Top 5 'Must Know' Slap Riffs - HD Bass Lesson - inc. Flea, Mark King, Larry Graham

Hi people! This week I have the next lesson in the Slap Bass series dealing with some very popular slap bass riffs. Much of the previous Slap lessons dealt with the mechanics and technique of playing the style. But that is such a small part of learning to slap. The best progress can be made once you have those basics nailed so you can just dive into learning some tunes. Here I've covered 5 of the most popular bass riffs out there that should be within the reach of anyone with a basic grasp of the playing style.

Below is a list of the tunes and the time within the video (in case you want to skip to your favourite):

1) Higher Ground - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Flea) - 1:48
2) Thankyou Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin - Sly & The Family Stone (Larry Graham) - 10:14
3) Love Games - Level 42 (Mark King) - 18:26
4) Take The Power Back - Rage Against The Machine (Tim Commerford) - 29:53
5) Forget Me Nots - Patrice Rushden (Freddy Washington) - 35:23

[ronbranca]

i am 68 yrs got married in 1980 and took a break from bass playing till 2005.Played full time 20yrs and toured the world.. i had to start almost all over again in 2005. been playing for fun for the last 11yrs . and just want to thank you for your sharing your incredible knowledge with all of us who watch and still want to learn. you break down the most complicated slap bass riffs and make them a lot easier to understand... it makes me want to practice all the time hard to believe that i can actually hammer run for cover and some other complex slap riffs in only a few weeks of practicing and its all because of your great playing skills and knowing how to teach..if you were around 40 yrs ago and we had the internet back then i would never have stopped playing bass.. thanks for all your help..you are amazing. keep at it..

[nowhereman]

Excellent Instructor for all those seriously interested in playing Bass!   Well done, Sir!  i learned a lot!

[ljgarrison]

I'm just amazed and grateful this stuff is free!

[rolandmccabe]

One of the best tutorials I've seen yet on learning bass technique and how to play each note! Great teaching!!

[ernieflanaganstingraybassm]

i'm a slap bass player that lives in Nashville, Tn right now im in a 24/7 care unit place close to Chicago il from a terrible automobile accident on dec 16 2016-jun 1 2017 im still here cause i cannot walk and i will be here untill i can walk again and then go back home in Nashville and i have alot of downtime to watch videos and i really dig your playing and me being down and out right now its nice to know that there are people like you giving free bass lessons on line for free when i learned to slap it was at my mom and dads kitchen table and a very great funk player in town gave me free lessons if i would show him how to play country bass 4/4 and walking method and i was 18 and my friend was like 28....i love funk bass and slap and i love country so i just wanted to tell you thank you for what you do i wish we had these tools when i first started playing funk in 1979''''T'''Y'''

[deejjohn]

Hey man, just wanted to let you know I really appreciate your teaching style. I find alot of YouTube tutorial content creators zoom past so much at once, I often find myself pausing and replaying parts over and over. But you have a great pace. Thank you for your videos.

[samwababoon]

I'm a beginner in the realm of bass/slap and I must say that all of these riffs, though tricky at full speed, serve as great exercises for building the various techniques from fast to slow. They all sound great as well. Thanks for the great lesson as usual.

[dkmlife]

Great lesson. The Freddie Washington line is insane! Thanks for making make sense for a guitar player learning thumping.

[Gamba_hn]

I been playing bass for quiet a long time this is probably one of the best videos Ive come across youtube, congrats.

[letsplayharmonica]

Amazing! That's the best slapping tutorial I've seen in YouTube. I'm a tuba player, but the first time I came up with your channel, I decided to learn bass guitar. You are the best! Congratulations and thanks very much to have change my life.

[Windingspirals]

Killer, killer, killer lesson. Every rif is gold. Really well chosen and sooo well explained. I'm playing many years but wanted to up my slap game and this lesson did it.

[codysingley]

Very well explained, with a little pausing, and slowly repeating, I stuck with you full the higher speeds, thank you.

[robinsonchannel]

Wow. I've been trying this stuff literally since 2008. I was always wondering where I was missing out. In ONE DAY I've learned what I was doing wrong and now have the tools to move forward and ACTUALLY BE ABLE to practice and pull off (ha! punny) slap bass. Thank you very much! Your instructional style is simply outstanding and your material is top notch. I'm very grateful. Thank you.

[farric]

I've been plugging away at slap bass foe years. .you made the point about the popping finger being in the right space which effectively makes it dominant over your thumb.
This one tip has made quite some difference to my playing...cleaner sound and easy timing.
Thankyou muchly.

[EthanBernardino]

you are the best teacher here on youtube :) two thumbs up for you ! :)

[aidansangster]

Been a percussion lad since middle school, but recent endeavours into producing has brought me here... damn i want a bass .

[tarias_sketchy_adventures]

Thanks so much - been learning these this morning and has improved my slap ability no end.  Especially loved the break down of Love Games by Level 42...very fun riff to play!

[legrandl.]

You are truly a great bass teacher.. Ive improved because you focus on the basics which is where most bass players make mistakes not concentrating on the basics technique. you may have spoke about this already, if not can you talk about the standard 4 string bass vs the 5 string bass for slap playing as it all started on 4 string bass. but you are certainly great instructor. thank you

[nocrezvitus]

Thank you so much for this video. I gave up trying to learn slap bass years ago and was told my bass and set up would never be any good for slap technique, so I kinda lost interest. Turns out it had nothing to do with my set up and everything to do with bad instruction and simple basic techniques that I'd been taught wrong.

[OkayJay]

Mark I will be getting my bass this weekend thanks for all the videos they remind me why the bass is awesome thanks for all the lessons