Car Wash by Rose Royce contains the most played slap bass fill of all time. It’s played by Lequient ‘Duke’ Jobe, a phenomenal bass player with monster slap chops.

If you play in any disco/funk cover or function bands you will definitely have to learn this fill. It’s tricky to hear clearly on the record and transcriptions are often totally wrong.

So today, I’m going to shed some light on how to play this fill and give you some tips on jumping up and down the fretboard to play it.

Car Wash

It’s played by Lequient ‘Duke’ Jobe, a phenomenal bass player with monster slap chops who was Rose Royce’s low ender for the majority of their hits.

Learning The Lick

As you can see on the TAB and stave below, there’s a surprising amount going on here. We have hammer ons, ghost notes and gliss. So take it very slowly to master all the nuances before speeding up.

Rhythmic Syncopation

This fill jumps in on the “and” of beat 1 and there’s also quite a lot of variation throughout.

Jumping Around The Fretboard

After playing the verse and chorus, there’s a substantial position shift upwards that can get quite messy if rushed.

The Minor Pentatonic Scale

This is a basic D minor pentatonic, which is a very popular scale for use in slap fills.