Kai Eckhardt technic ?

[Shiveringbass]

Hello,

Well I've discovered this fantastic player quite recently and browsing through his site and listening to the soundclip... I was quite pissed off.
http://www.kaizone.com/sounds.html




Well could someone explain or know what is happening in the first soundclip named "Bass solo".
I guess it's a mixture of slap and taping but I realy can't understandwhat the man is doing exactly and how he does it...

It would be great if someone could explain that technic.

Thanks to share

Sheers

Shiveringbass

[Mike Flynn]

Hi dude - Yeah I know what you mean about this as it's a great piece of solo bass, not just for the technique but it's very musical as well. As per the technique you enquire about I just listened and played a bit to work it out and basically it's a lot of thumb bouncing - not double thumbing - with hammer-ons - not tapping, and of course finger pops as well - the main difficulty is the speed at which he does the thumb bounces (he does them a lot and he's bloody brilliant at it) but it's also a lot of plucking on the same string - if you listen carefully you can really hear when he switches string and between thumb, pop and hammer. Basically it's beautifully executed and would require a ton of practice to cop it exactly - one thing I would suggest is getting hold of the 'Amazing Slow Downer' software - I don't have it but it slows things down without changing the pitch - if you slow it down you'll be able to hear what he's doing a lot clearer - also Kai is one of the best bassists out there and a master of his art - I'm sure it took him a lot of time and effort to develop this style too - plus you don't get asked to play with John McLaughlin for nothing...

Good luck

M

[Shiveringbass]

Thanks Mike... for sure Kai is realy a great player not only by his chops but also by his musicality.

What do you mean by "thumb bouncing" ?

Thanks for your help. I don't have, yet , the ambition to play that piece but if I could only catch a small bit of it, I would be tataly happy !


Sheers

[Mike Flynn]

"Thumb bouncing" = I mean like old-school / traditional slap bass where you pluck a note then bounce your thumb twice in quick succession - like Flea does - Mark King is the other guy who has this style completely under control - you might want to look up some Marcus Miller videos as well - do a search on slapping in this forum and you should get some good advice from the hundreds of threads on the subject.

M

[Shiveringbass]

OK Mike, I thought you were talking of something I didn't know but in fact it's basicaly two fast thumb strikes...
So it's even more impressive cause it means that Mr Eckhard has the fastest thumb I've ever heard !

Sorry... I guess that now I've just have to go back to practice...



Sheers