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SLAP COURSE – Part 3 – Crucial slap bass exercises
#BASSNATION This bass lesson goes over a handful of exercises to really get you digging into developing your slapping and popping technique! I highly recommend working slap into any and all of your practicing if you are trying to learn and develop a good slap bass technique. Anything you can play on your bass guitar with your fingers or a pick you can also slap! Grab your bass and dig into this slap bass lesson covering some great slap exercises!
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22 thoughts on “SLAP COURSE – Part 3 – Crucial slap bass exercises”
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Hey man!! Awesome lessons. Just had one question regarding muting: I am learning on a 5 string bass and I’m having a hard time doing these exercises without a whole ton of overtones and ringing. I’ve boild it down to primarily my B string ringing, however, once in a while, the higher strings will ring as well. What type of muting technique can i practice to prevent excess ringing? I seem to be slapping the string on target so it’s not like I’m mis-hitting the note! Thanks!!
Great question! Slap bass course isn’t over and I’ll be covering muting not only with slap technique but also with picking technique. When slapping, most of the muting comes from your left hand. Try slapping one string slowly (quarter notes) then immediate muffling the string with your right hand. Don’t worry, this will be covered with full demonstration!
How do you set you amp for the slap technique? I still can’t get the sound i needed for the slap tech.you sound, i have a Rumble 500 watt but still can’t accomplish your sound.
Great question. I mostly rely on the bass settings other than the amp settings. I try to keep my amp eq as flat as possible. The treble boosted a little as well as the mids and the pickup selection blended evenly between the two. I’ll cover this method more in depth to achieve that sound on almost any bass!!
Hello Daric! When it’s about practice routine, do you recommend several aspects of playing together, for instance, exercises, scales, chords, slap etc., or just focuse on one aspect at a time? For instance, I have 1 hour daily for practice since I heve not much time, and I plan to change the routine monthly. In my routine for this month I am doing arpeggios, one lick, one scale and a slap exercise. So what’s your advice for this type of practice routine.Thanks.
Hey, just a good question. The great thing about a practice routine is that it’s YOUR practice routine. Meaning that it’s catered to you and everyone’s routine is a little different. A question that you have to ask yourself is that the team A question that you have to ask yourself, is this routine working for you? Do you see any progress? It also depends on what you would like to focus on. So bottom line is if you see that your routine is working for you then stick with that and if you see progress move onto the next
Got it. Thanks!
Hi Mr. Bennet.
I am struggling with speed. I’ve spent hours trying different things even with a metronome and it still sounds like I am playing “rigid”. Advice?
Thanks
Greg
Hey Greg! Would love to possibly see your practice routine and what your process is. Maybe you need to slow down the metronome a little , and focus on precision and your notes coming out clear instead of the speed. The speed will come eventually. Take your time with it
Ok awesome. I’ll send a vid soon. Thanks again
Hey Daric!
With the double-plucking part, when you try to incorporate both fingers, do you usually have emphasis on pointer-then-middle or is it more of a roll from pointer to middle?
Hey! Not exactly sure what you mean, I want to answer correctly. Can you elaborate a little more or differently
It’s hard to explain. I guess the problem I’m having is my middle finger coming up and muting the string before plucking it where I’d prefer to have more of a ring in between plucks. The inertia from plucking with my pointer finger seems to keep forcing my hand that way. Any recommendations on how to work that out? Thanks!
LOL, I’m getting a blister on the side of my thumb – time for a break!
no really qualified comment coming up, BUT…..
you sir, are saying “anyway(s)” A LOT in this video 😀
🤷🏾♂️ didn’t realize….
no worries. it just happened that i heard myself over a recorded rehearsal and i was just like – oh. im saying this word a god damn lot 😀
keep up the good work – anyway,… 😉
Lol no problem this was my early days of Bass Nation. I’ve gotten a little better since then lol
I’m struggling to get a good pop consistently. A lot of times it sounds like a strong pluck, but no pop. It doesn’t have that metallic sound. Unless I really pull that string hard.
Hi Daric,
I love your teaching! I‘m a slap beginner, so positioning is so important! I mostly play and exercise bass while I am standing. My bass is hip high, when my strap is in the shortest position. And I don’t want to play it higher. But in this position I feel my arm is too short for a good position. How do you master playing like this? ( sorry, if my German English is not that good!)
Thanks for helping!
https://player.vimeo.com/video/954109801
Thanks so much! Now I know it’s a compromise thing! I‘m using a normal Fender strap in the highest position (I am 180cm), but the bass is lower than in the sitting position. To do the slap parallel, I have to hinge my wrist. But this position makes the hand twists slower. I‘m thinking of two solutions: 1. hanging the bass a bit higher, 2. holding the neck lower, when I start slapping (more parallel to the ground)
Your advices are the best, I really appreciate your feedback!