Hal Leonard Funk Bass: A Guide To The Styles And Techniques Of Funk Bass

95 Pages·2004·29.6 MB·English

~ ~FOK BASS

IASS METHOD

\ as:
HAL LEONARD
BASS METHOD

Invoaton
Hw Funk Str
Pracing .
Atic
Tui Up...
Bas Postion.

Thunb Shp
‘Thunb Slap Acura
“Tats Gran

“Stay Wet He Tne
"Bick Hus.
Teciniques
Heanme-dn
Pall FF
Senbing Harmer Ds ad Puls
Dra es.
a ae Sap
eat te Pop
ot Wate.
“art tg".
Sides.

Left Hand Sep
Og Stirgs-
“Lov Games”

‘Sacto Lapa
Dynamics

FUNK BASS

BY CHRIS KRINGEL

The Pact... secges
Conan 5 3
Tit Sing Fol cece ce
Essistin a Gome-.. ae
Repetto eesceccseceeeceees ee fl
fils 0
“Suni Sati 7
Say. 8

Fingers Fk 86
Tein 88
Aho:

Folow Toh
Aang
eat tes
Fake
Bet cesses Boal
Vik poe Fis
Stay and Figetle m
ral sani.

Avani hig -
‘Abaca aps
Thunb Sp Po
Fig Sans
“Savina Fa”

Fun Bas Sola
Hamony
Keys
Sales
Nelly
“ny
Pasig...
Nott...
Bait a Sea
“Ame an Happs”.
hep
Geaving a uo

Fil Wor
Fass

Ari tl alin
INTRODUCTION

Wieloone tot Fal Leonard Funk Bass Method. Tis bouk fs des ye to teach you some ofthe many sls
e076. gral lurk bessist. | wl locus ani on ee slap and or siv# ol funk bas plying. Later, we'll rove into the area of
ingastyle funk, aswell as grcavng anc soloing in > funk din. As you begin to work trouch fis book, ya natce that
‘wr ato ths ‘unk bass “ethol apet‘70™ othe furkbass books s the Lse cf real songs by some of =e qreatnst funk sp
ae pop bassists ol the pas. and oresent—in hela ng to demonstrate each lechnique and concept for you, Se at's gat strt2al

How Funk Started

Funk music isa mixture of sou. rhyttm and blues, and jav7. Funk as = music style came io its ost the 6s, and
‘ortinuse to develop int tha 70s and bayonc, Tho typia’fank song othe late '605 and "70s was Gig en the bass and drums,
peopered with some scratery gular rill, eys, avd .sually vocal, The key element of unk is groove, pure anc. siipo,
pariulaly the bess and dium yrouve, Mur cyth e enryponerts ul Uwe suk sie include syncopalon and the ipl (or
hing] fh

Upright as slayers—from as far tack as the 19008— 2 slrngs aga nst tac necks of their hassos 7 a perussive
manner (simulting a crummer, assentialy started the scp and pom style of funk bass. Iv the lat EDs. slap and poo was
introduc fn the eactrc bess hy | arry Graham, cassist for S¥y and the Famiy Stnne ene ber Gran Gertral Sit
Several otter great zee layers sho have adooted ig-ts are Low's Johnsen,

Clarke, Marcus Miler Mark King, and more curren, Fas aid Velo’ Woo:en to mention fam,

Mare er Tousen

Practicing

Prastcing musics like pracci-g a spot. You have vo cus tne in to gl results! The reason you ploy a sport is ‘crenjrymart
To excel inte came, you rust practice te dferertaspacis of the came. Likewise, 10 excel at “unk bass, you wil aad to
ratte te caren aspecis af tess playing,

Lets stay wih e scortsaralogy lust bitonger. Learning the rules ofthe game for a basta layer is ke fearing sit
theory tora base player. Luring the proper way to critble ard svoct a basketballs comparaale develop ng prover base
techrique, Understanding dierent plays and court suatogies & lke undorsta-ding uffeent masicl syle ard idiows. If
yo.tee Torgoltn te clays hacause you did’: menlalypreoare. you might ust crash and bur. The more you can put your
lunesta sid pract ve lieve ui the cour, Ue beter your gate becomes, Wth move aac, your Caseetbal playing
and you" bass playing wil Became inst nelual, You we ale to surrender ta tna mame. You crea, you move, you act and
reac. Tae ania you know, #3 ess you"l nd: think aout tho game rules. You can then surendet tothe morient and
rete. move act, and react nstinctualy If you ae seak in certan atoas ofthe gam, like techoicue, sooner or ater you'l
hae ta shuot a fae throw:

2
The Four pes of Pace

41. Technica: Profieleney of nger movement aver te strings of the instcumant in paying particular nots with catty
and contrl, The are proficient you ae at finger techniques, the more freely you wil be able to express your musi-
cal ideas.

2, Manta: Learning howto put it a together, the nots, the scales, che theory and concepts. Aksorbing other aspects
‘of music tes des instrument practice will srongthon your overall musicary greatly and ght you the wherewithal to
act and react when new situations arise

3. _Auuitory: Listen ng ta music and developing ‘good eer” is essential in becoming a great bass payer. This might be
leatnng tc hear and recognize intervals an chord chang2s or transcribing music by ear to paper. Trained listening
ferables you to express yourself more fully and Is eatremely important inthe evaTution cf you" overall musical abil-
ties,

4, Playing: Pung it all togethr the technical, mental, and auctory. From practicing sight-reading, to improwsing, or
to jamming just for fen, you will nad to link everything together to create great music
Metronomes and Drum Machines,

>rztiing with atime referane point ike a metronome ar drum machine helps te davlop a goad “time feoL” You are human,
so withaut an external tempa reference of some sort you will mest kal tend to spood up or slow dewn, somtimes a et and
sometimes a ite, The place you wil wan: to get io isto siay as close te exact time as possibla,

Asa bassist, your job Is to seep time withthe drummer (or by yourself if you don't have @ drummer). By practicing with an
‘erterral ine tefetence point ut a regular bass, you wl eam to hearths external clack in an intemal way. Timing is eve'y>
“hing

Audio

Through each chapter you wil have GD accoripaniment tha metronome, drum machine, or drummer, and at tne ene ot ach
chapter you wil nave a full band 0 jam alongwith. The bess willbe pared ard right so that ycu can pan your stereo hard
eftar play along wit he tracks, nus he recorded tass. If he exercises ae too slow or too fest onthe CD. practic them

uth @matraname or drum machine for best results. The crresponding tack number foreach example or song sisted below
he aude icon,

Tuning Up

at’ tune up by laying the open stings E, A, D, and G

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Bass Position

When playing hass, the position that tn irstrumect sis an your had is extremely important The height on yeur body and
the fft-to-iht balarce of your bass shouldbe the same standing or sting, especialy when playing sia end pop sile. fit
isn't what you practice sting down will be hard to de while standin uo, oF vies-rsa

Placement

‘There are two was to res the instrument on your body if you are seated, Centred an your bocy. and oft center towa'd your
plucking hard. Ta play n the seated centerec postion (if you ae right handed) you'd alse the bass on your let high after
sightly elaveting your let eg, To play inthe of center postion, place the bass sighty tothe ight side of your body wth the
bass resting on your right thigh

‘ing Cantar Sandi ener ‘ue. ‘Sandra at

Angle

‘The angle at which you hold your bass wl etfact tha way you pay. 's best to tind the ang e that is mast ccmvortabe for you.
Some glayers actually change the engl ofthe r Lass depending on which technique they ave executing, When paying the
‘and pop technique, riot players hole ther hass almost horzontel or lve wth te flor so their plucsng cr slapping hand is
‘more comfortaale Some players hold thei hass at a 45-daqree angle because itis nore confortable on their fetng hand
‘Te dea sto ereate the rrat ecient anc comfortable gostion without strain.

spe:
THUMB SLAP

‘The themb slap is spl thet... sling your thumb agairst te sings, Tos is aotally the trekist part of siep ene pop. s
tae your te to gt itdavr rat Take your hand al make aot. uw ace your sum ost. ft show fons ks you're abot
to aiehhike rie or lke you ate giving somane the "thuribs up" sin. You wl testing the sting with the isin of

Sw Petar Paine Seas

Now las workon ettacking te string withthe tur. You be striking the string aga nt the tone nt he yer Tae
reo wy To aeouts “his mostvent ang ether isin. We lael Une a8 “he ba.noe" ane "th follow thesugh.” The 11

‘the bounee, ieolves striking the s'ring direll n-an up dosen ration. ve key tu this meve™ent ste stra the svirg
nce nf quicaly seal tre srg rings, The second lecrnigue, the Tallow through, invokes srikiny he sing i a
;an-ward motion and “coming through unl your thar caries © reson the siirg below the one ym have just stuck n
lh sages ck the str hard enaugh soi gives off @ percussive sau, na. e puck soune.

‘The mast importa part of tne thu slap is that you do not moe ya
wrigtforsarm, val yaur hard. To give yu an lena oom tis works, Elce your thumbs-up sign table, vn your thom:
inthe siz Hows bit the table wth your rub 2y tw sting your foreur not by aending your wrist, Tris is the mazemant yo.
wi ma lu achieve

thumt, The rwoeriank actually ures from your

1 dowce 2 fae re
Deore one
HES give it a try. In this example you'll hear how it $70uld and stauldn't sound as you slap your thumb aga nst the E string.
The “ist measure ofthis exaryple shows how you wll wenta thu slap to sound, The second measure is pave
hat you can hear what it sounds ke f you don't baunce or follow through quicMy 2no.gh

‘thumb slag is iracatad ity a "T" in between tho tab and notation staves.

Q

TK

Thumb Slap Accuracy

Now las work on getting a nen, clear tone wile staping all the sirgs,

‘When you feel as though you can get through these execises wth aclaan, flu d mation, its ime tu move on These are great
exercises ta go back to andl cradualy increase the metronome o1 drum machine speeds, Bein able ply at slow ard fast
‘tempos wth the same accurauy and cls is ossatial In 2ecaming a good funk player.

‘
Thumb Slap Exercises

‘As statac before, the most important tecvniqua In siap aro isthe thumb slap. fm rot iddng! I's essontial tat you aire
able to preduce & clean ard fluid tone botore moving into sting poppirg. For che next few exercises lat change ‘hyttms_ ship
stings, and start increasing some lempcs.

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Sa
Pr h—3—5 3393939 6 —————-|p0 9
Now that you nave commans of th *humb slap, let's move nco some real songs! A great wey to practice the thumb sla isto
play songs thet you can curently ply fingerstyle, but pay them withthe thumb slap instead, | don’t recommne that you do
his al gigs or ohwarsais wih a band; the best place fo practice new techniques with songs that you already knew is at home.
“Les Groove" is unk classic by Earth, Wind & Fre tal was origiraly played fingerstyle. We'l partarm i th tha thumo
sao 80 thal you can get an idea ot how this may work

[<)) LET'S GROOVE

tam sesiees i
= See

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