Intro to Slap Bass: The Slap

Get busy playing some funky bass lines! In this introductory class to Slap Bass, Ian Underwood takes us on a journey to learn the basic tools to execute this popular bass technique. The Slap Bass technique adds a percussive quality and characteristic to note sounds in modern bass lines. These sounds can be heard in virtually all styles of modern music from rock and pop, to funk, folk, jazz, and more!

To properly execute this technique, Ian covers a range of topics from posture for the arms to thumb position, slapping open and closed strings, muting, and more. In addition to slapping technique with the right hand, muting the strings with the left hand is covered in depth, both using real-world bass line examples “Bad” by Michael Jackson and “Flashlight” by Parliament.

Topics covered include: Posture, wrist technique, left hand muting, proper use of the thumb, playing sequences of slapped notes in a bass line, phrasing, technique, stylistic interpretation, groove, funky song examples!

This class is perfect for: Bass players new to the slap bass technique. Fans of funk, R&B, soul, and gospel music will benefit from this course. Basic understanding of reading rhythms will be helpful, however tabs will be provided for those who can’t read notation.

After this class, you will be able to: Properly slap open strings, rest the thumb on the adjacent string after a follow-through, mute notes with the left hand, and play simple, popular modern bass lines.

Skills required: (scale from 1-low to 5-high)

• Reading = 2
• Fretting strength = 2
• Bass hand-eye coordination = 2
• Left-right hand sync = 2
• Muting = 1