One of the most popular bass guitar effects used today is distortion. It comes in many flavors from a subtle, sweet-sounding overdrive to a raunchy, full-blown distortion. The type of distortion for you will depend upon your playing style and the type of music you play. For example, a hard-edged, full-on distorted sound would not be well suited to blues. Read more »

If you have been playing bass guitar for a while, you may be thinking about spicing up your sound. The easiest way to do this is by using bass guitar effects. Although effects units can be rack-mounted, the most popular ones are pedals or Stomp Boxes. They have the advantage for live playing as you can switch them on and off with your feet while playing. Apart from helping to shape your sound and make it distinctive, you will also improve your tap-dancing skills. Read more »

Bass guitar lessons available on the Internet are growing in popularity for a number of reasons:

• there may not be a suitable teacher in your area;
• your schedule may make it difficult to make appointments at a set time;
• private tuition can be very expensive.

Consequently, there are a growing number of instructional videos, CDs, and books now available on the Internet. Unfortunately, these products are not all created equal and while some are great, others are not worth bothering with. Read more »

Slap technique, or Slap Bass is a technique that was pioneered by Larry Graham. He was playing bass in his Mother’s band and wanted to add a percussive element to his playing to make up for the band not having a drummer. So Slapping and Popping (or Thumpin’ and Pluckin’ as he called) it was born. The technique was later copied and used by many famous bassists including Stanley Clarke, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, Bootsy Collins and Flea to name but a few. Read more »