How to improvise funky slap lines?

[elpelotero]

Is there any formula or ANY advice someone can give on how to improvise on slap bass? Right now all I'm doing is just pretty much hitting octaves around the chord root notes.

How do I move from just hitting octaves at a fast tempo to making a funky line?

Has anyone ever been stuck in my situation and moved on? How'd you do it?

[fountain boy]

Paradidles.

Take Anthony Wellington's Slap Bass 2 class at the Music Dojo.

I just finished it friday and i've gotten only as far as lesson 6 out of the 20 exercises & techniques Anthony gives.

[JimmyM]

www.slapit.com

[elpelotero]

those are great examples, but I'm in my last semester of college right now and can't even afford utilities....Anything that's free? Even if it's your own personal accounts and experiences.

[JimmyM]

It's pretty much a case of working at it over the course of time, nothing that can be explained in a paragraph. Got any specific questions?

[basssalad]

There is no fast way. Listen to the bass players you like and copy their lines exactly! Larry Graham, Louis Johnson, Marcus Miller, Mark King Etc.
Funk and Blues share the same harmony.
Learn lines from blues lines from guitar players/horns etc.
Know what chords these lines are played over. Learn the sound of these chords by playing them on keyboard (preferred) and bass.

Most of these terms you can easily lookup. This is a start

chords
triads - 3 note chord
Major, Minor, diminished, and Augmented
seventh chords - 4 note chord
Major 7th, Dominant 7th, Minor 7th, Half Diminished

learn all the inversions of these chords. 3/triad
4/7th chords
Scales
Pentatonic Minor and blues scale
Major Scale and it's modes
Practice and listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
peace

[elpelotero]

i guess not much can be done aside from learning other people's tricks?

[JimmyM]

That helps to listen to others and do what they do, as well has having a good theory background and an ear for music.

[phat daddy]

Percussive rhytmic patterns evolving around the 1,m3,4,5,7,&8va of a particular chord works well for me. It allows you to keep your left hand somewhat in the octave "box"of the fingerboard with slight variations at the m3 and 7, but all the rest are in the "box"-- 2 frets vertically and 2 strings horizontally. This keeps your fingering simple so you can concentrate on right hand slaps and plucks while doing some hammering in between with the left hand fingers on desired notes. What you get is a drumming motion with 6 notes achievable within the "box." Work up patterns in eight notes at a slow tempo until you find a pattern you find desirable, then work it up into sixteenths and so on. You can thus find your own "signature" licks this way-- the pattern possibilities are endless and keep in mind you can move this shape all over the fingerboard. Just my two cents worth.

[fountain boy]

Originally Posted by phat daddy

Percussive rhytmic patterns evolving around the 1,m3,4,5,7,&8va of a particular chord works well for me. It allows you to keep your left hand somewhat in the octave "box"of the fingerboard with slight variations at the m3 and 7, but all the rest are in the "box"-- 2 frets vertically and 2 strings horizontally. This keeps your fingering simple so you can concentrate on right hand slaps and plucks while doing some hammering in between with the left hand fingers on desired notes. What you get is a drumming motion with 6 notes achievable within the "box." Work up patterns in eight notes at a slow tempo until you find a pattern you find desirable, then work it up into sixteenths and so on. You can thus find your own "signature" licks this way-- the pattern possibilities are endless and keep in mind you can move this shape all over the fingerboard. Just my two cents worth.

^ paradiddles

[trtrzenified]

when you pop, hammering always make it sound impressive

[JimK]

Originally Posted by elpelotero

Is there any formula...

Formula = bad.

Here's a suggestion to try-
If you are able to keep the plucking hand in a constant Thumb-Pop-Thumb-Pop, etc motion...rhythmically, you can think of it as
1/4 Notes
l1-2-3-4-l = lT-P-T-P-l

1/8th Notes
l1& 2& 3& 4&l = lTP TP TP TPl

1/16th Notes
l1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&al =lTPTP TPTP TPTP TPTPl

Now, using the FRETTING Hand...you mute some notes while fretting the ones you choose.
A perfect example of this is Flea's Thumbed/Popped line on "Aeroplane". Basically, he's keeping his Right Hand in a constant Thumb-Pop motion while using his Left Hand to play some notes while muting other notes.

Something to consider is displacement.
Example: Starting on Beat "1"
l1---2--a3e&-4---l
lE---E--EdeE-E---l

Displaced (starting the above figure on the "& of 1")-
l--&---&--e&a4-&-l--&---&--e&a4-&-l-- etc

This forces the figure across the barline.

You can also think about slapping/popping in groups of 3 or 5 vs. groups of 4.

[elpelotero]

great tips guys! i really appreciate them and I will definitely try them out in the next couple of days!

keep em' coming if you got em'!!

[Outlaw_son]

I agree good advice indeed

[ubado]

IMO... the easiest way to break away from the slap/octave trap is to play lines that you can improvise in fingerstyle. Just use your thumb instead.

Let the groove tell you what to keep and what to delete... the GROOVE KNOWS... and will take you to where it wants to be... all you gotta do is keep up.

(The best part is... you don't have to be a Marcus Miller/Mark King to pull off what you already know. Trying to copy them might be frustrating until you get your slap chops honed a bit more).

[Linkert]

MarloweDK on youtube.
Look on all the videos this danish dude has made.

If there where something like a formula it would be: 2dl of Groove, 3½dl of Soul and a touch of music theory.