Basic Slapping for Bass Guitar

Steps

1. 1
   
   
   Keep your hand perpendicular to the strings and your thumb at a 50-60 degree angle with the string you're slapping. You will need to have your arm at a particular angle. Think of a traditional scarecrow with rigid upper arms. This may ache after a long period of playing, but you'll get used to it.
   
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3. 2
   Remember, it's all in the wrist. For a basic slap exercise, you can slap and pop an octave - an octave is 2 frets up and 2 strings up. Play an octave with your first and third fingers on your left hand.
4. 3
   
   
   First, to position your right hand. You need your thumb parallel to the string, (let's use the E string first).
5. 4
   
   
   Now, using a hitch hiker or flopping fish action, bring your thumb down slowly and hit the string, when you hit the string try and hit the bottom half of it, the bottom of your thumb should end up on the next string.
6. 5
   
   
   Keep practicing that action until you get good hits, the ideal sound is a solid thump.
7. 6
   Now, try adding some popping to the technique. Popping is where you pull up on the string.
8. 7
   
   
   With either your middle or index finger, (which ever is most comfortable) put your finger underneath the string let's use the G string, pull up your finger until the string eventually snaps back down on the fretboard.
9. 8
   Now let's try putting both of those into one technique:
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    S   P   S   P   S   P   S   P

G|------9-------9-------9-------9-|

D|--------------------------------|

A|--7-------7-------7-------7-----|

E|--------------------------------|



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Variation

    S   P   S   P   S   P   S   P

G|------5-------6-------7-------8-|

D|--------------------------------|

A|--3-------4-------5-------6-----|

E|--------------------------------|

Bass Guitar Basics Bass Guitar for Beginners

Are you looking for free online bass guitar lessons? Want to play bass guitar but don't know where or how to start? This page is just for you! These are the very first steps to playing bass guitar.

FIRST You must tune your bass! Get help with our free online bass guitar tuner. Then come back and continue with the next lesson on this page.

BASS GUITAR NOTES

When just starting bass guitar--for beginners, it is important to memorize the names of the open strings. Here is a picture to help you.

The 4th string is the one on the left--the largest string on your bass, or the one that is closest to you when you hold your bass in playing position. Practice playing and naming the open strings until you can do so easily.

The bars going across the neck are called "frets". You also need to memorize the names of the notes on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th frets of the Third and Fourth Strings:

The fretted notes may be played for now with the first finger of your left hand. The fingers are numbered starting with the index finger as 1. Be sure to press FIRMLY just between the metal frets.Take your time and insist upon a good musical sound.

Practice playing AND naming the notes on the frets as marked until you can do so easily. This is VERY IMPORTANT later on and if you don't do it now, you will just have to come back to Bass Guitar Basics and do it later.

PRACTICE BASS GUITAR NOTES

When you are sure that you know these notes, you are ready to play them in some combinations:

1. G G G G / C C C C / D D D D / C C C C

2. A A A A / D D D D / E E E E / D D D D

3. D D D D / G G G G / A A A A / G G G G

4. E E E E / A A A A / B B B B / A A A A

Play these combinations SLOWLY and SMOOTHLY while naming each note.You might notice that these combinations sound a lot like "Louie Louie" or "Wild Thing" or about a million other songs. See if YOU can think of one. Heck--try singing along!

When you have become an expert at this and have amazed your family and friends, you are ready for some Beginning Bass Guitar Scales. You are doing GREAT so far!

How Often Do You Change Bass Strings?

Why do you need to change bass strings? What makes your bass strings go dead?

Strings lose their brilliance because dirt, oil and sweat accumulate in the winding. As the string gets dirtier, it starts to sound dull and dead. Which may or may not be to your liking.

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You will find a new set of bass strings to have a very bright sound. They will have a lot of “zing” to them. Personally, I don’t like the sound of strings until I’ve broken them in for a few days. So give your new strings a few days and don’t change them just before a gig if you don’t know what to expect.

How often should you change your bass strings?

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There’s no solid answer to this question. It depends on the tone you like, how much you play and how much you can afford to spend on bass strings. Some people never change strings. James Jamerson never changed his strings and once said, “The funk is in the funk.” Other people who like a bright sound or play a lot may change strings once every week or two. For my average student I suggest they change or clean them every 3-4 months

Offspring-Americana

g|---------------------|
d|---------------------|
a|---------------------|
d|5---7---7-5-2--0-2-2-|

g|--------0-2-0-|
d|2--0-2--------|
a|--------------|
d|--------------|

g|-------------------------------------------------|
d|22222222--------------------0000-22222222--------|
a|----------------000000003333-------------22222222|
d|--------55555555---------------------------------|

g|------------------------|
d|------------------------|
a|---55-77-23----55-77-77-|
d|55----------55----------|

last time

g|------------------------|
d|------------------------|
a|---66-88-34----66-88-88-|
d|66----------66----------|

Bass Guitar Players Who Changed The World

Some people think that if you want to change the world you don't become a bass player, but go into something more challenging and stimulating like the Post Office. But does this myth portray how bass players really are? Let's step back from our habitual way of seeing bass guitar players as necessary but boring members of the group. Like accountants. Sure we acknowledge the fine contribution they make to their bands by supplying the bass lines and paying for the beer, but do they actually do anything really creative? This brief listing of some prominent men (and woman) of bass will allow you to see that this apparently self effacing member of a musical group could be the creative powerhouse.

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Let's start with the leather jacketed but overpoweringly feminine Suzi Quatro. A vocalist and bass player who had a bunch of hits in Australia and Europe in the early seventies, her popularity in the USA stemmed from her role as Leather Tuscadero in Happy Days.

John Entwistle pioneered the use of the electric bass guitar as an instrument for soloists. His aggressive approach to the bass guitar influenced many other bassists.

Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers impressed a lot of musicians with his popping and slapping technique which was originally invented by Larry Graham of Sly And The Family Stone. Flea's innovative use of effects pedals has also influenced many bass players.

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Jack Bruce wrote most of supergroup Cream's hit songs. Among his other achievements are fighting constantly with Cream's drummer, Ginger Baker and surviving a liver transplant.

Greg Lake is another artist of the early seventies who played with a number of innovators from the glam rock era. Lake is best known for his vocals, bass and guitar work with Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Rob Bailey is a bassist who plays loud and aggressive. His bass playing is an important element in the music of AC/DC.

Benny Rietveld, a Dutch musician who went to college in Hawaii, is admired for his musical and individualistic style of playing. He worked with Barney Kessell, Sheila E, Huey Lewis and Miles Davis. He has also made an album featuring Carlos Santana. Talk about diverse.

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Paul McCartney played bass with The Beatles. Many bass players say he's quite good, but he changed the world with his romantic song lyrics.

Considered by some to be the king of bass players, Stanley Clarke employs a variation of the pop and slap technique to produce some truly innovative bass guitar music. His 1976 album, School Days, is acclaimed by many critics as one of the greatest bass albums ever.

A true bass lead guitar player, Billy Sheehan has won Guitar Player Magazine's "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll five times. Why a "bass lead guitar player"? Because Billy plays bass as if he were playing lead.

So if you are not familiar with bass guitar players I hope this article has whetted your appetite. Why not spend your next rainy Sunday watching some of their work on YouTube?

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Is the 5 String Bass Guitar the Evolution of the Electric Bass?

The 5 string bass represents a fascinating branch of the electric bass guitar class. Can you guess the name of one of the original bass guitar makers that held off on adopting the 5 string to its main product line despite introducing the first ever electric 5 string instrument? Read on to find out more about the 5 string bass.

Origins of 5 String Basses

5 String basses didn't really start to appear until the late 70's when Alembic, Ken Smith and (by his own admission) Michael Tobias built one. The first veritable production 5 string was the Musicman Sting Ray 5 which debuted in 1986. Within a couple of years, 5 string basses were surfacing in more and more low-priced models by major manufacturers such as Ibanez, Peavey, Yamaha and Washburn. Strangely enough, because a certain bass manufacturer stayed away from offering 5 string versions of its bass guitars until the1990's, a cottage-industry of lookalikes started to appear. Custom bass guitar luthiers began to rise in popularity by meeting the need for a 5 string bass guitar with vintage styling. Companies like Sadowsky, Lull, Lakland and finally Allevo Coppolla filled this void.

Companies including Spector, Warwick, F Bass, MTD, Ken Smith, Zon, Fodera, Pedulla and ESP offered 5 strings with their own unique designs. One particularly unique design is the fanned fret system used on Dingwall basses that helps extend the scale length of the low B string substantially.

Producing the perfect 5 string electric bass required some particular considerations, with the uneven number of strings, the neck had to be assembled for increased stability. Figuring out the best string spacing, neck width, neck radius, electronics and scale length took many years and a lot of different attempts. Early five string bass concepts often had necks that were too broad, or that attempted to cram 5 bass strings into the same size neck as a four string bass; neither of which were ideal for most players. 35" scale basses became progressively common as a method to 'tighten up' or add definition to the low B string.

While adoption of the 5 string attained mainstream acceptance in the 90's with players like Tom Hamilton of Areosmith, Jason Newsted of Metallica, David Ellefson of Megadeth and Billy Gould of Faith No More et al., many other celebrated bassists chose to remain with the four string bass. Bassists such as Geddy Lee, Flea, Marcus Miller, Billy Sheehan and Victor Wooten proceed to do the bulk of their recorded or live performances entirely with four string basses.

A recent movement towards detuned 4 string basses with a 35 inch scale that share the equivalent low notes as a low B equipped 5 string happened in the early to mid 2000s. While the five string bass appears to be here to stay, it seems that it has yet to fully replace the 4 string bass in the fashion that the electric bass essentially supplanted the acoustic bass in the 1960s.

5 String Electric Bass Tunings

The more common tunings for the 5 string bass are either E-A-D-G-C (high C) or B-E-A-D-G (low B) with the latter tuning embodying the most prevalent. Low B tuned five strings are popular in Gospel, Hard Rock and Metal music genres while the high C tuned 5 string bass is more common in Jazz, Fusion or bass solo recordings.

The Perfect Low B

With the low B string, 5 string electric bass players have fought to find the right amount of punch and presence to give definition to the lower frequencies without it sounding like 'mud'. Finding the 'perfect low B' in terms of sound and feel is a perpetual quest for many players - often warranting the expense of arranging a custom-made bass guitar from a luthier.

I hope you enjoyed this taste of what the 5 string bass guitar is all about. As for my question at the top of this article - Did you guess that the company was Fender? That's right, Fender introduced the "Fender V" in 1964 in limited quantities. It seems that this particular instrument didn't feature a low B string, and John Paul Jones was known to have played one for a time in Led Zeppelin.

Getting Started Learning The Bass Guitar With These Basics

The bass guitar looks like an electric guitar except it has a larger body, a longer neck, and fewer, thicker strings. There are usually four, sometimes five or six strings, tuned an octave lower. The body is usually is maple or rose wood.

The bass is used in many types of music including rock, blues, metal, pop, country, and jazz. It can solo in jazz, fusion, Latin, funk, and in some rock and heavy metal. It underlies the music's beat. And it is that beat that appeals to many guitarists, who decide to expand into playing bass and take bass guitar lessons.

The bass guitar, unlike other guitars, is not chord oriented and this actually makes learning to play the bass guitar more complex than learning how to play acoustic guitar. You might think that since there are fewer strings, it is easier to play, but that's not true!

Learning to play the bass guitar is a foundation that will make learning how to play other guitars like acoustic or electric easier.

If you want to play the bass guitar, here are some ideas to get you started.

First you need to get a guitar. Borrow one to start or buy a used one. Don't spend a lot of money until you get proficient and learn a little about what you want in your instrument. You can look at eBay, Craigslist, or Google "used bass guitars" to find a reasonable used one. You can always trade up later.

Expect that you will need to have a certain degree of hand strength to play bass guitar. More than with other guitar types, the bass guitar requires strong hands and fingers.

ou should learn how to tune your bass guitar. Tuning it isn't really different than tuning a standard guitar. It may be easier since you likely have fewer strings to tune. If you are a beginner, don't try to tune your guitar by ear. Get an electronic guitar tuner. You can get a battery operated one for around $20.

You need to be attuned to the beat of the music that you are playing. Some bass parts aren't necessarily complicated but the rhythm must be perfect. That means you really need to be able to focus intently when you practice. As old-school as this may sound, practice with a metronome. Don't worry - it doesn't have to be an old wood box! You should be able to find one online that you can download. Some online bass guitar lessons will provide you with a digital version.

Now, take some bass guitar lessons or find a good bass guitar instructional DVD or online program. Some of the better ones actually let you "jam along" with their guitar instructors. Or find a friend or two you can play with. Playing with others will push you forward and reveal what areas you need to work on.

Playing the bass guitar can be a rewarding hobby or even a profession. And last, remember to always relax and have some fun.