Chords for My Top 10 Slap Bass Riffs - #5 'Power' by Marcus Miller

_ _ Hey guys, welcome to the fifth installment of my new YouTube series which is focusing on my top 10 favorite slap bass riffs.
This week we're going to be taking a look at a classic Marcus Miller track called Power.
_ Okay, let's have a listen to it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ [G#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#m] _ _ _ [A] _ _ [G#] _
[A] _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ This bass line is in the key of B minor and we're going to open up the first bar by playing a three note voicing of a B minor 7 chord.
_ So we're going to be playing three notes all at the 7th fret.
We've got the B at the 7th fret of the E string. _
That gives us the root note.
We've got the A at the 7th fret of the D string.
That gives us the 7th.
And we've got the D at the 7th fret of the G string.
That gives us the minor [B] 3rd. _ _
_ _ [F] And we're going to pluck those using the thumb and fingers 1 and 2 on the picking [Bm] hand.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Now that _ chord lasts for all of the first beat of the first bar.
_ On the second beat we're going to slap the B at the 9th fret of the D string.
_ [B] _ _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ Now that B is going to occupy the first half of the second [G] beat.
And then on the second half we're going to be playing a fast descending run using the double [N] thumbing technique.
Now if you've never used the double thumbing technique before, it's essentially like using your thumb as if it were a plectrum.
So playing down strokes and up strokes.
And I've done a complete course on double thumbing over in the advanced slap bass video course on the Bassline Publishing website.
So it might be worth checking that out.
_ _ So on the second half of beat 2 we're going to be playing a descending group of 4 notes.
_ First of all we're going to play the B and the A on the D string.
[A] _ _
So [D#] down stroke and an up stroke with the thumb. _
[A] _ _ _ _ [F#] We then move down to the A string _ [E] and _ play F sharp [B] and E.
_ _ [E] _ [G] We've got 4 notes.
Down, up, down, up.
Now the tricky thing with these notes is they're played really fast.
These are going to be 30 [B] second notes.
So they're going to go by very quickly. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Okay so beats 1 and 2 are going to sound like this. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _ _
Okay so quite tricky to do if you've not used the double thumbing technique before.
This is certainly quite an advanced line to be playing.
_ So moving into the third beat of the bar, we're going to carry on with that double thumbing idea but we're switching back to 16th notes now.
So these notes move a little bit slower.
We're going to be playing the D at the 10th fret of the E string followed by the B at the 7th fret.
[B] _ _ [D] _ [B] _ _
Again, down stroke, up [Bm] stroke. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ So we're descending _ _ _ [G] through a B minor [B] pentatonic scale there. _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ Now once we've played those two notes, we've got a 16th note rest and then we're going to be popping the octave B again.
[B] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [N] Okay that gives us most of the first bar.
_ Now on beat 4 we have a 16th note rest and then we're going to play two ghost notes.
The first of these is going to be a popped ghost note on the D string and the second is going to be a slapped ghost note on the A string. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ We're then going to slap the E at the 7th fret of the A string. _
[E] _ _ _ _ Now don't forget there's a 16th note rest before you do any of that. _ _
_ [Bm] _ That completes the first bar.
So let's hear bar 1 in its entirety. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [F#] Okay now that E that we've just played is going to hammer on to an F sharp and that F sharp is going to be the first note of the second bar.
So once we've played the F sharp, _ we're going to pop a ghost note on the D string and then we're going to slap _ the A at the 7th fret.
So I'm going to play this with the _ _ E from the previous bar. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Okay [G] that gives us the first beat of the second bar.
_ _ So moving on to the second _ beat of the second bar. _
[A] _ _ We've got three notes. _
[B] Slapping the B, _ _ [D] popping a D _ [G#] and then slapping [A] an A.
[G] _
_ _ [F#] _ _ So we've got this. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ And again.
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ On [E] the third beat of the bar we play two descending hammer-ons.
These are just played with conventional slap technique.
_ _ _ [B] _
A to B _ _ and then E to F [F#] sharp.
_ [E] _ _ [F#] _ _
[A] _ And then on the fourth beat of the bar we're just going to slap the A three times.
_ _ _ _ [E] _
[A] _ _ _ _ So bar 2 sounds like this.
_ _ _ _ [G] _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ [G] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ Let's hear bars 1 and 2 together now.
_ _ [B] _ _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ [A] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Okay so that gives us the first half of this bass line.
Now if you look at the PDF transcription which you can download from the website, you'll see that the second half is almost identical.
So the third bar is the same [E] as the first and the first half of the fourth bar is the same as the first half of the second bar.
So we just need to _ play the fill that comes at the end of the fourth bar.
So this is going to be _ [A] _ [B] very _ _ [G#] _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ simple.
[E] Open E string, hammer-on to the G sharp, pop the octave.
[G#] _ _ _ _ _ That's the third [F#] beat.
Now on the fourth beat we do the same thing but we're going to move up to the A.
[G#] _ _ [A] _ _ _
[N] _ So the fourth bar is going to sound like this.
I'll play the hammer-on from the E just [Em] before.
[A] And _ _ [G#] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ that brings us to the end of the line.
_ _ _ _ Okay guys, thanks for checking out the fifth instalment in my new YouTube series.
We covered a fairly advanced [N] line in this week's instalment and it's one that uses the double thumbing technique quite extensively.
So as I said before, if you're new to the double thumbing technique and you want to know more, there is a complete course on this technique over in the advanced slap bass course here on the Bassline Publishing website.
Don't forget to also go to the Bassline Publishing website, click on free stuff on the main menu and download the PDF and the backing track for this week's exercise.
_ I'll see you next week for another [F#m] flat groove.
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ [G#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#m] _ _ _ [A] _ [G#] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [C#m] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _ _