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Double Thumb (Thumping) Practice Techniques Pt.2

So you read my last blog, and you practiced all the techniques I explained, and now you’re a master at the art of double thumb, right?!

Wrong.

I now have a few more intermediate to advanced rudiments for you to implement into your practice routine. (This is where the fun stuff begins)

So now that your thumb is well accustomed to thumping your strings, we can move on to including finger pops! If you’ve already had some practice in slap bass, then you are ahead of the game for this, but there are some fun little differences in thumping that you can utilize, that you cannot with slapping.

First off, you’re going to want to keep things basic. (Have a slow metronome running while practicing) you’re going to want to just do a singular thump on a fret of your choosing, followed by a pop with your index or middle finger a 5th of an octave higher, then repeat the process. (Practice this with quarter notes) try moving your left hand around the neck while doing so.

Once you have that you can go onto playing two strokes with your thumb (down and up) and a singular pop with your index or middle finger. You can practice this with quarter notes, or quarter triplets. Again, try moving your left hand around the fret board while maintaining a consistent sound from your right hand.

Now for adding hammer-ons. There are a few different sequences that you can use with hammer-ons. I will signify them with the letters T (thumb thump) P (finger pop) and H (hammer on)

HT

HTT

HTP

TH *thump on an open string*

THP

THTP

These are only a few of the fun combinations you can create with these three which can result in some very interesting sounds. Practice, and experiment with these! Try to write your own parts using them. And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

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Double Thumb (Thumping) Practice Techniques

Okay! As promised, I’m going to explain a few of the practice techniques I use to work on the notorious Double Thumb technique! If you have yet to see what I can do with thumping, I would advise clicking this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQckyF5WX50 also I have another post on thumping that you should absolutely read through before you begin with these!!

So, the absolute most crucial aspect of this technique is the thumb (duh). Proper placement and movement of the thumb is critical to master before going ahead to including finger pops/hammer-ons etc. *Disclaimer!!* you do not need a “hitch-hikers thumb” to properly execute this technique. I myself do not have one, as you can see in my video in the link above.

Though every technique is subject to interpretation as far as hand position goes, I typically rest my forearm on the body of my bass, enabling it as an anchor point, and hold my thumb out, as though I’m giving somebody a big thumbs-up. My thumb runs more-or-less parallel with my strings, and I use the corner of my thumb when striking the string. When striking it, you will want to press through the string as oppose to bouncing off of it in traditional with slap bass (I think of my thumb as a natural pick) developing this motion may take a little time, and patience, but it’s well worth it! Trust me.

When you first start out, be sure to practice very slowly (60-80 bpm is where I started) and focus on making good sounding, consistent downward strikes on the string(s). I would advise doing scale runs and arpeggios with the down strokes so you can get a feel for how your hands will co-ordinate together. Once you get very comfortable with this, increase the speed to your discretion. When you feel comfortable with just down strokes, begin to do alternating strokes by plucking the string upwards with the corner of your thumb nail.

I hope this helps some of you! This is just the basics, and ill be posting more advanced techniques in the future. Feel free to subscribe and/or ask any questions you may have about this topic, thanks!

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Composing on Guitar Pro

Plenty of you have likely been using guitar pro for learning songs, developing techniques, building speed, and analyzing songs, just as I have. But lately I’ve been experimenting with composing on guitar pro (which most of you have probably been doing for quite some time)

I was fairly hesitant to begin composing on guitar pro, because I had a bit of a fear that it would make my music too calculated, and inorganic. There are a few bands out there who just seem to have a “guitar pro” sound to them *cough* rings of Saturn *cough* ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQYWC9ezebw ). I had played and composed in my band, Stenno, for about 5 years before experimenting with guitar pro, so I was very used to just writing riffs, or improvising with my band to create our songs. But upon completing composing my first song entirely on guitar pro, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my music did not sound inorganic at all! If anything, it improved my ability to compose the things I heard in my head.

Not only has my composing abilities sky-rocketed, but I had been noticing that the songs I had been writing were not limited by any of my “musical idiosyncrasies” of doing certain types of licks, or preferring certain modes. This pushed me technically as a musician, because my fingers weren’t accustomed to some of the moves I made in the song. Not only this, but as a musician who primarily plays bass, but also composes on guitar, it opened up doors for me to be able to write parts that are beyond my capability on guitar, and then simply send my guitarist the file for him to learn. Even more recently I’ve begun to compose on GP without have an instrument in my hands. This is certainly a challenge, but it’s yielding some very promising results.

How has your writing process changed with the advent of guitar pro, or any other music based software? Have you found it positive or negative? How do you think it’s shaping the modern music scene?

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Double Thumb (thumping)

So, I've been getting a lot of questions on how I go about the double thumb technique. Most of you probably recognize this technique from some Victor Wooten videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7oCm-hZawQ (or maybe Marcus Miller or Evan Brewer), and have probably tried it out yourself, only to find that it’s ridiculously difficult.

More recent takes on the technique have been developed by other artists (particularly Animals as Leaders) who have taken the fairly new technique into some very interesting territory. Though I don’t have the technique mastered to the level of Vic or Tosin, I definitely have a nack, and love for it. (See one of my AAL covers in the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nAHmmR9Eo4 )

For a fairly long time, I had a lot of trouble with this technique, until I stumbled upon a neat little trick that makes is so much easier. It’s actually a type of modification to the actual bass (or guitar) called a ramp! A ramp is basically a raised platform beneath your strings, which prevents your thumb from getting stuck under a string when thumping upward. There are a couple ways you can make a ramp. One would be to simply stick a piece of wood beneath your stings using some sort of adhesive, or perhaps Velcro, or, if you have a pick guard, like I do, you can get a ¼ inch fiberglass replication of the pick guard, and place it underneath your original pick guard! Is you look closely at my video, you can see that my pick guard is raised more than normal.

This is actually one of the most important things that I’ve found to help out with thumping, and it’s well worth the time to get a ramp on your instrument. I’ll definitely post more about practice routines specifically for double thump in the future, so feel free to subscribe, and if you have and questions, I’m more than happy to share any knowledge I have on the subject.