Advanced Level Exercise Area

S e ctio n 3

Advanced Level Exercise Area

This is where everything that we have looked at in the
Advanced section of the book comes together. You'll find
some longer exercises here than have been featured in
the previous end-of-section Exercise Areas, and you will
probably find them rather challenging. If you have
covered everything in the book up to this point however,
there's nothing to stop you conquering these exercises.
All of the topics covered in the advanced section are put
to use here, from double thumbing and popping, to
combining techniques and playing over the shuffle feel.
If you find a certain exercise difficult, I strongly advise
going back to the relevant chapter and working through
the exercises necessary for you to improve.
Wooten, Adam Nitti, Alain Caron, Les Claypool, Ray
Riendeau, Stuart Hamm and Marcus Miller. Many of the
lines presented here are similar in style to classic lines
played by these great bassists. Not only will studying
these players help you to further understand the
concepts we have looked at in the advanced section,
but it should also provide you with further inspiration.
In some cases Ihave made specific recommendations
as to which tracks in particular you should listen to.
I strongly recommend transcribing the work of some
of these players as well - transcribing is an excellent
workout for your ears, and can really help you develop
as a player.

As you work through these exercises, I recommend Good luck with these exercises, there's some tough stuff
checking out the work of great bassists such as Victor here, and a lot to be learnt.

Exercise 219
This exercise is a reasonably straightforward double thumbing line in E. Note that the same upper register fill used in
bar 2 for the Em7 chord is used in bar 3 for the Cmaj7 chord - we can do this because the two chords share several
notes in common - E, G, and B. In the fourth bar a Marcus Miller-style descending line starting on the major seventh,
a B, takes us back to E for the repeat.

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Exercise 220
This exercise is a reggae line in A minor that is played in the same style as the Victor Wooten classic 'More Love'.
This is a difficult exercise since it combines several techniques at once - double thumbing, strumming and playing
harmonics! In the first bar I recommend fretting the A with your second finger, the G harmonic (fifth fret G string)
with your fourth, and the D harmonic (fifth fret D string) with your third finger. The hammer-on should be played
with the first and third fingers, meaning that the fourth lands on the F. The first and third fingers should be used to
play the harmonics in the second half of the bar. The fourth finger can be used as a barre for all harmonics in the
second bar. Bars 3 and 4 are a development of the first two, although only rhythmically - harmonically they are the
same. The only difference is the added popped ghost note. This has been done for rhythmic variety and to challenge
your ability to combine several techniques into one cohesive line.

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Exercise 221
This is an exercise written in the style of Power by Marcus Miller. The main bass figure is based around a Cm7 chord
which is plucked with the thumb, first and second fingers, as discussed back in Chapter 11. Each bar features minor
pentatonic fills that are played using the double thumbing technique. Take your time with these - although the tempo
is relatively slow at 84bpm, they need to be articulated cleanly. The line also needs to groove - think Marcus!

Marcus Miller Photo courtesy of Mike Flynn

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Exercise 222
This exercise is a favourite fingerstyle line of mine that I have adapted to be played with the double thumbing
technique. It is a sixteenth note groove in the style of great funk players such as James Jamerson, Rocco Prestia and
Jaco Pastorius, and works well over dominant seventh chords. You should work your way through all twelve
dominant seventh chords - for the sake of space, I have only written out the line over the chords of C7 and F7 here.
This line has a pattern to it. In the first and third bars you play root notes and octaves with an ascending line
starting on the third and ascending chromatically to the fifth. In the second bar we play roots and octaves again, but
this time the fill begins on the sixth of the chord and moves chromatically upwards, back to the root. In the fourth
bar the fill begins on the sixth degree of the next chord - in bar 4 you can see the fill beginning on D, the sixth of
the key of F. This harmonic idea helps you to modulate. You should keep this exercise going, and move through
every key in fourths. The sequence will be C7, F7, B7, E7, A7, D7, F 7, B7, E7, A7, D7, and G7, the same as playing
around the circle of fifths backwards. Remember that it is always a good idea to learn all your favourite licks in every
key so that you can use them in any appropriate musical situation.

Continue to B etc...

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Exercise 223
Many players who have mastered the double thumbing technique have used it to play the melody lines from popular
jazz standards. Charlie Parker's bebop tunes are ideal for this, with 'Donna Lee' having been tackled by Victor Wooten
and 'Ornithology' by Ray Riendeau. Rather than present a thumbing pattern for a well-known Parker tune here,
I have instead composed a melody line over a 12 bar jazz blues for you to study. This is an medium tempo bebop
line that requires thorough mastery of the double thumbing and popping techniques. In bar 2 you'll notice that you
have to play four consecutive notes on one string using a down and upstroke with the thumb, followed by two pops.
This is difficult, and if you have trouble with it you should go back and study the section 'Adding The Double Pop'
in Chapter 16. As discussed earlier in the book, there is always more than one way of playing the same line, but
I recommend that you carefully follow the slap guides that I have written for this one - I believe they illustrate the
easiest way of playing the line. There's a lot to digest here, so take this one slowly.

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Exercise 224
This exercise is a combination of (and variation on) Exercises 215 and 217 from Chapter 17. The Intro bar consists
completely of chord tones from the G7 chord, but notice that I have focused strongly on the B and F - the third and
seventh of the chord. These are the most colourful chord tones and make a strong statement here.

The first section of this exercise is a G7 groove that has a tapped doublestop on the first beat of the first bar. This is
reminiscent of the Victor Wooten classic 'You Can't Hold No Groove', but is also a classic use of the 'funk doublestop'.
This imitates what a guitar player might add to this groove. The second bar of this section features an ascending
double popping lick that shouldn't prove problematic if you have worked through Chapter 10. The final bars of this
section feature tapped chords - notice that the root and fifth are in the left hand, the third and seventh in the right -
this is a common way to tap out chords.

The second section of this line is based on Exercise 219 and makes extensive use of harmonics. You may need to
boost the treble and upper mid frequencies on your bass or amp in order to let these really ring out. The final bar is
a string of harmonics played fingerstyle that takes us back to the first section of the tune. Notice how the drums drop
out at this point in order to emphasize the line. Good luck with this one!

continued over

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Exercise 225
The line is an open hammer pop groove that very clearly outlines the chord progression beneath it. Note the use of
legato phrasing in the long run in the second bar - much of this is played with open string hammer-ons making it
sound very smooth. The open hammer pop technique is ideal for implying harmonic movement and after learning
this line I would encourage you to experiment with using it over other chord progressions.

Mark King Photo courtesy of Harry Durrant

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Exercise 226
This is a fingerstyle line that I enjoy playing and have adapted into a complex double thumbing riff. Because of the
E79 chord the line uses notes from the E auxiliary diminished scale - E, F, G, G, A, B, C, and D. This explains the
use of G 's and G 's in close proximity - the G is obviously the third of the chord, whereas the G natural is the

sharpened ninth (it's really an F. ). The figure on beat 3 of the first three bars is difficult to execute cleanly because
of the double popping so practise it slowly. Note the use of a popped note on the last sixteenth note of each bar -
this is the easiest fingering choice and ensures that you can start the next bar with a thumb downstroke.

Larry Graham Photo courtesy of Greg Jamate

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Exercise 227
This exercise is a sparse, syncopated groove that has been filled with ghost notes to add an exciting rhythmic aspect
to the line. The double thumbing technique has been put to excellent use here. Although the lines in bars 1 and 3
are heavily syncopated, thanks to ghost notes, the thumbing pattern is a strict up-down movement throughout. The
fill in the second bar is a decoration taking notes from the A blues scale and ends with an upper register motif using
the fifth (E) and the flattened seventh (G). This fill is built upon in the fourth bar to include a double thumbed minor
pentatonic lick.

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