Tapping on Bass?

[MarcTheRogue]

Hey guys, I had a few inquiries about tapping on bass. I only really have a basic knowledge on tapping, such as tapping out chromatics, chords, arpeggios, and a few licks here and there. However, I want to step my bass tapping up a notch.

Basically I am aiming for utilizing two hand tapping to create a broad range of musicality. By using my left hand to focus on the lower end and rhythm, and my right hand to focus on the higher end and lead. I want to use this technique in order to create a more full sound for a band as a whole, and to simulate the basic role a piano player would assume. I also highly believe that by training my muscles and brain to play two separate parts on the bass guitar, I could add a whole new textural layer to music that I will write in the future.

My questions really are simple; are there any specific exercises to train myself into being a two handed tapping bass player, and are there any exercise booklets on this?

Also, what about tapping bass parts whilst jamming with a band? How can I be varied, but also stay in key? This question comes from listening to a lot of Protest the Hero, and it always has made me curious.

Any answers are well-appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[grendle]

Check into some early michael manring. He's pretty much the man when it comes to tapping /chord forming. Hard to play his more recent stuff unless you have a hyper bass though. Stu Hamm has some vids and is also a good study. For mixing different styles into rock/metal, check out mudvayne, Ryan does it all and really makes it all work.

 

[Exadon]

You eventually hit that wall where there's no more youtube videos or pages easily found on google. You gotta learn to interpret what your idols are doing. Obviously there's no way to get it down exactly like they do without them personally telling you where to put your fingers, but that's a good thing. It's where individuality comes from.

As for tapping though, start off by forming a chord with your left hand, and tapping out simple arpeggios, scales, and chords with your right hand. Then move on to changing the chords on your left hand while still tapping with your right hand. Then to moving the right hand while keeping the chord placed with your left hand, and finally on to moving both on the same time.

It's not super easy and will probably take a hell of a lot of practice, but it's definitely something that will distinguish your playing.

 

[JimmyM]

Start with easy stuff. Take a song like "Mary Had A Little Lamb" (don't laugh, dammit!) and tap out a simple bass line for it with the left, and tap out the melody with the right. Then once you nail it, you're ready for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

The more you do it, the easier it gets. But you can't start with "Charlie Brown" or "Mario Bros" or something equally complex. Start with the easy stuff. Do it slowly at first, and even play out of time till you get it down. Once you get past the basic stage, then start playing stuff that's progressively harder. And don't just cop stuff you see on Youtube. That's all well and good to get started, but find songs you like and make up your own arrangements.

 

[thewildest]

Hey guys, I had a few inquiries about tapping on bass. I only really have a basic knowledge on tapping, such as tapping out chromatics, chords, arpeggios, and a few licks here and there. However, I want to step my bass tapping up a notch.

Basically I am aiming for utilizing two hand tapping to create a broad range of musicality. By using my left hand to focus on the lower end and rhythm, and my right hand to focus on the higher end and lead. I want to use this technique in order to create a more full sound for a band as a whole, and to simulate the basic role a piano player would assume. I also highly believe that by training my muscles and brain to play two separate parts on the bass guitar, I could add a whole new textural layer to music that I will write in the future.

My questions really are simple; are there any specific exercises to train myself into being a two handed tapping bass player, and are there any exercise booklets on this?

Also, what about tapping bass parts whilst jamming with a band? How can I be varied, but also stay in key? This question comes from listening to a lot of Protest the Hero, and it always has made me curious.

Any answers are well-appreciated.

Cheers!

Hi there, in my case I wouldn't know how to play without tapping on my instrument, and where I do I mostly do it on my Warr Guitar, which was designed (string spacing, pickups, muting pads and action for this). I do a fair amount of tapping in the bass too, but mostly to add "color" to a chord, or a repetitive/looping pattern, but not the way you describe, where your fretting hand would do the "bass" side of things and your plucking hand the "melody".

My first humble advice about this, is to knowledge the fact that the strings, distance between strings, size of the instrument (again, if you are using a standard/stock instrument) make it very had to generate a good sound when tapping.

For this I would suggest that you work on your fretting hand to constantly maintain your strings as closer to the fretboard as possible, lowering the action so your plucking hand has an easier job trying to obtain a good sound. I use my index finger to mute/lower the action and have very good results.

Second will be to learn how to play all scales and pentantonics with your plucking hand, tapping them on the higher registers (fret 12 and above)... you can achieve the same speed as you would playing normally if you put your heart at it.

I hope some of these help.

 

[tmntfan]

If you are thinking about trying to play like a piano player why don't you try playing some piano stuff on bass? Get some sheet music and tap out the two parts, modifying as you need to with chords and such.

 

[EXILE03]

Hey guys, I had a few inquiries about tapping on bass. I only really have a basic knowledge on tapping, such as tapping out chromatics, chords, arpeggios, and a few licks here and there. However, I want to step my bass tapping up a notch.

Basically I am aiming for utilizing two hand tapping to create a broad range of musicality. By using my left hand to focus on the lower end and rhythm, and my right hand to focus on the higher end and lead. I want to use this technique in order to create a more full sound for a band as a whole, and to simulate the basic role a piano player would assume. I also highly believe that by training my muscles and brain to play two separate parts on the bass guitar, I could add a whole new textural layer to music that I will write in the future.

My questions really are simple; are there any specific exercises to train myself into being a two handed tapping bass player, and are there any exercise booklets on this?

Also, what about tapping bass parts whilst jamming with a band? How can I be varied, but also stay in key? This question comes from listening to a lot of Protest the Hero, and it always has made me curious.

Any answers are well-appreciated.

Cheers!

I don't know much about this subject, admittedly, but I recommend you check out "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" by Primus if you want to hear a... unique take on the style of playing you're talking about. Plus, I think learning and practicing that bassline would help in the long run, for the sake of knowing a lick like the kind you described.