Tosin Abasi Animals as Leaders slap / thump thumb technique lesson! 2013
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2013
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I've been getting requests to do a video lesson on the super cool guitar slap/thump technique for a LONG time now. Finally got around to making the most comprehensive video lesson i could! I think this will help you out for sure.
This technique has been brought to the spotlight by Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes of the band Animals as Leaders, and it seems like more and more players are sneaking little bits of this into their playing. Its a ton of fun. As i mention several times in the video, its basically just a really quick REST STROKE with the thumb. Be sure not to make a TON of contact with the string, you don't want or need your entire thumb pushing through it. Just graze it with the edge and that's about all you need!
I do not cover much about the role of the other fingers here, just the thumb and left hand. I will get around to doing another video on how to use your index, middle, and ring fingers too if you all want it!
PLaying my swirled Ibanez RG7621 here, with Dimarzio Crunch Lab and Liquifire 7 pickups in it. Sounds amazing!
You're not my uncle. I checked.
my uncle is cooler than yours!
Great lesson. I was able to get it going before the video even finished. It's great to see Tosin's technique broken down. Seeing him do it, would never be able to tell what exactly is happening.
aaaah, i see you found it! haha great man, thank you! glad i could help!
Excellent. One of the only helpful videos on this. Everyone else just posts a video showing off that they can play an Infinite Regression fast but poorly, and they just say what the end result should be rather than explaining how to get to the end result. This is the first video I've found that actually explains things like what part of the thumb to use, resting on the next string, etc. aaaaand you can actually keep time and get the slap sound every time instead of being all over the place. Well done sir. Well done.
Try bouncing slightly "away" from the string as you go upwards. That way you downstroke goes slightly "in", and the up goes slightly "out", or away from the face of the guitar.
THUMP - Tosin Abasi PDF Free in my chanel ua-cam.com/video/f45f58VOEi0/v-deo.html
you probably dont give a shit but does anyone know a method to log back into an Instagram account??
I stupidly forgot my account password. I love any help you can give me.
@Vincent Gordon instablaster ;)
@Casen Anson I really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and im trying it out now.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Casen Anson it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy:D
Thank you so much you saved my ass!
We need remastered video
Just got an 8 string, so you can dang well bet that’s on the way ;)
@@BenEller Thank's Uncle Ben, just got the 7 string and I'm blown away with re-learnig maping scales, chords etc. Can't imagine 8 string
@@BenEller YES LETS GO!!!
Bro we need ne thumping lesson for the thumping video Tosin released....you know which one 🙃
@@BenEller when's it coming? 👀
I thank the universe every day that I found you when I was falling down a UA-cam recommended hole. You are a gift to shred-kind.
THUMP - Tosin Abasi PDF Free in my chanel ua-cam.com/video/f45f58VOEi0/v-deo.html
@@leonardomartinez3181 I like to support artists i like, not steal from them.
@@FringeSpectre huevos mijo
@@leonardomartinez3181 sorry I don't speak german.
Great explanation of this technique. Also, I really enjoy how this video is not over produced.
Fantastic lesson Ben!
I'm really glad I checked this video out not only once, but twice. Picked up on some stuff I missed/forgot the first time around, haha. Great job explaining this stuff, man!
Easily the best and most thorough explanation of this technique. Thanks!
Dude. Thank you so much! Very thorough and down to earth explanation on this technique.
Thanks. Couldn't understand the concept in other tutorials. Great teaching method. Happily thumping
A pesar de no saber ingles, entendí muy bien lo que querías dar a entender.
Yo antes pensaba que el golpe del pulgar era sin 'apoyo', cosa que era erróneo pues se provocan 'armónicos no deseados'.
Muchísimas gracias
Dude, thank you so much. This is a great tutorial!
Subscribed ! Best lesson Iv found on this. Think I actually have a chance of learning this now! Thank you!
Thanks for this! I could never find anything that covered this technique in detail, and you did a great job explaining it!
THUMP - Tosin Abasi PDF Free in my chanel ua-cam.com/video/f45f58VOEi0/v-deo.html
Thank you for this lesson Ben, really good information.
I couldn’t be happier that this continues to shows up in my feed every three months for the last half a decade. I’m STILL learning from it. Uncle Ben’s teachings are eternal, Uncle Ben’s teachings are wise.🙌🤘✌️🔥❤️
great lesson! i recently have become aware of this technique and this is exactly the video i was looking for. I think ill be able to learn quite a lot from you and your vids. Haven't used my 7 string neearly enough. Thanks again
thanks Jay, and good luck! its a lot of fun once you get it down.
Awesome pickup choice brother! The Liquifier and Crunch Lab pickups are my favorite, except I have the 6 string version but still!
Man awesome tutorial. My first time watching and I think Im starting to get it down! Maybe a week of practice and Ill be smackin them strings just like Tosin, thank you so much!!!
Hi Ben, thank you for your very informative and humorous tutorials, I've only discovered them this week but were very helpful to me already.
About this video I have two remarks: first is, you CAN actually slap the guitar with the thumb bouncing off.
For clarity's sake I'll define what I think are the 3 main slap styles on bass guitar. What you are referring to is indeed what I call the "Victor Wooten"-style, applying the rest stroke. By the "Larry Graham/Marcus Miller"-style, I mean slapping with the thumb pointing up, and the what I would call "Norwood Fisher/Flea/Robert Trujillo"-style is with the whole hand hanging over the strings with the thumb pointing down, which is typical for bassists who rock their basses at knee height. What the latter two techniques have in common is the pivotal motion of the wrist with the thumb indeed, as you said, bouncing off of the string.
Now the point I want to make is: you can perfectly get a good sound on a guitar that way, even with (a judicious amount of) gain. You really have to put the work in, start slow as always, be VERY precise and you have to develop a really light touch, as in Steve Harris-light! It's really finicky and painstaking and frustrating in the beginning, but as you put time in you'll learn to avoid these ugly harmonics. Then as you get better you can put tap licks in between the motions, or strum a chord with a down stroke or a flick.. This even works on a double bass (well, not the tap licks), but in my experience it only sounds good with an amplified double bass. I've been plonkety-plonkety-plonking away on bass guitars, double basses and guitars for more than 20 years so I dare say I've explored this to a fair degree...
And the second remark is - OK, I admit, I'm splitting hairs here - about NOT slapping near the bridge pickup; there's a great player called Rob Jenkins who does exactly that: double thumping Wooten/Abasi-style near the bridge on a Jazz bass and it has an effect akin to playing very fast with a pick and with foam under the strings, like Carol Kaye and Joe Osborn and all those great bassists from the 60's. Granted this video is from 2013 and Jenkins maybe wasn't on UA-cam back then, but hey, here's a link where he shows his technique in depth:
ua-cam.com/video/D6cD99uXCxE/v-deo.html
Other than that I've really enjoyed this thorough explanation of how you go about it. Excellent content and in my opinion you're an excellent non nonsense teacher! Keep up the good work!
Greetings from Belgium
Thanks so much John! Glad you enjoyed it. Be sure to watch Part 2 on my channel!
Awesome vid dude! Really great way of explaining this type of playing well done bro!
THUMP - Tosin Abasi PDF Free in my chanel ua-cam.com/video/f45f58VOEi0/v-deo.html
Man this is even better instruction than the video from the man himself, some one who owns it can tell you ..support this guy he is great
ashtweth We dell drugs on the front!
Ha. Given the current production quality you have going on, this is amazing. Great lesson, and a fun trip down memory lane. ;-)
Been practicing slapping on and off for a couple of months now with gradual progress, but after watching this video, my technique's definitely improved quite a bit. Consider yourself subscribed to :)
cheers, thats great to hear!
Loved this! I'll start trying this out asap! If I can chime in with the tremolo tech, I'd prime with some arpeggio etudes (especially descending arpegios) to make it more even and have more control over the tremolo technique. Otherwise, it'll take longer. Also, there's a lesson video with Scott Tennant about tremolo somewhere. That's a must watch.
Cheers from Nuevo Laredo, Mx!
cool video man, you explain very well
great explanation, covered every detail, thanks a lot! :D
thank you!
Great video man! Now I feel like I can try this technique properly! Never really like swirl guitars till now!
Crow Do Not Loiter Here hahaha i tend to have that effect on people! thank you!
I really have to thank you because your video help even more than the Tosin's
Uncle Ben i was just watching the selective picking video and was wondering if you'd make a thumpy video and here you went back in time and made a whole primer!
YES I FOUND IT
I've been looking for this video since the 8 string review
Outstanding video.
Glad to hear it dude!!
Awesome tutorial man, very well explained
cheers man, thank you!
This video is clutch thanks for the helpful explanations
Nice work, Ben!
oh this is what i was looking for! thanks
thanks buddy :) i love this one!
Wow love your teaching, really easy to follow, will probably purchase a skype sesh with you
Nice teaching! Thank you man :)
Using the back part of your palm, kinda like when you are soloing on the high strings, and muting the low ones with your palm.
Excellent lesson. Thank you for posting this.
Thanks for the video. I found the comparison to the rest stroke helpful in understanding the movement.
I find that I can get a quite satisfying bass style slap by hitting right down by the bridge, where the strings can't move too much. It has a nice heavy booming tone. Jude Gold has good video on guitar slapping called "Galloping Harmonics" , where he slaps near the fretboard for a more snappy sharp sound. He demonstrates harmonic slapping which has a pretty interesting sound.
thank you man, great video!
Such a great lesson. I finally feel like I improved rather than giving up after a few minutes. Thanks for the in-depth explanation!
thats great Thomas! thank you!
You are a great teacher
Exactly! Vic is the man!
Thanks very much man, i appreciate that.
This is great. Could you revisit this lesson with the magnet camera you got from troy grady? I've been thinking about picking this technique up, but was to intimidated until this vid. Took some of the mystery out of it and made it seem achievable...
Just saw that! Good call. Yeah, looks like he is totally floating there. It also confirms my suspicion that he rocks some thumb nail, like i do. You'll notice his left hand index finger stays pretty flat, muting the high strings, much like you do when playing power chords.
Thanks for the comment :)
AH! Good call. Haha this is where 3D would benefit us, huh? Yes indeed, it is somewhat of a diagonal, downwards motion with the thumb! Straight up/down vertical won't quite get you the sound and feel you're after. I hope that helps!
Thanks for the lesson!
thanks for watching!
this was really helpful.
Great lesson, thanks!
THUMP - Tosin Abasi PDF Free in my chanel ua-cam.com/video/f45f58VOEi0/v-deo.html
Only thing I can't figure out is how to properly mute the lower strings. The strings 'under' the riff, like the low E string when thumbing something at A string and higher.
Amazing video nonetheless, thanks a lot
Hey man, brilliant lesson, and it is definitely appreciated that you took a chunk of your day to teach us mere mortals :)
I would like to ask a question though, how do you get the upstroke so clean? My biggest issue is if I am going to string 5 or 4 or 3, when I bounce off the string below it I smack the string above when my thumb comes up, which causes it to ring. How do I go about muting it?
now that's a really good idea skype video lessons.
Great lesson! Now if I use a clean tone would the bass player s way of slapping work? because I can't get it to even on acoustic. Heck just picking harder with a pick sounds better
That guitar looks awesome
I am so lucky I got to see Reggie and Victor Wooten and meet them after a show, I'm so glad they get the credit they deserve
How long did it take to build the technique with the thumb? I've having some serious problems with this technique and you're the first person to really go in depth on it.
awesome vid, thx
Hey man, is there anyway you can maybe make an updated video on this like your newer ones? I'm having trouble with this technique for some reason and wonder if you can go into more depth on your picking hand maybe? I just couldn't get it down and keep slicing my damn pinky on the knuckle from the higher strings. Dont know if you could do that
awesome vid
Very good lesson yes :)
Im suscribing the shit out of you, incredible lesson man! You explain things beautifully!
Mikee G. thanks so much for watching and commenting!
Thanks for the lesson. I have been practicing on my steel string acoustic and find it harder to hit thumped dead notes. Is this easier on electric?
question from the future. You talk about placement of the thumb, would you say it requires experimentation depending on the guitar? i find mine resonates better when slightly lower than the neck pickup
Man that's an awesome swirl on that guitar !!
thanks man, did it myself!
Ben Eller
Did you start by painting the whole body blue and then swirled the other colors on? .. oh yeah I forgot to say .. awesome lesson as well :)
thank you!!
Hey @Ben Eller, what is the best way to work on the upstroke? i kinda get this.
You're a legend man
awwww shucks! thank you!
EPIC swirl as usual.
got a question, how do you get your hammer on sound more on your first finger, because ive been trying on the bass riff of rapid element disolvement, and my hammer on just doesnt sound, any tips to practice that?
Im having a real tough time getting my Up thumps to be equal volume as the rest of my thumps/plucks.
Any tips? This may just come with time, as I've only been practicing for like 2 month.
Also thumping high strings (past the A) is super tough, any tips?
hey, I'm trying to learn this but i have a bad hitchhiker's thumb like my thumb will go to a complete right angle, do i need to be able to have tension in my thumb? or should i just relax it?
About 18:56, your riff there changes to a more muted sound. Are you able to palm mute while doing that somehow? Or are you muting the strings with your left hand a bit when lifting off? Thanks! Great video.
First 10:00 is literally how to downstoke the string with your thumb at least 50 times then the rest is now to upstroke and hammer on. This video is 100 times longer than it needs to be
amazing!
THUMP - Tosin Abasi PDF Free in my chanel ua-cam.com/video/f45f58VOEi0/v-deo.html
Guess I need to adjust my technique then.. Also, you said a common misconception about this technique is the "slap" which basically comes down to picking. However, the difference I'm seeing between regular picking and this "thumping" is that Tosin actually raises his thumb away from the guitar and hits it in like a diagonal motion, if you catch my drift. To me it seems like you're just doing vertical up/down strokes, am I right?
Thank you!!
I love the swirls on this guitar. It makes me think of metallica's "Load/reload" album covers
That was blood and semen on that album cover
True. It's also pretty metal to me though.
Is this different than the technique that bass players use when slapping? I know Tosin's "thumbing" but is the traditional slapping done differently?
Time to update your old lesson Vids.😉
Does anyone have any advice for the transition from the thumb upstroke to the index finger? That's where I'm getting stuck
Same thing is happening with the tremolo. My fingers want to park on the string so it's coming out staccato
Cool lesson but I can't seem to hit the upstrokes any tips?
Thanks brother
Check out EVH's 'Mean Streets' intro from 1981 for a possible early guitar reference to this kind of slap/tap/thumpage. Is EVH the originator? Who knows. But, it's the earliest reference I can think of.
10/10 Lesson
Do I have to extend my thumb all the way or can I support it with my index finger?
Is the movement coming from the wrist or the elbow? Are you holding your thumb like a thumbs up or closer to the other fingers on the right hand?
Good stuff. How bout the double thump?
I am from the future and this helped me a lot.
Useful for guitarrists and bassists too!
Cool painting in your guitar jaja.
Pd: pardon my englosh, yo hablo español :B.
gracias, mi amigo!!!
Me dieron unas ganas TERRIBLES de practicar la técnica slaping en mi bajo (soy bajista), pero tengo una tendinitis y debo tener inmovilizado mi brazo durante un tiempo :/.
Pero aparte de tocar bajo, toco algo de guitarra, y gracias a ti apesto menos... Así que gracias :).
big thanx!!!
What gauge strings are you using?
I'm using pretty thick strings for standard E (11s on a 25.5") and it's pretty difficult to get a nice slap sound... or should I just stop being a baby and hit the strings harder? I have pretty gentle hands, so maybe that might be the case?
i rock some light strings! 9-56 on my 7 strings. yeah i like light strings because you can hit them lightly and it still sounds like you're hitting them hard!
How do you mute the strings when thumping the higher strings?