Crazy slap/gallop thing?

[omnimutant]

Our Band has decide for Kicks that we're going to cover a Famous Rod Stewart Song,"If ya think I'm sexy". Naturally the hardest part of the song is the Bass line. It seems on the surface like a simple Slap Pop disco bass line but the Technique involved to achieve this sound is beyond me at this point. Maybe I'm over thinking it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

It seems to be similar to slap bass where your playing all octaves on the higher stings but the high notes are played with a "double tap" galloping thing while the low notes are just Plucked. It's freaking me out and I can't get my head around it for some reason.

Here is a link to the song for the 4 people on the planet that never heard the song before. :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NjbPNGr8OA

Muchos Gracias

[JPaulGeddy]

This guy is doing it how I'd approach it. Thumbing (not slapping) the low notes. Get a couple of quick shots of him around :40 and 1:30, few others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcgCicpX_M8

[omnimutant]

Thanks that helps a bit. He's definitely thumbing but I think he's muting the low sting at the same time he gallops the high notes and I can't quite grasp it... maybe I need to sleep on it?

[JimK]

Originally Posted by omnimutant

It seems to be similar to slap bass where your playing all octaves on the higher stings but the high notes are played with a "double tap" galloping thing while the low notes are just Plucked. It's freaking me out and I can't get my head around it for some reason.

Maybe visualizing the actual rhythm would help-
The "gallop" rhythm is usually a beat with an 1/8th note + 2 1/16th notes...
1 Beat = 1_&a

A bar would be-
l1_&a2_&a3_&a4_&al

The Downbeats (in BOLD) are played on the lower string...the 1/16th notes are played on the octave (higher string).

IIRC, "Do You Think I'm Sexy" is played fingerstyle...for starters, I might try anchoring the thumb on the "E" string & slooowwwly play the low note on the "A" while adding the 2 octave notes on the "G". You will need to move arm/hand a little to achieve this.

As far as RH plucking-
>Index finger plays the Low Note
>Index finger plays the 1st Octave Note followed by the Middle finger playing the 2nd Octave Note
Or-
>Middle plays the 1st Octave Note followed by the Index playing the 2nd Octave Note...the Index will then need to play the Low Note so pay attention.

Do enough of this at a slow tempo (& in time/rhythm, hopefully)...muscle memory will eventually occur.

That said, you can certainly go for the Thumb plucking the Low Note with the Index & Middle plucking the octave. I have tried that...I played my share of Disco back in the daay, so I'm more comfortable with the 'traditional technique'.

[DWBass]

I don't recall that song being 'slapped'. It's the standard disco octave style where he's doubling up on the high notes. 'dum..diddy..dum..diddy..dum..diddy..dum', etc.

+1 to JimK's breakdown above.

[matthew.murray]

When I play these lines I use index finger for the lower octave and ring-middle for the higher notes: i-r-m. It plays more naturally than i-m-r. Second nature now. All of the muting is in the left hand.

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

You can see the way I play it here. Hope this helps.

[omnimutant]

Thanks JimK and Matthew. Both great ideas and makes a lot of sense for me now. Thanks for the Vid Alvaro!