Its been over a year of playing and I didn’t know how important hammer ons, pull offs and slides were, There just seemed to be certain basslines I couldn’t play no matter what. Either the tonality/sound of some of my notes would be off or I just couldn’t be fast enough… Please share all you can about these concepts will ya? From the basics all the way to exercise and of course where they can/have been applied? Share real life bass lines , your own or others which clearly show the use of these.
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I can’t throw too much specific in here right now - but I want to say this:
Hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, - vibrato - all the little things you can do to play the same notes in different ways - these are, collectively, articulations.
Articulations are the difference between a 1990’s-voice-mail-robot voice, and an actual conversation with a person.
Articulations are what turn a bass line from sounding like a programmed MIDI pad into a groovy, sweet jam.
So - yes, I totally agree - they’re in every bass line because every player flavors their notes in a particular way.
As far as getting into those concepts - @JoshFossgreen - is there module for that? I would imagine there is. If not, I bet Josh has a tasty video or three that talks a bit about this…
If I can think of more specifics, I’ll holler!
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That’s a big question! Like @Gio said, these are all just different ways of articulating your notes. They’re also all somewhat challenging to do well, which is why I left them out of the Beginner to Badass course (except for a few slides).
And also, yes these are really common techniques/articulations, but you can be a totally solid bass player without doing much of that stuff too.
Is there anything specifically you’re trying to play that has hammerons/pulloffs that you’re having trouble with?
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What tips would you tell a beginner like me? How do I begin to use and apply these? Hammer-ons and Pull-offs aren’t as obvious in basslines as slides… I may not want to use em all the time but I should be able to. where to start to work on em is my main problem… If I just do exercises then how do I actually incorporate that into real life music?
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Are you having trouble actually executing the technique, or just wondering how to actually apply to music?
If it’s an application question - most common place to do hammer-ons ever is in the minor pentatonic scale. If you’re using this shape:
Then you hammer on between the 3rd and 5th fret notes. You can hear that sound in this guitar riff at the beginning:
The possibilities are endless! If I were you I’d try a bunch of stuff and see what you like.
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What´s the difference between just a slide (like 
) and a slide plus hammer on (like 
)?
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@bernardo_furtado - I’m not sure there is a difference? Are these both in the same transcription? I’d be curious to hear the track and see if there is a difference. In notation, you’d add the slur line (the hammer-on curved line) to show that the two notes are to be sounded with only one attack.
Sometimes when making tabs, the TAB grabs whatever is in the standard notation, and then you have to go in and edit it to be more TAB friendly.
My first guess - it’s the same technique and sound, but someone didn’t delete the slur line.
If I could see the transcription and hear the line each is referring to, I could try and discern if there is anything different going on.
hope that helps.
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Thank you, @Gio
The first one ( ) is from the intro of London Calling.
Josh plays this one in “5 popular basslines for begginers” (5 Popular Beginner Bass Lines (Are You Playing Them Wrong?) - YouTube), starting at 4:40.
The second one ( ) is from the intro of Smells Like Teens Spirit in the official version of Ultimate Guitar.com.
The intro is like this:
Besides that, the usual slide (like the one which starts in B and finishes in E in London Calling) is always done striking the first note (in the case, B), sliding to the second note (E) and, then, striking the second note (E)?
At least that´s what I understood in Josh´s video (at 6:10).
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Thanks for the references and resources.
I’m going to stay with my original answer - the slur is there because it is a carry over from the musical notation.
The slides are played the same way - attack the first note, slide to the second note (without an additional attack).
The addition of the slur line is due to someone who copied and pasted from notation to TAB and didn’t edit the TAB afterwards.
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I’ve started practicing hammer-ons and pull-offs this week, and have some questions on the sound.
I’m getting a noticeable “clank” on the fret wire when I hammer on. Is this something I should try to minimize/eliminate? (And if yes, then how?) Or is this expected and part of the hammer-on sound?
Also a similar question on pull-offs: it sounds quite different from a normal pluck. The E string especially sounds like I’m playing bass on a bow or something. Is this the expected sound?
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There’s some clank for both of these, but there are degrees of clanking! If you can, post a video or a sound sample so we can hear the clank you’re getting.
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Enjoy… 
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Yes, that’s what I’m doing in the second half of the videos. 
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Hm are you sure about that? I’m pretty certain that the books and videos I’ve read and watched said that it should be a sideways pluck with the fretting fingers, not just a lift. See the talkingbass video on YouTube for example.
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Yep, I understand, I’m just saying that my understanding is different. My source was a book that says it should be a “pull towards the floor”, and the “Pull Off Technique For Bass Guitar” talkingbass video on YouTube. Check out what he says at around 2:00. He explicitly mentions that it should be the same motion as a plucking finger.
But yeah let’s see what @Gio says.
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I agree that you pull the string with a pull off, because you want the note that you fret behind that to ring out and it doesn’t really do it noticeably if you just lift.
Also fits with what I learned on guitar back in the day. Oh and with Module 16 - Lesson 3. I quote Josh: “I’m actually pulling the string across with my pinky finger.”
Regarding the clacking it seems a ‘local’ problem that doesn’t reach the amp!? Can you hear what you are talking about on the recording?
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It’s noticeable (to me at least), especially on the open E hammer ons at the start of the video.
(Also, sorry that it’s only on one channel again. Didn’t bother to edit the audio, just uploaded straight from QuickTime.)
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Ah okay. On the open E I can hear it.
The volume was a bit low and I had to turn it up. It’s no problem but the reason I did not notice at first. I don’t feel confident enough in my knowledge and skill to give you a clear answer if it’s a problem or not.
Something I noticed is that the clacking is almost not noticable with your index finger but as you get to the weaker fingers it becomes more noticable. Maybe that’s something you can experiment with. My guess is that it will get better as you train more. It’s just a guess though and I’m also interested in Gios feedback
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Yeah, both the hammer ons and the pull offs definitely get less comfortable and less controlled as I move towards the weaker fingers, maybe that’s part of the reason. Mark makes them look so easy…
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