MusicCollegeTV's video: Learn Tapping Technique on the Bass Guitar

Learning and developing tapping techniques on the bass guitar Introduction The influence of other culture’s and their music has been such a big influence on many artists over the years, so it seems right that you get an opportunity to interpret something a little different. This piece called ‘Arabesque’ draws on a heavy Arabic or Middle Eastern feel and the entire bass accompaniment has been arranged using tapping. Analysis The bulk of this piece is built around various major chord shapes that are tapped using a two-handed tapping technique. In each case the chords are built up using their chord tones. This may sound strange, but think of your bass as a piano as I think it’ll help you better get the feel and flow of this bass part. This tune only contains 2 sections, A and B. The A section repeating around the chords of D, Eb and F Major that support and underpin a haunting melody line. The B section (8 Bars long) sees a change, this time to the chords of G Minor 7th, F Major and E Major. The last two bars of this section cadences nicely back to the A section again, but this time the chords are voiced with slightly different technique. To help achieve a good sound for tapping, I suggest boosting the treble and mids slightly if you have an active bass, or making sure your tone is all the way on if you’re using a passive bass. Experiment with using different pickups to see how it affects your tone as you can get some equally good tones using either neck or bridge pickups! Learning pieces that use tapping is much like learning choreography. Take your time practicing and planning the different movements between your fretting and plucking hands. You want to be in a position where you can immerse yourself in the music rather than thinking about where you need to placing the fingers! Walkthrough The bass is in from the start and voices the chords of D, Eb and F Major using root, fifth and a high tenth. Really pay attention to the fingering. I’ve included my suggestions (as played in the video), but as always go with what works for you. Your aim should be to get a good even tone and enable the chords to ring out. If you can master the first 2 bars of this piece then the first A section should be relatively easy and try and get the line to bubble along under the rest of the instruments. Pay close attention to Bar 12, as we change our tapping pattern from eigth notes or quavers, to sixteenth notes or semiquavers here. At letter C we begin the B section and the chords we’ve been used to playing change. This time we’re voicing them using four notes; root, fifth, octave, and a high tenth. The last two bars of this section see us change position to voice an A Major chord and then a Bb Major chord. The Bb major is built up from the root note and each consecutive note is sustained over the last to give a piano-like quality to this chord. The next bar introduces a couple of tapped harmonics on the 7th fret of the A and D strings. Really strike these notes to get the harmonics ringing out under the other tapped notes before plucking the open A string. The piece ends by playing out over the A section chord sequence again. This time however we play the descending tapped run that we encountered in Bar 12 every time we repeat. With these faster sixteenth or semi quaver notes there’s a natural tendency to rush, so please hold back and feel the placement of these phrases. From letter E we begin a gradual fade out over 8 Bars until the ending. Good Luck!