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Teaching Myself To Slap and Pop

Hey Everyone,
I'm new to the boards here so I applogize ahead of time if I'm not following the formalities.

I have been playing bass for going on 9 years, and have a pretty good understanding of how the instrument works. I've played in a couple of bands, mostly playing Chili Pepper kind of stuff, and another one where we play a little bit of everything, from Otis Redding, to Jason Mraz.

I've kind of gotten bored with the same old stuff in regards to my bass playing and want to start trying to teach myself to slap and pop. I've always wanted to learn, but found it very difficult and never really had the time to sit down and practice as much as I would like. Now that I'm on my summer vacation, I've got about 4 months to work on it.

I'm just looking for some simple begginer exercises for learning the technique. I've taught myself the Seinfeld Theme and can play that pretty easily, but I don't really have anything else to work with. Are there any good Funk basslines that would be good practice for someone trying to learn the technique. I would like to start playing Funk (as well as some of the more difficult Chili Peppers stuff). I kind of view Funk and the "slapping and popping" genre and thought it would be a good medium to use to try to get a little better. I'm using Flea and Victor Wooten as kind of my role models, or the kind of bass player I'd like to be someday, but I've got a lot of work to do before I can even become a fraction of the bass players those two men are.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Just a little tip for you (you might know this already!)...

When playing slap style bass, the key for the fluidity of the right hand (assuming your right handed) is the motion of the arm. The forearm (radius and ulnar) should actually rotate... like the motion you get from twisting the handle of a door.

As i said earlier you might know this already but you'll be surprised how many students i see trying to slap by moving the whole forearm up and down.

Good luck on your journey,

Scott.

Free Online Bass Lessons - Scott's Bass Lessons
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