Playing Melodically

[BassplayerBrian]

Hey guys, I've been playing funk for awhile now, and I can do the whole slap dealio pretty well(mistake every once in awhile but other than that I think i got it) and I can play the grooves, and I can play other peoples melodies... But I can't for the life of me play a slapping line that is melodic or create a funky melody(like a marcus miller type style i guess is what i'm going for... or like bootsy on his phenomenal ballads)

Any tips or exercises y'all can think of would be much appreciated

Thanks guys!

[martyman5000]

But I can't for the life of me play a slapping line that is melodic or create a funky melody(like a marcus miller type style i guess is what i'm going for... or like bootsy on his phenomenal ballads)

Any tips or exercises y'all can think of would be mu

I never slap...maybe thats why I'm melodic.

[Marcury]

Slap is more a rhythmic percussive technique. Try finger style for melodic playing.

[JTE]

You want to play more melodically? Then play melodies! There ain't no secrets nor short-cuts. Learn great melodies, like Beatles stuff, American show tunes (there's a good reason a lot of jazz standards are from Broadway musicals), Burt Bachrach stuff, classical airs, etc.

How you articulate them is less important at first than getting the melody under your fretting hand. Can you play "Summertime", "My Funny Valentine", "Here, There, And Everywhere", "OdeTo Joy", "Minuet in G", etc. on bass? If you got that down, then start playing those same melodies with slap. But before you can make up your own great melodies, you gotta know what great melodies sound like and how to get them out of your bass. So start with learning some.

jte

[Alan Vorse]

Originally Posted by BassplayerBrian

Hey guys, I've been playing funk for awhile now, and I can do the whole slap dealio pretty well(mistake every once in awhile but other than that I think i got it) and I can play the grooves, and I can play other peoples melodies... But I can't for the life of me play a slapping line that is melodic or create a funky melody(like a marcus miller type style i guess is what i'm going for... or like bootsy on his phenomenal ballads)

Any tips or exercises y'all can think of would be much appreciated

Thanks guys!

You can't go wrong with chord tones.

[Bearded Bugs]

Learn some Bach, melodic and amazing

[matthewbrown]

Marcus claimed once that he learned to play Jaco lines from Heavy Weather just using his thumb.

I also like the Bach idea; you can arpeggiate a melody, as Bach does on his solo pieces, and that works well slapped and popped.

[Bassic83]

Get a book of trombone solos. Seriously. It's what Jeff Berlin teaches from, and what I taught from when I gave lessons.

[hunta]

Originally Posted by Bassic83

Get a book of trombone solos. Seriously. It's what Jeff Berlin teaches from, and what I taught from when I gave lessons.

+1 to trombone music. Check out Melodious Etudes for Trombone. Looks simple but it's "melodious."

[HaVIC5]

Sing everything you play, that way, you'll start to develop a lyrical, melodic sense of bass-playing. Can't sing a crazy slap bass line? That's a pretty good indicator that its not melodic.

[BassplayerBrian]

hmm thanks for all the help guys I really appreciate it!
I love to slap but I just couldn't figure out how to slap and be melodic, but this'll give me something to work from now, thanks again guys!

[John Wentzien]

Learn the melody for every song you play as well as the bass part.
+1 for singing along while playing too!

[MarkTAW]

A lot of good advice in this thread.

One simple way to play melodically - limit what you're playing to notes that go together naturally. As someone mentioned, chord tones work great. Pentatonic scales are also a good option here.

So here's two exercises for you:

1) Play only the notes in the A Minor / C Major pentatonic scale.

This gives you exactly 5 notes in all octaves. That should restrict your playing quite a bit.

2) Play only the chord tones in G major -> C major -> D major -> back to G major. Play each chord for 1 measure (4 beats/clicks on the metronome).

Even more restraint as you play only 3 notes per measure. To get creative here you'll pretty much have to start playing notes in positions you might not normally consider - inversions, jumping octaves, etc.

[mutedeity]

Firstly - Everything is melodic. Static motion is melodic. Percussion is melodic. Melody is not dependent on chormatic tempering. Melody is simply succession of notes.

Secondly - Slap as a technique can have whatever melodic application the user is capable of technically and creatively.

One way to develop things that are more dynamic in a melodic sense with slap is to write some small etudes based on fingerstyle playing and then try playing them with your thumb. You could develop these by humming them and writing them out. You might use arpeggio, or scale based etudes, or even chord progressions, for example. I would recommend starting with the thumb alone at first. As you go along you might, over time, look for places to put accents and syncopations using popping or double thumb slapping, for example.

Try thinking outside of the pentatonic box shape with slap. I think that is one of the big downfalls of most slapping on bass.