Slap Exercise #2 - Subdividing Time

[RocketMusic]

This one's for you, Ray! This is Slap 101 here. We're going to focus on the right hand (for us right handed players, anyway) and our control of rhythm.

So is everyone hip to subdiving time? 16th notes are as fast as we need to go for now, and a single 4/4 measure has 16 sixteenth notes that fall like this:

1e&u2e&u3e&u4e&u

(say this as ONE EE AND UH TWO EE AND UH, etc.)

If you say this along with a straight drum beat, the 1 and 3 are with the kick drum and the 2 and 4 are with the snare drum. All of those are called downbeats. The e's, &'s, and u's are spaced evenly between those down beats. The &'s are halfway in between, and they are called upbeats.

If I ask you to play quarter notes, I mean play 1 2 3 4.

If I ask you to play 8th notes, I mean play 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.

If I ask you to play 16th notes, I mean play 1e&u2e&u3e&u4e&u.

Triplets are a little funky. You're putting 3 notes over 4 16th notes. Think in terms of 3 syllables per downbeat: "Trip-ul-let Trip-uh-let, etc." So when I say play triplets, I mean play 1-uh-let 2-uh-let 3-uh-let 4-uh-let.

Make sense? Don't worry if it doesn't yet, the sound clips below will help clarify.

For this exercise, I always alternate between slapping the E string (muted except on the 1's and 3's) and plucking the G string (always muted). The thumbed and muted E string I'll call "T", the thumbed and open E string I'll call "O", and the plucked and muted G string I'll call "P".

Quarter notes look like this:
OPOP
1234

Eighth notes look like this:
OPTPOPTP
1&2&3&4&

Sixteenth notes look like this:
OPTPTPTPOPTPTPTP
1e&u2e&u3e&u4e&u

Triplets get funky because your down beats will alternate between a thumb and pop (did you notice that the downbeats are all thumbs in the patterns above?). With triplets, you'll open thumb the 1 and 3, but you'll pop the 2 and 4.

OPTPTPOPTPTP
1ul2ul3ul4ul

This exercise will force you to consciously and intentionally switch gears between quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets and sixteenth notes. We're going to play a pre-ordained/scheduled rhythmic pattern so that you are forced to control your rhythm. Feel free to come up with your own order for the rhythms, but whatever you do make sure you're practicing something intentional rather than random. You want to have something to go for rather than just flailing about.

So after all those words (sorry 'bout that!!), here's what I want you to try doing. Play the following pattern:

QQEEQQTTQQSSQQ

where:
Q= 1 measure of Quarter notes
E= 1 measure of Eighth notes
T= 1 measure of Triplets
S= 1 measure of Sixteenth notes

Here's me doing it at 3 different tempos:
SlapEx100
SlapEx110
SlapEx120

So bust out a metronome and start at a comfortable tempo for you. Once you own it, increase the tempo and start building up some more speed!

Once you can go in and out of the various rhythms consciously, then the real fun will begin when you can switch off your brain and let the rhythms just come out as you feel them.

I'll do a part B to this exercise that will take a simple bass line and add varying levels of energy to it by using the right hand like a metronome. But you need to master this first!

[Darkstrike]

My head just asploded....

[RocketMusic]

Ah, man, you can do it! It's a simple concept, I just included a lot of background info in case any of you guys are not familiar with subdividing time. That's really essential information! It's basic info that every bass player should know and understand, regardless of the technique context.

Maybe start with the clips? Just listen a few times and hear what I'm doing and try to recreate that yourself at a slow tempo. Heck, play along with me. Then go back and re-read the post with an analytical eye...

[Darkstrike]

I'm getting into the swing of the 16ths pattern slowly, I'm still not really used to muting, espcially when slapping.

The 8ths seem harder.

[RocketMusic]

Which one seems the hardest changes from day to day for me. But it's usually the triplets that hang me up.

If I just did this exercise more often, they'd ALL be easy...

[Darkstrike]

Oh, I haven't even touched the triplets yet, I've never been good with them.

[RocketMusic]

By the way - this exercise is a real finger tip eater!! Watch out for blisters, and remember that there's always tomorrow to practice some more

[Darkstrike]

You got that right, espcially if you're not already slap experienced, I bet, I've put it down now, for a while, be back at it later.

[LilRay]

Originally Posted by RocketMusic

This one's for you, Ray! This is Slap 101 here.

Greg, I haven't been on TB much the last couple days so I just saw this. I gotta say thanks man!

Slap 101 is my speed . It may take me a while longer than most to get a decent technique down but I'm on it.

I'll do a part B to this exercise that will take a simple bass line and add varying levels of energy to it by using the right hand like a metronome. But you need to master this first!

Right hand technique has been a hurdle for me since I started playing. BUT When I get sumthin' in mah brain I want done, I find my own "groove" and get thangs goin'. Sometimes it's just a matter of studying hand position and other times it turns out "droning repetition".

Case and point; For the first 10 years I played, I never used anything but my thumb. That made me "purty good"(for me) with just a thumb. But as I got better and started stretching for things out of my range I found it neccessary to use another digit. After a while of forcing myself, I can also use my index finger. And now I can navigate the bass easier overall

I'll do the best I can and keep ya hip to my progress

Thanks again man.

BTW You may well have created the mold for a monster.



God Bless, Ray

[RocketMusic]

Cool, Ray, I hope you can pull it off!

Keep in mind that the basic concept (subdividing time) really applies regardless of technique. I've presented it in a slap context just because the alternating octave play makes it easy (for most of us) to go fast, AND it kills two birds with one stone (you can practice slapping while developing control over rhythm).

[RocketMusic]

Hey - another cool thing to do would be to double thumb it! Everywhere you see a pop ("P"), replace that with an up thumb stroke. Pick any string (say the open E string) and play both the down and up thumb strokes on the same string.

[LilRay]

Greg, When you go into sixteenths are you using three fingers ala VW or two?

There's A challenge right there, getting the ol' "Broken Texas Longhorn" involved.

The slap part of it is something new (for me) and I dig killin' two birds with one stone ('specially if after killin' em if you can bread 'em and deep fry 'em with 11 herbs and spices)

God Bless, Ray

[RocketMusic]

It's all the same up and down motion, just different speeds. I'm always alternating between the thumb on the down stroke and a pop on the upstroke. I use my index finger to pop, but whatever works for you works for me!

I probably pivot my wrist for the slower ones, but my wrist is locked and my forearm and upper arm do all the work on the triplets and 16th notes. My thumb becomes a hammer and I just hook the G string on the way back up.

Using two or three fingers to "double pluck" or "triple pluck" is cool and really fun to do, but that's for another day...