Groove Approach #5 (Focus: Basic Slap Approach)

One of the more popular approaches used by electric bassists involves the slap technique. In the hands of a tasteful player, slapping can be an extremely effective way to give an arrangement some punch, attitude and syncopation. On the other end of the spectrum, it can also be an exceedingly intrusive and rather unmusical choice in the hands of a less experienced (or less musically-discerning) bassist.

Due to limited time and my desire to keep our focus on general groove considerations, my intent in this lesson is not to comprehensively cover the slap technique itself (there are numerous resources available for learning the basic technique, including Volumes 2 & 4 of my Grooving for Heaveninstructional DVD’s). Rather, I’d like to briefly explore how the slap technique can be employed over our earlier drum groove, to substantially different effect when compared to some of our previous fingerstyle approaches.

Audio Example 1

The nature of the slap-and-pop motion lends itself to as much (or as little) syncopation as the player chooses. As a matter of fact, the paradox is that it’s actually easier to play an “in-your-face” busy slap groove than it is to employ it in a more subtle manner.

Here’s an example of a subtle slap approach over a different drum groove.

Audio Example 2

 

Notice how the low notes were played fingerstyle, with occasional pops to give it a bit of a slap-esque syncopation. This approach can be really effective for ballads or any setting where overt slapping might be a bit too much. Make sure to control the dynamic range of those pops, though; it’s really easy to make them WAY too loud in comparison to the lower fingerstyle notes.

EXERCISE 1

Over our earlier drum groove...

Audio Exercise 1 Drums

 

...play a slap groove with slaps only (no pops), and exclusively playing the kick drum pattern.

EXERCISE 2

Repeat Exercise 1, but now add pops on beats 2 and 4 only. As before, focus on rhythmic accuracy and ensuring that every attack is tight with the drums.

Spend some time with Exercises 1 and 2 to make sure that you’re comfortable with the fundamentals and that your time is solid.

You might have noticed that the feel of the groove has a certain stiffness when the pop is occurring on beats 2 and 4. Why do you think that is?

You’ll quickly discern that the snare drum is also hitting those same beats. When the pop and snare are hitting redundant, it can be a cool thing if done only intermittently...but it is usually much more effective to try to find alternate placements of the pops, and let the snare handle the backbeats.

Here are a few examples.

Audio Example 3

 

EXERCISE 3

Repeat Exercise 1, but sprinkle occasional pops into the groove (get creative with the rhythmic placement of the pops, laying off of beats 2 and 4 as much as possible) similar to Example 3. If you need help, play along with Example 3 first and assimilate a couple of the variations before working on this exercise.