Gang-
Thought I would start this one, to see if we can share some fundamentals we've learned that might help others, gear tricks and tips, all that sort of thing. Kind of a catch all category I guess.

Here's a cool little one I found at www.normstockton.com that I thought was neat-
When you go to the website, the first pic of him playing, check out the little "device" right at the nut of his bass's neck. Yep, friends and neighbors, that's a hair scrunchy (sp?), basically a rubber band with a fabric cover- teen age girls have tons of them. Norm says he uses it to help keep the "buzz" down between strings, the sympathetic vibrations the A (unmuted)might make when you play the D or G string for example. He says he stole the idea from Vic Wooten.....probably makes more difference when you're flying along the fret board at high speed, but I haven't tried it yet.
Makes me wonder if it would affect the sustain.

Hey, it's cheap gear, it's effective, and when you're done playing, you can use it to hold your ponytail!!

OK, that's a start- who's next?

Tony Y

More expensive, but I think a must have:

http://www.tascam.com/product_list.php?cPath=63&nav=guitar_bass_trainers

I know there are tons of these out there, but does anyone have a CD full of slap bass riffs that they like? I've been working my way through a book/cd of exercises (jeez, the name slips my mind), but I'm looking for more of a library of riffs I can learn.

WOW, that's a cool device- I don't even want to know how much, since I'm an amateur bassist ( or maybe volunteer is a better way to say it, playing 3 to 4 sundays a month in church)
I know I can't afford it, but it sounds really neat. Would have to help when trying to nail a particular line in a song that you know everyone can tell when you DONT get it dead on....
I've always wanted a lexicon I think it's called, a phrase sampler with looping, so that I could buold a song on four or five bass parts from all ranges of the neck. I saw Phil Keaggy using one, it was really amazing, sounded like six guitars on stage at once.

As for slap, I had ordered this CD http://www.slapit.com/ a couple years ago
and it was OK, well written, but somewhat dated sounding now. And it isn't so much slap as it is slap/mute/mute/pop/pop/mute and such. Very funk oriented. I was looking for more pictures of hand positions, technique and such, and how to switch rapidly between styles. It's more geared to a good reader too, (i'm not one) all the lines are fully notated.

One good thing about it, he builds all kinds of funk bass lines, and has a drummer along with him on the CD, so some of the lines get waaaay out of my league but are great fun to hear.
Tell you what, private message me your email addy and I'll convert some of it to mp3 so you can listen to them and see if it's worth it. Let me know how much data your email is limited too also, so I don't cause you download problems.

I also recently (christmas) got a video of Vic Wooten, supposedly instructional, but mostly firing off jaw droppers. Don't waste the money on it. I got more use out of an old Steve Bailey Book...some of those excersizes are brutal, but you know, no pain no gain.....

Tony,

The bass trainer is a buck fifty at musicians friend. I've only had mine a couple months. I used a Korg Pandora's Box before that - similar idea but it doesn't have a built in CD player or some of the cooler features of the Tascam. Totally invaluable in my opinion.

I've checked out the samples on the SlapIt web site in the past. The couple grooves there sounds compelling, I've just always wondered how much there is. Going to PM now.

Thanks.

150? That's not bad at all. I may have to look into it, there's times we will get a CD along with music, when we're learning a new song or something, and the music is very basic, doesn't transcribe the bass part that well. In those cases, I try to get close by ear, make some notes (I will forget in a couple days, side effect of aging... ) and that's about the best I can do. I would love to nail a couple of them, that I have figured out 90% or so of and just can't quite get the intricacies of it.
Very cool piece of gear!
I'll dig up that CD so when I get your PM, I'll be ready- I may take a while, it's in my office somewhere, haven't played it in a while.
Later
Tony

Study music theory in order to learn how to construct chords and scales. Learn how to play all 12 Major chord plus chord inversions. The other chords are just variations. Play scales and the chords associated with song keys (tonal centers) and different chord progressions. Learn how to read music!

I know a lot of people will say stuff like "I don't have to know all that stuff. I'm just keeping it real." Knowledge of music theory will help in transcribing and playing music.

here's something i use improvising- applies to multiple instruments: find like two bars of chords, etc, listen to chord tones that fit, then construct (or relate) a scale that fits over both of them. like Fm9=>C#9, in Fm- chord tones that work- F,G,G#,Bb,C,C#,D#,F. in C#-C#,Eb,F,Gb,G#,Bb,B(natural),C#. mix them both, and get a scale with F,G,G#,Bb,C#,D#,F. take scale tones out (G,Gb), re-arrange the order, and you've got a Bb minor pentatonic scale. on top of that, you could easily play a blues scale over the top, and invert some tones. dont forget about those wonderful half-diminshed whole tone scales over two chords (easily applies here), also sidestepping (Fm9=>C#9 = F#maj.7). so many options. want more ideas? email me @ pearldrummer27@bellsouth.net!!!

I don't know, I think I've learned a lot by just listening to others play such as Jaco Pastorius, reading their charts, trying to play along...Also taking theory lessons and studying classical music helped a lot too...

And to add a little more, I really don't like pop/slap. To me, a great sound is smooth that is lots of bass, low or negative treble. I also really like the shape. To me slapping and popping can detract from the sound. BUt tha'ts just an opinion. Focus on playing and understanding theory before you pop.

sorry so long in getting back to this, it fell off my radar I guess......
BD, I agree- but there's times slap and pop help couterpoint the drummer, and it adds some percussive effect to the bass to help it stand out at times....BUT....I use it very rarely, mainly because it's tough to do with the string spacing on my bass. Instead, I'll use a hammering technique with my right pointer and middle fingers, or my 3rd finger for octave work. Has a nice effect, and not nearly as hard for me to control the delta in volume levels between finger picking and slapping.
I really like Kim Stone's way of normal playing, which is usually finger picking and slapping only here and there for effect or soloing. He does slap alot, but it's mixed in with so much other stuff (palm muting etc) that it works great.

Stumbled across this website, there's some cool stuff for advanced or beginners here.....

http://www.bassically.net/home.cfm

Check it out when you get a chance, a well done site devoted to the low end.
LAter
Bassix