Free PDF from Ted Talks Bass
The Thump Primer
Four thumb moves that show up in funk bass lines everywhere. Get your hands set up, drill the moves, and climb the tempo ladder to 108 bpm.
Three pages. Print it and put it on your music stand.
You'll also get my weekly bass tips. Unsubscribe anytime.
What's inside
PAGE 1
Notes and hands
The E minor pentatonic map every drill lives in. How to set your thumb, how light to touch the string, and how your other hand mutes.
PAGE 2
The four drills
Thump and mute. Add the pluck. Thump, ghost, thump. Hammer-on, then pluck. Every beat written out so you know exactly where each hit goes.
PAGE 3
The tempo ladder
Find your breaking point, then climb from 80 to 108 bpm five clean reps at a time. Then chain the drills into a groove.
From a working bassist
I'm Ted Gould. I've played bass for two decades, taught for eleven years, and I gig as a sideman out of New Orleans. These are the drills I use to get a thump groove under my hands. It ain't rocket science. It's pocket science.