“Shotgun Love Triangle” is an homage to some of the bass playing greats that have been influencing me over the past couple of months. I’ve been recently listening to a lot of Victor Wooten, Bill Dickens, and Michael Manring so I wanted to make up a song that displays some of those techniques popularized by some of my bass playing heroes. This song contains a variety of techniques such as the double thump/double pluck, playing over the fingerboard, sweep picking, volume swells, chord tapping, harp harmonics
left hand percussive attacks, and things like that.
I saw a lot of videos up on YouTube called “Crazy Slap solo” or some variation of that title. They’re all very good of course but they typically only zero in on just a few elements of how to slap.
When I started to learn bass I was taught one way how to slap/pop. The way I was shown was more of a Flea and Louis Johnson approach. You strike the string with the knuckle of your thumb to create a percussive attack while also getting a bit of note out of it as well. Later on I got into the way of striking through the string. And, of course, eventually I got into the double thump technique which means you strike through the string and then pull up your thumb to create a popping sound very similar to popping the string with your index finger. Although they are all different in approach the distinct sound of the thump is created by the string thudding against the frets.
There is quite a large amount of variations on how you can use your fingers and hands in different combinations and rudiments to get different rhythmic techniques. I’ll eventually get around to making my own instructional videos on how to do these but for the time being I would go check out Anthony Wellington’s website for a breakdown on where to begin learning this style of playing.
When the song starts out and before the drums come in I’m rolling a pattern to create that very fast rhythmic feel. I start off by muting all the strings with my left hand index finger – then I pop the muted G string, slap the strings with my middle/ring/pinky fingers of my left hand, thump with my right hand thumb, pop an open A string, then hammer on a C on the A string.
If you watch my hand you’ll see that when I thump the A string with my right hand I’m not striking through the string. This is where that Louis Johnson and Flea influence comes in. I’m mainly using my thumb as a percussive instrument.
As the rhythm pattern goes on I’m replacing the part where I’m hitting an open A string and hammering on a C with hitting popping a G note and hammering on to an A. The next go around I’m popping an open D and hammering on an A# on the D string. Then the next go around it’s a C to a D hammer on.
That’s a very basic run down on how the rhythm pattern goes. And as the song goes on I switch over from doing the percussive thumb technique to the strike through technique followed by the double thump and double pluck.
Hope you enjoy the video in all its excess.
