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I have a question. When I'm playing slap on the D or A string, my thumb always hits the string below and it rings. I've tried playing with my arm parallel to the string, which is what I was told I should do, but then I just miss the strings when I try to hit them, and the other strings ring anyway. The way I've been used to playing is with my hand at a right-angle or so to the string. Please please try and help.

I think what's happening is she is hitting the strings with a parralel thumb, and is accidentaly following through and nailing the other strings. Now, the way I slap involves following through, but I won't go into that here and just assume she is doing the traditional slap.

What you should try doing is a simple slap/pop exercise where you slap a dead note on the low E and then pop a dead note on the high G. Do this slowly and with control, make sure that your thumb is hitting the string and then pulling away and not following through to the other strings. Focus on your control and work on hitting what you need to be hitting and nothing else.

If you wanted a song to practice slapping to I'd suggest learning the intro to Reel Big Fish's "skatanic". the last bit of the riff might be a little difficult but the fingering is easy enough... first song I learned to slap.

Not a hundred persent sure how you are plucking your strings, but I going to asume, and then suggust that you try resting your thumb on the pick up and pluck with your index finger and your middle finger.
Also if you don't want a string to sound you can just put your finger over it and mute it, rather than holding it out of the way. May I suggest getting a good "learn to play bass" book and DVD set. Im using the Learn to play Bass in the progressive series.

This is a common problem I find with my students. Its all a matter of getting used to the instrument and feeling the distances and locations of the strings. My best advice at this point is to only use your index and middle finger alternating every note when you play. If you learn a scale, play each note ascending and decending 8 plucks a note, using the alternating back and forth. When you go up and come back down do it again with only 4 plucks a note. Then go 2, then run the scale still alternating fingers. Ill give some scales lower down, because someone else asked about it...



I didnt look at the article about hammer ons and pull offs myself yet, because I already know how to do them razz Ill suspect that it explains it just fine. As for minor and major scales, Ill make an image to explain this. When it comes to a minor and major scale, there are 8 notes in the scale. Each one numbered from 1-8. Below I made examples for you to follow along with. I have 3 scales here you can get started on for basic jazz theory. If you learn these, you can get along any high school jazz program with ease.

I'm using my model bass banez BtB in my examples. I freaking love my bass!!!

First Ill show you the B flat Major scale.

Take special note that in a major scale the most important notes you should remember is that there is the major 3rd and a major 7th.

Next is the B flat Minor Scale.

Now note that there is a minor 3rd, and a minor 7th in this scale.

Next is the B flat Dominant 7th Scale

This scale has a minor 7th and a major 3rd. It can be called other things in different situations, but if your aiming for jazz theory, its gonna be called the dominant scale.

If you were confused about any of the major/minor stuff, I also made a chromatic scale. This is also important to know because it runs all the notes of the bass in one scale.


I could go on if you ask, but that should answer all the questions. There are also several other minor scales, and modes that I can explain, but this should be just perfect for the aspiring jazz artist.

These scales are PRICELESS if you know them. It will make all kinds of music simple to learn, and easy to play. If you also know what scales are being used in your songs, you can solo over them a lot easier.

(I ALMOST FORGOT)
In my chromatic scale example I used the terms Aug and Dim. Those stand for Augmented and Diminished. Basically with a 4th or a 6th there is no real sharp or flat. You CAN call them a Sharp 4th instead of an Aug4 or a flat 6 instead of a Dim6, but its better to use the terms properly, and learn as much about the terminology as you can.

I also showed on the Chromatic scale that the 8 is also a 1, because that is the octave (octa=8 you know razz ) So if you were to continue the scale you would go to a 9(2), 10(3), 11(Flt3), 12(3) ect. You will usually see a flat 9 or a sharp 11 added to a set of changes in music, and it only means that the scale going up the first octave would remain as it says, and beyond that it would be recommended to use the modification to add more taste. Its all optional though.

Read more around this section of forums. I am pretty sure that all of these have their own topic, or have been touched on other topics...

Its kinda hard to get someone to understand note values without a visual. And when a note is dotted it doesn't mean its 3 beats. A dot after a note means add half the value of that note on to the end of it. So if you have a dotted whole note, it would be 6 beats. If you have a dotted eight, you would add a 16th beat to the end.

I think Ill give a tutorial on reading music when I have some time though. It would be helpful for everyone to read. Just remember, it only helps to know how to read music. It adds a completely new medium for musicians to work with. Its only helpful to know, but not needed!