Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Slap Bass Lesson - 'The Secret Triplet Technique' (L#84)

How're you doing? Scotty from Scott's Bass Lessons again. I hope you're

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So this week, we're going to be talking about something I've had loads and

loads of emails about over the last couple of weeks. I released a slap bass

lesson a few weeks ago and there's a little triplet thing I did in there;

didn't really explain it because I didn't think anything of it. And I've

had a load of emails, so what I want to do is just show you a riff today

that's going to utilise that specific technique. Now the triplet technique

that I'm talking about is basically this Now within a bass line, it

basically gives this kind of sound.

The thing is with slap bass, it's almost the ghost notes and the dead notes

that make it funky, that give it the kind of depth. If I was just playing

the notes, it really wouldn't have that dekkococodekkococo [sounds like

2:00], that percussive type of vibe to it. So it's all the dead notes that

make the difference with slap bass. Now there are a few things to take into

consideration when you're playing slap bass. The first thing is your right

arm, make sure you're rotating it, not doing this. It's not this motion.

It's a rotation of the arm. just like grabbing a door knob and twisting it

like that and opening it. Just do it like that; just like that. Ooh,

there's a funny clack in there. I hope that's nothing serious. Yeah, so

just grabbing the door knob and turning it like that. That's the action

that you want to use when you're playing on the bass. Some people do this,

and have their thumb down here. This feels really uncomfortable for me, but

it might work for you. So again, it's that rotation. Now the other hand to

take into consideration, is the left hand. There's a lot of slaps that come

off this hand as well. It's not just playing the notes. It's hammering on,

it's playing all percussive-type stuff like that. Obviously not just that

but that within a riff.

There are several different ways to create this triplet that I'm talking

about and it's something I use all the time. I kind of use it without even

thinking about it now and I'm using the index finger and the middle finger

of my right hand. So normally I play just with thumb and index like this.

But to get the triplet sound I'm using the index and the middle. See the

rotation of the arm thumb, index, middle, thumb, index, middle There are

other ways of getting these triplets but just today I'm going to

concentrate on this. We're going to do different ways of getting these

triplets in future tutorials.

So this one again, just really slowly. Thumb, index, middle, Thumb, index,

middle. One triplet. One triplet. One triplet. Normally you can do this as

well within a scale situation if you just wanted to practice it over and

over again. You could take something like a B-flat major scale, for

instance, which is B-flat, C, D, E-flat, F, G, A, B-flat, okay? You could

do a triplet on each note. So we've got -

That's just to get that movement because it's the movement, it's almost, it's

a muscle memory thing. You've got to do it over and over and get just the

right touch so your fingers are going to come away and not get stuck too much

underneath the strings. Again, just this B-flat major scale. It's

like a horse galloping, isn't it?

So now let's put that into a riff. So this riff is in E and it starts off

with just the open E-string. In fact I'll play it for you first so you can

kind of take it in and then we'll dissect it and see where we're putting

this triplets in. But this is it really slowly. Two, three, four. Now can

you hear that? It's all about the dead notes. I'm not really playing that

many notes. I'm playing, which we'll go through in a minute but it's all

the dead notes. So the riff, let's break it down. The first part so it's

just E and an open G so remember you always, when you're playing this you

want this dekka, dekka, dekka, dekka, dekka, dekka, dekka almost flowing

inside you. And then you can key into that and put notes onto your

internal rhythm. So, it's just a C-sharp to a D. Here comes the triplet.

Okay? Then again. So it's D - actually I'm not playing the D, I'm just

hitting the thumb. Thumb, dead note, dead note, index, middle. You've got

to keep these notes dampened as well. Otherwise they'll kind of ring out.

So thumb, index, middle and then thumb, hammer, so D, E, and then the thumb

again.

And then we've got a pluck, yeah? So remember, we're in the key of E7, E

dominant 7. I should say these right now. Here's the arpeggio for E7. And

when you're doing slap base, anything in fact, anything music related, make

sure that you understand where the arpeggio is when you're playing it.

Because then you can utilise the notes within that arpeggio. If you're just

playing a riff and you don't understand the musicality of the technical

side of how the arpeggio fits underneath the riff, then you're sort of

playing something from memory. It hasn't any sort of context or substance.

You need to make sure that you understand everything you play musically,

as well as technically.

Anyway, to go back to what I was telling you. So, we've gone then this

little bit So it's a slide up to the third of that E7 chord, and then I hit

the open E. So really slowly And then the last bit that's the coolest note

of the entire thing, isn't it? It's the D which is the - it's the flat 7 of

the E7 arpeggio

Just so you know that E7 arpeggio. E, G-sharp, B, and D. Again, just the

slap riff. Actually I was doing this last time at the end of it triplet.

Triplet. Triplet. Triplet. Triplet. Triplet. Let's hear it at speed. Now

this is something that you're going to have lot just to get the muscle

memory to start happening. And then try and work it into your other slap-

type riffs as well. Because it really just opens up the actual rhythmical

side of the riff a lot more. It's more percussive, it adds a lot more depth

to the riff. And it's so easy to do as well. You can just kind of flick it

in there. It's the index and the middle, Just do it over and over again. It

doesn't have to be musical, you can just be sitting there watching the TV

just making sure you've got that. Or add it into the major scale. So now

let's hear that with the backing track.

Now, if you look underneath this video, if you're on YouTube, there will be

a link and it will take you straight to a page. You'll be able to download

the backing track I'm about to use from that page. If you're watching this

on my website, it's right underneath this video. Just check it out.

Download this backing track now.

So the best way to get this triplet thing into your own playing is to

actually incorporate it in the riff you play already. You could do this

riff, I really want you to play this riff. It's a bit of a tricky riff. I

really want you to get it down. But if it's a little bit too complex for

you, just try to get that triplet thing into your own playing. It's

literally index, middle, thumb. Again. Try it with the major scale. And

once you've got it into your playing and into sort of that muscle memory,

there are so many cool little licks you can play. There's one I play way

too much when I'm slapping, it sounds like this I can move it all around

the neck. It sounds a lot more complex than it actually is. I'm literally

playing thumb, hammer, and then hammer with my little finger, and then I

start the triplet. Now it's the dead notes that are actually more important

than the actual notes that you can hear, but you can hear me moving around,

I'm not sort of concentrating too much on the notes. It's more that

percussive element. And that's why this triplet thing is really good. It

just gives the slap riffs that you're playing now, it will give them much

more rhythmical depth that they didn't have before.

Now there are other ways to get these triplets and we're going to talk

about that in future tutorials. But I really urge you to try and get this

little triplet thing into your playing. You know, push your slap playing to

that next level.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this lesson. If you have, make sure you click the

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to www.scottsbasslessons.com; check out the hours and hours of free lessons

I've put together for you there. I'll see you soon. Take it easy and get in

the shed.