Advanced Bass Lesson Pt. 1- Tapping

So after slacking off for over 12 HOURS I decided to finally do this. I'm gonna start with one of my favorite advanced techniques, tapping. Tapping involves playing a note by hitting the fret without plucking. It's basically how it sounds in other words. You need to hit the string hard enough that it can be heard but it can't sound out of place with the music or with your other hand(I really struggle with keeping my two hands at the same pitch. It's really hard to learn at first.) A good tap line uses a decent amount of musical theory. You have to know a root note and use your knowledge of the scales and modes to find a melodic line that goes with whatever music you're playing. If you tap along chords with your left hand you can accent those chords with your right hand by jumping around on notes. It's really fun to do once you get good at tapping and know your scales, plus it helps you get comfortable with the top of your neck quicker.

I know many of you don't follow The Roving Cesereans but we have this psychadellic song where I do a pretty sweet tapping line.(This is where I would plug our new CD and give you a link to where you can listen to said song, but it has yet to be released) I'll even go so far as to tab out the tapping line for all of you avid followers of mine.(Haha!)
E ------------------------------------
A --8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D -----15--17---------------------15-
G ------------14--15/17--15--14-----


E ------------------------------------
A --6~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D -----15--17---------------------15-
G ------------14--15/17--15--14-----


E ------------------------------------
A --5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D -----15--17---------------------15-
G ------------14--15/17--15--14-----


E -------------------------------------
A --4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------
D -----15--17-------------------------
G ------------14--15/17--------------

As you can see the right hand is playing *pretty* much the same line while the left hand holds a root note. It sounds fantastic alone and when thrown in with 2 other guitars playing something straight out of the '70s you get quite the acid-trip feeling.

Other fun tapping lines include "The Kangaroo Song" and "Noel" by Grasshopper Takeover.

If you hate tapping, find it hard to do, or just don't think it's cool I ask you to stay with it on your own and just bust it out every once in a while. The skill takes forever to learn well(I'm still practicing) but as you get better at it I find it's one of the most usefull skills to learn on bass besides fingerstyle, slapping, and popping.