Slap Bass Lesson - Beginner/Intermediate - with Scott Devine (L#74)

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[reginaldperiwinkle]

He starts talking about slapping at 3:47. At 7:30 he starts showing the pattern. The other parts are worth listening to, but on repeated listening, you may want to just go straight to those parts.

[BenBranchaud]

I love how reluctant he is to teach slap. At the end he's like "PLEASE PLAY NOTES, you're not the drummer"

[KRayxKodessA]

As a guitarist new to the bass world, you've got to be one of the most concise and easy to follow instructors I've found.  Sub'd.

[Caine]

Thanks for the lesson Professor CHARLES XAVIER

[damodrummer]

Thank god for Scott!! For YEARS I've been struggling with door handles!! Gone are the days when the guitarist has to let me in and out doors!! Thanks man ;)

[McGuire]

Even though I'm a guitarist, I find Scott's lessons to be very helpful. He's really knowledgeable and laid back, and I find these insightful even as a guitarist. If I ever decide to pick up bass, I know who I'll be taking lessons from! You rock, buddy!

[aaronguzmanaj]

so I bought my bass guitar a few days ago and I thought it was a mistake, I thought it was a boring instrument. then I came across this video and you made the bass fun for me. I thank you for inspiring me.

[gregshumake]

I appreciate these lessons. Being primarily a keyboard player and an aspiring bass player, your tutorials are massively helpful, easy to follow, and you don't talk over my head. Job well done. Thanks!

[danielcrescendo]

You have now entered the

S L A P

V O I D

[TwiggyArmstrong]

9:50 slap exercise

10:45 exercise 2

14:54 exercise 3

[Silent_Stillness]

These lessons are fantastic and extremely helpful so a big thanks to you Scott! After experimenting a lot with the left hand slap technique, I believe I was finally able to pinpoint the "secret" for a good left hand slap sound and I believe the following may really be helpful for others struggling to get a good sound out of it:

Since the idea for that sound is to be fully dead/percussive (preferably no tonal content) and punchy it's essential for the player to be able to create a sound that has a)NO SUSTAIN b) no discernible note coming out of it and c) an audible good punch. Here is the precise way I've found to do just that:

1. Have your index finger ready to fret a note on the A string, a D on the 5th fret for example. and use this finger as an anchor point around which the rest of the slapping motion will be performed. The finger really has to be resting on the string, with extremely minimal pressure applied, meaning that the string shouldn't really move closer to the fretboard.

2. When you are performing the slapping motion with your other 3 fingers, do NOT attempt to straighten your fingers, they have to MAINTAIN a natural but toned, slightly bent position and the movement in the fingers has to originate strictly from the knuckle joints. The fingers have to respect the shape of the radius of the fingerboard/strings. There is also no need to "glue" your 3 fingers together, but all the fingers have to preferably remain relatively parallel to one another, however that may not always be possible.

3. Here is the most important part: When your 3 fingers hit the string, in order to prevent harmonics from ringing and sustain to take place, you have to pay special care to the E and A string. You have to make sure that a) your middle AND ring finger go over the E string so that b) your pinky can get over the A string without touching the E string. The result of this is that you will have 2 points of contact on each string: middle and ring on the E, index and pinky on the A.

4. If you want to get a good punch out of the left hand slap, your fingers need to be hitting the strings with a decent mix of power and velocity which you will need to practice until it feels right, BUT even if you get the punch right, the motion required to do so will have the side effect of creating a rebound motion on your fingers to a degree and this will need to be controlled to prevent the strings from ringing, ruining the clean cut desired effect of the slap sound. The way to achieve that is to practice and experiment by feel how much pressure(power) is needed once your fingers impact the string to prevent that rebound effect from taking place.

The quality of the result you will get will precisely depend on the care you take in bringing together all the details/guidelines mentioned above, and you will most likely realize if you concentrate on all these details how much it will limit your speed when you're beginning to learn how to do it. If you try to go too fast without it sounding right in the first place, your slapping will never be enjoyable to listen to because it will not be articulated cleanly.

I hope this helps! Cheers :)

Michael

[slapshack]

I tried to do this on a viola... It didn't work.

[TJKFool]

this is the best slap bass tutorial by Thank you sooo much!

[GiannisKokkinidis]

You are ABSOLUTELY A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! I couldn't even imagine that I'd be slapping my bass and actually make it sound good. Absolutely amazing teacher, thank you so

[chrishuard]

Scott, love your tutorials. I wish you were teaching this stuff on YouTube 20 years ago. Amazing talent! I am learning soooo much. Thank you!

[jonathanrosanowski]

Great lesson. Really like the way you broke down the riffs and built them up again adding more elements each time.

[lost_valley]

This must be the best slap bass lesson for beginners, I've learnt a lot, many thanks!

[chrislavey]

I'm a guitar player, but the idea of slap bass makes me want to become more affluent in bass. I just love the way it sounds. I've always wondered what the technique was. I found your lesson to be very helpful. Thank you.

[FriedrichHabetlerMusic]

Omg!! That was soo much fun! Thanks for the lesson!

[pzz]

So, James Mcavoy just taught me how to slap bass