In this video I’m going to be showing you how to play the main riff from the tune 43 by Level 42. This is a classic Mark King slap riff and pretty tough to learn when you first try it.
43 – Level 42 – Riff Breakdown
43 is a classic slap bass riff played by the legendary Mark King of Level 42. The riff features many aspects of Mark King’s playing style and can be pretty tricky to play for those just getting started with the slap bass technique.
I’d advise learning the riff in smaller sections as shown below. The practice tracks are provided at a variety of tempi:
Amazing , this kind of reminds me of Running for Cover which I never got the flamingo flare worked into , yet.
Thanks Mark this sounds really good.
Love Mark King’s Slap lines. Learning a lot. More please! :)
this is a amazing lesson!
Over a year ago I saw Mark Smith playing “Love Games” with Mr. King’s fretting hand slaps , I thought that was nice and sounded great. Today I have this style down well , left hand bangdown is what I call it.
Good thing I started that a year ago and slap style in general because my right hand is curled up nerve damage from a rollover car accident I had when 23 , soon I will be 60. My index finger and ring finger clang together but I can still pluck my bass strings using a plastic finger separator that looks like brass knuckles leaving my thumb free to move about to slap.
When your body tells you no find another way , slapping , muted ghost plucks , hammeron palm mutes.
Machine gun triplet licks are killer once coordined into muscle memory.
This lesson from Mark helped me very much , dont try typing with one hand.
https://www.talkingbass.net/funky-slap-bass-fills-how-to-practice-them/
such a great lesson! love you and mark king!
Great lesson!! Complex rhythm, but your transcription helps to understand. Thank you so much. At 15:03 (measure 8) it should be “… is to use *three* ghost notes in there”.
Finally managed to play it. :)) Now I understand why you said *four*. Many many thanks once again!
Hi Mark,
great lesson as always…but i have to correct you:
don’t think the pop in the first bar you are talking about is a “g” on the 3rd string…it doesn’t make sense idiomatically why Mark King should play here a pop on the 3rd string, and when you slow it down, you here a harmonic over the 4th fret on the g-string (a “b”) which is touched naturally because of the slightly angled first finger when playing the 10th with the fourth finger…you can see this in different videos of live-performances as well…
And in the second bar it is not a hammer on from g to a but a slide followed by a slap and a frettinghand slap what follows also Mr. Kings technique and positions the left hand in the 5th position for the following notes…you can also see this in live-performances…
Sorry for my corrections, but i always trust my ears…and for my excuses, i am a studied musician…but i want you to know, that i love your lessons soooo much…thanks for this…