notes with both the top and bottom of his palm. Using this technique he was able to play complex triplet patterns, and fill in the spaces in his lines with percussive slapping. This highly rhythmic

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