Slap Bass Bassics – The Thumb

While there are a lot – and I mean, a LOT – of variations and techniques involved in slap bass (which is amazing, given that the technique itself is just over 40 years old), the foundation of slap bass still rests upon the slap! of the thumb and the pop! of the fingers. In this installment, we’re going to go over the bassics (see what I did there?) of the thumb and its role in slap bass.

Simply put, the thumb in slap bass is the bass drum of the drummers kit. It provides that punch, it gives the rhythmic pulse that everything else is laid upon. It can be as simple or as complex as needed (please remember that comment, and repeat it to yourself a couple more times to let it sink in), but it needs to be solid to keep the beat moving. Anything else and you stand to lose the feel of the groove, which is priority number one as a bassist.

The simple definition is that with the thumb, you literally slap the strings (traditionally the E and A strings) to create that slap sound. To achieve this, you want to slap the string with the side of your thumb, in a downward motion. You want to slap through the string, landing your thumb on the next string down. So for reference, if you were slapping on the E string, you would strike through the E string, letting your thumb rest on the A string. This provides the characteristic slap! while retaining the note played.

To make a completely muted slap sound (as in, providing just the percussive tone), there are two options available. The first is, instead of striking through the string as outlined above, you strike AND stop on the string. The second is to strike through the string, but use your left hand to mute the strings.

Because slap bass is such a percussive style, we’re going to approach it much like a drummer approaches the kit; by practicing rudiments. The concept for these rudiments is that you practice them at a slow tempo (with a metronome!!!) to ingrain that muscle memory and understand the rhythm, and then speed up the tempo until you’re playing it quickly. There are a couple different rudiments for each level of proficiency; I encourage you to start at the beginning, no matter your skill level, as it’s never a bad thing to brush up on the basics.

Download your own PDF copy of Slap Bass Bassics – Thumb Rudiments here.

So, treat your thumb like that bass drum! Take your time and focus on laying a solid foundation for everything else to sit on top. The next installment, we will go into the upstroke In the meantime, who is your favorite purveyor of slap bass, and why? What do they do that inspires you to attempt the same?