Slapping and popping. Slap and pop exercise over the scale of E major Track 49

Transcription

1 Slapping and popping A thumb slap is required on the notes marked 'T'. This is obtained by driving the thumb directly into the string. The 'pop' or 'pull' as it's sometimes referred to, is indicated by a 'P' and is achieved by placing the first and second fingers of the right hand under the strings and pulling them in an upward motion. See the diagrams below to check your positioning. Slap and pop exercise over the scale of E major Track 49 30

2 Slap and pop grooves The purpose of the following exercises is to help develop your rhythm skills. Try to feel the grooves rather than read the part too much. Slap and pop groove #1 Track 50 Slap and pop groove #2 Track 51 31

3 Slap and pop groove #3 Track 52 Slap and pop groove #4 Track 53 32

4 Slap and pop groove #5 Track 54 Classical guitar style Classical guitar style is a different and unusual technique. It uses the thumb again, but this time to pluck the string, not to slap it. The thumb plucks the root note and the first and second fingers pluck a melodic bass line. The first example shows a bass line in this style at a slow tempo and the second is a similar bass line, but at a faster tempo. This approach shows that playing can sound solid and melodic at the same time. I have been inspired by some of Flea's bass lines, the bass playing skills of Carol Kaye, and the way Sting sometimes plucks with the thumb. 33

5 Example 1 Track 55 34

6 Example 2 Track 56 35

7 Styles This chapter will focus on fourteen diverse playing styles for the bass guitar. These style examples are all represented on the CD and each correspond with the bass and drum parts transcribed in this section. I will start by explaining each style individually. Rock 'n' Roll Let's take a step back in time to 1954 when bassist Marshall Lytle from the band Bill Haley and his Comets recorded Rock Around The Clock, one of the original golden rock 'n' roll records. Lytle was a pioneer of the upright bass and when he recorded he always used two microphones, one over the F hole, and the other one over the strings. His upright playing can be heard on recordings such as See You Later Alligator and Shake Rattle and Roll. Rock 'n' roll is primarily popular music of that time combined with elements of blues, gospel and country. A standard rock 'n' roll chord progression is the 12 bar blues and many songs have been written using this chord sequence. In this example I play an improvised bass line over the 12 bar blues progression in the key of 'G'. 12 Bar Blues G---/----/----/----/C---/----/G---/----/D7---/C---/G---/G--- Pop Rock The category of pop rock covers a wide range of remarkable bass players such as Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, Pino Palladino, Sting, and Bruce Thomas from Elvis Costello and the Attractions. My example in this category is inspired by Bruce Thomas's bass line on the Elvis Costello track Oliver's Army. The chord progression used in this pop rock example is fairly straight forward and the melodic bass line mainly uses major scales and arpeggios. Other great tracks by Elvis Costello and the Attractions include Every Day I Write the Book and Pump it Up. Motown This style of music is referred to as 'Motown' because it is the name of the 1960's independent record label founded by Berry Gordy, the man who is responsible for developing some of the finest records of our time. Motown is an abbreviation of Motor Town which was the slang name of its origin Detroit, Michigan. The 'in house' band who accompanied the label's recording artistes where known as The Funk Brothers and part of that line up included the bassist James Jamerson. Jamerson recorded fantastic bass work for the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations. I have based the first section of my Motown style example on Stevie Wonder's Uptight and have tried to imitate the classic James Jamerson feel. You will see that the latter part uses the D flat pentatonic scale which we talked about in a previous chapter entitled 'Playing over a chord sequence'. For this recording I have inserted a piece of foam under my strings between the back pick up and the bridge. This is an attempt to re-create the sound of the foam mute on James Jamerson's 1962 Fender Precision Bass. Jamerson's bass (which was known as 'The Funk Machine') had an extremely high action and he used flat wound strings which where rarely changed unless they broke. 36