Chords for Break-Beat Slap Groove

_ _ [Ab] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Gbm]
Hey [Ab] guys, welcome back.
Today I'm gonna show you how to do a really [E] cool _ breakbeat style slapping lick that you
would hear Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers do or something.
Sounds like this. _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ And the reason why it sounds so cool is because it's all 16th notes. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
There's no eighth notes or rests or anything in there.
So this is a really cool type of groove to do when the band is really laying back and
kind of letting the bass player take it.
So the drummer is just doing like straight time.
_ _ _ _ _ And all the percussive stuff is being done by the bass player.
So it won't work all the time, but it's really neat when you want to take a chance to shine.
And the cool thing is it's easy to do.
It's actually really simple.
Sounds complicated, sounds flashy, and it's easy to build upon as well.
So let me break it down for you.
There's a _ _ PDF file that goes along with this [B] lesson.
I'll be referring to that in a minute, but for now let me just break down the technique for you.
Okay, the first thing you gotta be able to do is this. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Alright?
I'm thumping a note, hammering a note, I'm thumping again, and then I'm plucking [Bm] a note.
_ _ _ Go ahead and do these all as ghosted notes right now.
So it'll sound like this. _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
This can also be used as a triplet.
[G] _ _ _ _
I'm not using it that way in this riff, but it also works that way.
So thumb, hammer, thumb, pluck.
_ [B] _ _
_ _ The way you want to practice this, all ghosted notes.
Then go ahead and start moving this around strings.
I'll start moving my thumb.
Right now I'm doing it on the E string. _ _ _ _
[E] Let's go ahead and start doing it on the A string.
_ _ [Gb] _
On the D string.
_ _ _ [B] Right?
Same thing with my pluck. _ _ _ _ _
That was on the D string.
That was on thumping and [E] plucking on the E string.
_ Oops.
Both on the A, both on the D, both on the G.
That gets kind of difficult, but you just want to have, you want to be able to do this
in all different places.
That way you're not limited _ by what strings you can only play on.
That way you can play any notes, any scales, anywhere.
Okay?
So what I want you to do is practice this now without ghosting every single note.
We're going to start doing some open strings with our thumb. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ And not every one, just the first one. _ _ _ _ _ _
Practice going plucking between your two different fingers as well. _
_ _ _ All [A] the open strings. _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ Right?
Now, check this out.
_ This is really tiring on the right hand, so I'm going to add something to it to kind of
put some breaks in between it without necessarily putting any space.
Okay?
So those were the first four notes.
Thumb, hammer, thumb, pluck.
The next four go thumb, pluck, thumb, hammer. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
Same thing like the other one.
Play it over and over and over again until you're comfortable with it.
Then we're going to put those two together.
Thumb, hammer, thumb, pluck, thumb, pluck, thumb, hammer. _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ And I can see I've already done the next step by adding in some open strings.
So make your first one open. _
Hammer.
_ _ And the second to the last one.
So it's an eight note pattern.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
So one and seven are going to be open strings. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Creates a little bit of syncopation, a little bit of movement.
If I were to take it away, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
still sounds cool, but we just want to add a little bit of movement to it.
So same thing like we're doing by adding open strings, we can start adding in pitches with our plucks.
Now the riff I played for you went like this.
I'll do it in slow motion.
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ Right?
So the first one, open.
[D] _ _ I'm going to my seventh fret [Dbm] D, _ _ sixth fret C sharp, [D] _ _
back to the [B] D.
_ _ [D] _ _
[B] Okay?
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ [G] _ _ _ _ I'm just choosing when to make it an open string.
When to make it a hammered pitch, [E] and when to make it a pitched pluck versus ghosting everything.
All right?
So that's the riff in slow motion.
I'll do it again. _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ And you can see how I had you before practice doing this on all the different strings, because
I'm plucking, _ hammering, playing open strings on all four of them at any [E] time.
_ _ _ _ [G] Not just staying on the E and the G.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ Now I'm going to a high E on my ninth fret.
[A] _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ [A] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ [A] That's the only thing that breaks the pattern, is this little _ _
[Am] _ hitting an [B] A and hammering
up to B, and then [D] plucking _ two [A] Ds, and _ _
_ [E] _ _ then going to two Es [A] on the last one.
[E] _ _ That just kind of acts as a turnaround.
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ Right?
So it's a really neat sounding lick.
And again, it's not that hard to do, and it's easy to build on, because I can take any of _ _ _ _ _ _
these hits and rearrange them, put new notes against them, choose, you know, instead of
hitting a ghosted note, I'm going to make it a pitch, or instead of making [N] it a pitch,
I'm going to ghost it.
So we can create all sorts of really cool syncopations just using these basic techniques.
So practice this, _ and practice this.
[E] _ _
Put them together, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] go ahead and start running this riff, and then see what you can come
up with on your own.
[B] _ _ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _