WOODSHED

The Language of Music by Glenn Letsch

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

IT’S TIME TO EXPAND YOUR SLAPPING
and popping into actual grooves that sound
cool. If you’ve taken the time to work through
each of my previous slapping Woodsheds,
you are ready for the next step: developing
a big, fat slap-and-pop sound.
As you begin to master slap technique,
an amazing thing may happen: You start
to get past thinking your way through each
groove. Magically, the parts start to “play
themselves,” as you stop thinking about every
Ex. 1
little detail. The grooves become automatic—
and that frees up your mind just to relax
and let the groove be greasy. Also, once you
are relaxed and confident with your tech-
nique, you can get playful. You can change
a note here and there as long as it doesn’t
fight the groove. From there, you can start
writing some of your own licks.
These examples have everything you
need to be sure your execution is correct:
notation, tablature, slap and pop symbols
for each note, and ghost-notes to help keep
you locked in the pocket. I’ve also sub-
divided each measure. It should be clear
exactly where each note occurs in time
based on the standard 16th-note subdivi-
sions of beats: one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a,
three-e-and-a, four-e-and-a. Remember:
When playing all ghost-notes you should
have two, three, or four fretting-hand fin-
gers resting on the string while striking the
ghost note; otherwise, you’ll get uncontrolled
harmonics, which will weaken your sound.
This is critical!

4
In Ex. 1, ghost-notes act as groove main-
%
" 4 # % & % & % & & ♯ % % % & % & % % & ♯ %!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! %# tainers. Don’t let your right hand stop
moving through each beat. Next, dig Ex. 2’s
octaves. In Ex. 3, keep time by ghosting the

$$ $$
T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & a 1 & 2 & 3 & a 4 & a
upbeat eighth-notes (marked “&”). It will
T lock you in the pocket. Finally, try Ex. 4.
A 4 5 5 7 4 5 Keep your right hand “motoring” through
B 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
the groove. BP

%%& %% ♯ % % ♯%
Ex. 2

4 % % & ♯ % % ♯ % !#
"4 # % &
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! %
$$ $$
T T T T T T T T T P T P T P
1 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a 1 2 & 3 & 4 &
T
6 7 8
A
5 7
B
5 7 (5) (5) 5 7 4 5 6
0 (0) 0

Ex. 3

4 % & % % % & % ♭% & & & & % % #

" 4 # % & % ♭% & & %
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
T T T T T T T P T T T T T T T T P

$$ $$
1 & 2 e & 3 & a 4 e & 1 & 2 e & 3 & 4 e &
T 3
A 3 5 (5) 5 3 5
B 3 (3) 5 6 (6) (6) 3 (3) 5 6 (6) (6) (6) (6)

% %% % %%
Ex. 4

44 % %
" # % % & % %$ &
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! % % & % %$ !#
$$ $$
T T T P T T T P T T T P T T T P
1 & 2 e & 3 4 & a 1 & 2 e & 3 4 e & a
T 7 5 7 7 5 7
A 5 7
B 5 5 (5) 5 5 (5) 5 5 (5) 5 5

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