Tapping On Bass Guitar. Part 1 - Basics

Tapping on Bass Guitar Lesson #1
================================

This is the first in a series of lessons on tapping and related techniques for bass guitar. I hope to explain both the physical side of things, and some of the theory behind the notes. I'm starting from absolute basics so it should be very easy to follow - get this stuff nailed and the rest is easy too. Please mail me if you thing I'm going too fast or too slow. The very existence of this course depends on feedback - unless I know people are reading this then I won't even write part 2. I'll try and address any problems or suggestions I receive in future lessons.

Tapping is often seen as a technique used exclusively for solos but this isn't necessarily the case and I'll try and provide examples of each lesson point that demonstrates its use in a supporting SONG context. On a related note I will feel free to digress into other techniques as and when I feel that they are interesting or necessary to place a piece of tapping in context.

The techniques I'll outline form a part of a good bass players toolbag. You don't have to be an experienced bass player to follow this course, but if you are starting from near absolute scratch then make sure you spend time acquiring other techniques. This stuff will sound great, and may make an audience notice you if the band is working well - but if you can't pedal quavers then the band isn't going to work, and you're just going to look daft.

Tapping can be roughly divided into two styles - the Billy Sheehan (+Eddie Van Halen) and the Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani) style. I'll touch on both, but concentrate on the latter, as it tends to be more harmonically driven, and is more applicable to a typical band situation.

OK - enough waffle lets start...

Sit down with your bass and with the index finger of your LEFT hand play the A string at the 12th fret by hammering on (don't use your
right hand at all):

			    __
|-----------------|	|--/--\-------O------------
|-----------------|	|  \   | .
|--12-------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
   H			|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Easy huh? Make sure that it sounds clean. Practise ending the note as well as starting it by lifting you finger a small fraction away from the fretboard so the string is damped. There should be no rattles, and the note should end when you want it to.

Now keep your left hand in about the same position and bring your right hand round so your elbow is over the bridge(ish), and your fingers are over the fretboard. Rest your thumb on the top side of the neck and place your fingers over the 14th fret - index finger over the D string, middle over the G string. This is your basic arm position (though like all basic things you'll grow to learn when not appropriate). Now bring your right index finger down onto the string to tap your first note.

					-O-

					---
			    __
|-----------------|	|--/--\--------------------
|----14-----------|	|  \   | .
|-----------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
     T			|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Once again practise starting and stopping the note cleanly - it should be just as good as the note hammered with your left hand.

Now lets put those two together...

					     -O-
 
					     ---
			    __
|-----------------|	|--/--\----------O---------
|o------14-------o|	|  \   | .
|o--12-----------o|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .                .
    H1	T1		|-----/--------------------
			|    /                    .
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Repeat this until you feel comfortable with it. Listen to the sound of the interval (the gap between the notes) - I'll deal with this in a few weeks, but you should start listening now, so that you'll be ready.

Now its time to bring in another finger - the middle finger of your right hand. It should have been hanging over the 14th fret of the G string up till this point so try tapping there.

					 O
					---

					---

					---
			    __
|------14---------|	|--/--\--------------------
|-----------------|	|  \   | .
|-----------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
       H2		|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Once you're comfortable with this, start put it together with the other notes.

First:

					 O
					---

					---

					---
			    __
|-------14--------|	|--/--\-----O--------------
|-----------------|	|  \   | .
|---12------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
    H1  T2		|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Then:

					    O
					   ---

				     -O-   ---

				     ---   ---
			    __
|----------14-----|	|--/--\--------------------
|------14---------|	|  \   | .
|-----------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
			|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

And then finally:

					   O
					  ---

				      -O- --- -O-

				      --- --- ---
			    __
|----------14-----|	|--/--\-----O--------------
|------14------14-|	|  \   | .
|--12-------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
			|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Loop all of these until you're completely comfortable with them - Your going to be able to play these in your sleep (with your eyes shut goes without saying - seriously! you shouldn't need to look at the fretboard, though it is excusable to start off with, or when learning something new).

[This might be a good time to take a break if you've had problems with the previous stuff - get it right before progressing]

Right now lets shift that whole pattern down a whole tone

				          -O-

				          ---
				       O       O
				      --- --- ---
			    __
|---------12------|	|--/--\--------------------
|-----12------12--|	|  \   | . O
|-10--------------|	|------|-------------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
			|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Get that sorted, and we'll move down again...

					   O
					  ---

				      -O- --- -O-
			    __
|----------10-----|	|--/--\--------------------
|------10------10-|	|  \   | .
|--8--------------|	|------|---O---------------
|-----------------|	|      / .
			|-----/--------------------
			|    /
			|---/----------------------
			|
			|--------------------------

Now as a final exercise lets put those last three together to form our first song:

   e  e  e  e  e  e  e  e    e e  e  e  s s s s  s s s s
|--------14----------12----|------10--------10-------12----|
|o----14----14----12----12-|---10----10---10--10---12--12-o|
|o-12----------10----------|-8----------8--------10-------o|
|--------------------------|-------------------------------|

Next time the band play's All Along the WatchTower (in the key of A) you'll be able to hold down the chords, and keep the sound interesting during the guitar solo.

Comments

[nofxexjrg]

wow great lessons one of the best i've actually ever read

[Nakepoo]

What is the tabalature to the right and bottom of the normal bass tab? I dont understand it!

[Nakepoo]

and allso the stuff before some of the tabs

[darknemesis2286]

These are some really helpful lessons!!

[Sparky24]

Who cares about octaves? All i wanna learn is some cool bass riffs, n e one know n e gud ones?

[musicphreak13]

i think that was helpful cuz otherwise i would have asked my bass teacher cuz he did it in one of his concerts I saw

[datawraith]

Some of your text got all screwed up. Other wise good lesson.

[chhang]

most of the tab is all screwed up

[sunny doherty]

that was simple!!

[staine_082000]

it has nothing to do wid me.....

[staine_082000]

i dont care about tapping in a bass all i know is i am good.. hahaha but that was extraordinary..

[blu9999]

that was good

[Peewhy]

When I tap, I hear to notes : one for both side of the string. How can I make the extra note disapear?

[nhakz]

itz easy.. basic

[solidair]

thankyou just what i was looking for =D

[Feelin_Newborn]

cheers great lesson

[mong12345]

how's the tabs messed up that's just normal music notation it's just hard to tab out n e way good lesson
although i still can't make a loud enough sound

[bass dude333]

ty man..

[BullHorn]

Cheers, at last I learned something on my first day of playing a bass guitar!

[rexy]

can i hear how it should sound ?

[GuderianRIN]

this is exactly what i was looking for - the basics. great quick and simple lesson.
now that i know the concept i can learn other stuff (stuff like necrophagist i hope :m.
once again great lesson man, thanks.

[zaeon]

astig tong lessons na to!! (translation: great lesson, man!)

[buckethead101]

zaeon wrote:

astig tong lessons na to!! (translation: great lesson, man!)

hey dude you're a filipino right. I am a Filipino too.

[UltimateNirvana]

nice lesson it really helped me now my band kicks ass!

[bass dude nick]

yay i can tap

[BassMastaMuRo]

staine_082000 wrote:

i dont care about tapping in a bass all i know is i am good.. hahaha but that was extraordinary..

hahahaha...wait thats not funny....and if u cant tap than u suck and ur just another guitar powerchord following, talentless little bitch who looked for a means to get in a band knowing that there is hardly any bassists....so stick it and get over urself cuz u suck

[mfurseman]

BassMastaMuRo wrote:

staine_082000 wrote:

i dont care about tapping in a bass all i know is i am good.. hahaha but that was extraordinary..


hahahaha...wait thats not funny....and if u cant tap than u suck and ur just another guitar powerchord following, talentless little bitch who looked for a means to get in a band knowing that there is hardly any bassists....so stick it and get over urself cuz u suck

woo, theres enough bassists in our school for every band to have to each

[pynchon]

Ignorant question: How well does tapping work on an acoustic bass? How about an acoustic-electric bass?

[pynchon]

Ignorant question: How well does tapping work on an acoustic bass guitar? How about on an acoustic-electric?

[BravoSector]

i have an accoustic-electric and it works just fine, its a bit quiet though

[calumhm]

y'know bassmasta, you did make up a whole lot of stuff about a guy, based on a short sentance... were you angry perhaps? Decent lesson, not what i expected, but similar enough.

[loderrrbasss]

that was very easy and very to the point, nice job. getting the job done

[Kekumba]

Thought I'd check this out earlier and I actually ended up doing the whole lesson for about an hour and a half. I had little to no tapping experience prior, but now I'm intrigued to follow up and go through all the other lessons as well.

[dragonforce one]

i can't do this am i thick or is it hard i just don't get how you do it

[dragonforce one]

i get it now i just didn't read it properly wat a dumbass!

[Zeebraa]

wow, I am totally amazed. i never understood anybody else. thx alot man, ur awsome. =)

[bassorigins789]

great lesson, i finally understand how to do this

[bammmbanggg]

i dont get it...

[The Final Cut]

niiice lesson

[karl100]

cool man vry nice lesson

[Serjem]

lol love that

[GranolaBranBorg]

thx for the lesson

[djpiggy]

Sparky24 wrote:

Who cares about octaves? All i wanna learn is some cool bass riffs, n e one know n e gud ones?

Your a dumbass how can you expect to play anything decent and not know any theory

[josephmbaker]

People always use tapping to show off, but you make it easy! I'm going right to lesson 2 now.

[Thelonious]

Great! Another technique in the bag (well sortof, atleast i know what im doing) thank you.

[sephiroth9018]

Yeah 1 I love Tapping make more lessons with some more complicated sounding stuff.TY!

[wispers67]

Very helpful keep it up!

[VanQuisheR91]

rexy wrote:

can i hear how it should sound ?

agree ! i want to know the "tapping" i do based on your lesson is right or not !

[pixies3141]

djpiggy wrote:

Sparky24 wrote:

Who cares about octaves? All i wanna learn is some cool bass riffs, n e one know n e gud ones?


Your a dumbass how can you expect to play anything decent and not know any theory

totally agree and still dont know if im doing it write but its a great lesson and great fun to try!!

[bassguruelliott]

Wow. You really don't need theory to be a good musican. That is a load of horse shit. Music theory is just a theory, not the way your supposed to play music. I know nothing about theory but I can play just fine.

^you don't, but theory certainly helps.

[jb701926]

Great! That's really helpful.

[Haunted_Shell]

thanks bro

[Ellerttoohey]

bassguruelliott wrote:

Wow. You really don't need theory to be a good musican. That is a load of horse shit. Music theory is just a theory, not the way your supposed to play music. I know nothing about theory but I can play just fine.

Honestly I hope you get hit by a truck. You need Music theory to do anything in music. Fucking idiot.

[bassguruelliott]

Ellerttoohey wrote:

bassguruelliott wrote:

Wow. You really don't need theory to be a good musican. That is a load of horse shit. Music theory is just a theory, not the way your supposed to play music. I know nothing about theory but I can play just fine.


Honestly I hope you get hit by a truck. You need Music theory to do anything in music. Fucking idiot.

Haha wow, you really think you know your shit don't you? There is a thing in music, (you would only know this if you were a real musician) where you can feel what your playing, it puts you in a zone, it's like nothing else matters. Sometimes you don't even remember what you did, but you are sure it sounded good because your mood was great and your audience were pleased. Now tell me, ellerttoohey, where is the soul in theory? Anybody could learn music theory, you could teach a monkey music theory, but where is the soul at? Music theory definiton: the study of the theoretical elements of music including sound and pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, and notation. There are two things, Music and Music theory. Involved with music, there are no guidelines, there are no boundaries. I'm quite sure that people billions of years ago didn't have this "Music theory", They played what they had, and played what sounded "right". Of course, Music Theory does help, I'm not bashing it at all. I'm just stating the simple fact that you don't need it to be a good musician. Music theory was created by a person, obviously, and they must have been a very talented individual at the instruments they played, right? God created music, not the theory. Man created the theory. Now shut the **** up. Maybe your the one who needs to get hit by a truck, look at your words, and tell me how you are right.

[bonestro]

Do I place my left hand on top or under the fretboard? gr8 lessons anyways

[mattvilla1]

Haha wow, you really think you know your shit don't you? There is a thing in music, (you would only know this if you were a real musician) where you can feel what your playing, it puts you in a zone, it's like nothing else matters. Sometimes you don't even remember what you did, but you are sure it sounded good because your mood was great and your audience were pleased. Now tell me, ellerttoohey, where is the soul in theory? Anybody could learn music theory, you could teach a monkey music theory, but where is the soul at? Music theory definiton: the study of the theoretical elements of music including sound and pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, and notation. There are two things, Music and Music theory. Involved with music, there are no guidelines, there are no boundaries. I'm quite sure that people billions of years ago didn't have this "Music theory", They played what they had, and played what sounded "right". Of course, Music Theory does help, I'm not bashing it at all. I'm just stating the simple fact that you don't need it to be a good musician. Music theory was created by a person, obviously, and they must have been a very talented individual at the instruments they played, right? God created music, not the theory. Man created the theory. Now shut the **** up. Maybe your the one who needs to get hit by a truck, look at your words, and tell me how you are right.

Theory wasn't made by one person man, its a collaboration of discoveries made by musicians. The best way to learn music is to do the theory. With the theory, you know the basics of what sounds good! How do you think the best musicians write their music? Jimi Hendrix, Flea, KK, Stevie Ray etc etc all knew their theory. You don't need it to be a good player, but you need it to be a good band member. Otherwise, how are you meant to mix in and co-operate with your drummer? However, Ellerttoohey is obviously a moron, people shouldn't be hit by trucks for having an opinion.

[yamaha4string]

first thing i would like to say is as a musician, you do need at least some knowledge of theory to be able to function in a band, unless all your going to do is follow tabs your whole life. but any way, is there another lesson comin? or did you just stop?

[Fraztastick]

Outstanding lesson, zero to tapping in fifteen minutes. Brilliant.

And @ the whole theory argument... there's a difference between a guitarist and a musician. I find that theory is essential. Chord structure, arpeggios... all you are ever going to be able to do by reading tab is play what is front of you, you'll never understand it. Two mates of mine are forever fighting this one out.

[marcusmassacre]

This was a good lesson. i taught myself taps by listening to Victor Wooten and Les Claypool stuff, so i had this down already. But i give you credit, i've been playing bass for over a year now, and the first few months were very hard, because i was used to playing 6string. but i realized that i would never have what it takes to be a great guitarist so i switched. i'm very happy with my decision, and can say(with certainty) that i'm one of the best in my area. i get together with bassist from local bands and music shops, and talk for hours about technique and style, and most are blown out of the water by my opinions and skill. but if i went back to when i just began, this lesson would have helped so much. the point that i'm getting to with all of this is: You don't need theory to play well. i didn't start learning theory until recently, and it has made a huge difference in my playing and skill, but it doesn't make you a musician. it helps you understand everything better, and can make or break(in most cases) a good player, but is definitely not necessary. the only benefits, that i've seen with theory are: A) i really don't play better, but write better. B) My improv is much more structured and comes more naturally(especially in jazz and blues) and C) i can teach others and they understand what i'm saying. so for anyone out there who thinks that you need theory, you don't, and every true musician will agree. But, it most certainly doesn't hurt to know. The greatest bass guitarist(in my opinion), Victor Wooten, says himself that it's like adding extra words to your vocabulary. but if you focus too much on your wording, you tend to have to think more before you talk. You can't just play, you become forced to follow rules and limit yourself. i've never been a fan of that, so i tend to practice for about 3hours a day using only improv and my own knowledge, and then spend the rest of whatever time i have left studying theory and learning new songs and techniques. but that's just me and my opinion, so if i deserve to be hit by a truck because i like to play what i think sounds and feels better, be the one to hit me. And afterwords, go join the Nazi party. They seem to think the same way you do.