advanced level exercise area

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Advanced Level Exercise Area

Sect ion 3

ULTIMATE SLAP BASS164

Advanced Level Exercise AreaThis 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.

As you work through these exercises, I recommend

checking out the work of great bassists such as Victor

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 I have made specific recommendations

as to which tracks in particular you should listen to.

I strongly recommend transcribing the work of someof these players as well - transcribing is an excellent

workout for your ears, and can really help you develop

as a player.

Good luck with these exercises, there's some tough stuff

here, and a lot to be learnt.

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.

Exercise 219



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!

Exercise 221



Marcus Miller Photo courtesy of Mike Flynn




ULTIMATE SLAP BASS 167

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, A 7, D7, F7, B7, E7, A 7, 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.

Exercise 222

Continue to B etc...





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.

Exercise 223



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





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.

Exercise 225

Mark King Photo courtesy of Harry Durrant





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.

Exercise 227

advanced level exercise area

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