#evanbrewer

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

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.