This week we’re looking at the great slap bass riff from the song Bonin’ In The Boneyard by Fishbone, played by the great John Norwood Fisher
Bonin’ In The Boneyard
This slap riff is a great exercise in ghost notes, hammer ons and general slap bass technique. The rhythmic feel of the bass line is largely determined by the ghost notes (I have a full lesson on the technique if you’re new to them). There are also plenty of open strings and hammer-ons, so it’s a great exercise to use to improve the accuracy of your technique. The original tempo of 130bpm might be challenging if you are still beginning your journey into slap bass, so don’t be afraid to follow the notes at whatever tempo you’re comfortable with and work up to full speed once you have it under your fingers.
Thanks a lot for sharing a lot things to us. God bless you, man!
Yeah. Great slap line and a great lesson. Having the backing track at various tempos like 90 bpm, 110 bpm and the actual bpm would be helpful in slowly building up speed. Thanks again.
How do I download the backing track?
Simple yet hard to get the clean, lock in nuances.