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SPANK!
How to SLAP, POP, YANK, and SMACK Magical New Sounds out of Your Favorite Guitar
BY JUDE GOLD

O K AY, G U I TA R S L I N G E R S, E N O U G H S ENOUGH. F o r decades, funk bassists have been having heaps of fun with this whole slap/pop thing, and we guitaristsa typically me-oriented bunch not known for being generous with the spotlighthave, for some inexplicable reason, politely let our four-stringed brethren have this flashy style all to themselves. Well, its time we finally grabbed a fat slice of the slap/pop pieespecially because a slapped guitar yields astonishingly cool textures that bassists simply cant match (unless they cop our game and bring distortion, octave harmonics, effects, wah pedals, bent notes, chords, and high strings into the mix). I dont care how nice your guitar is, whether its electric or acoustic, baritone or 12-string, boutique or sweatshop, or how well it has treated you over the yearschances are its due for a good whuppin. Its time you slapped the living harmonics out of that thing, and this lesson will show you how. And dont worryas long as you dont strike your instrument with anything harder than your

own hands, musical corporal punishment of this sort shouldnt cause it any damage. If anything, these full-contact guitar tactics will reward you with an avalanche of funky, spunky, sparkly, and fully-rockin riffsthe likes of which most guitarists have never explored. The truth is, there are already scores of devoted guitar slappers on the rise. (Ben Lacy, Rodney Branigan, Justin King, and Thomas Leeb are four who come to mind). Having played this style for years, I nominate we name the genre spank guitar. In fact, it may be only a matter of time before a catchy, guitar-driven tune with an infectious, inyour-face spank riff makes it high up the charts and six-stringers everywhere jump on the spankguitar bandwagon. So, why not beat the masses? The following pages are your chance to get in on this style at the ground floor. Ill share the rudiments of spank as well as some riffs from my soon-to-be-released solo album (many of which I actually play on a baritone MJ Mirage, because spanked riffs sound all the more monstrous down a fourth). The real beauty of spank guitar is that

See how every lick in this lesson is played! Visit GP's exciting online video destination, GuitarPlayerTV.com.

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perhaps more so than with any other guitar approach, no two people do it the same way. Experiment with these examples just a little bit and youre bound to come up with a spank style thats uniquely your own.

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ping directly on the fretboard itself, so, unfortunately, any switches or knobs installed above the high frets (such as, for example, a Les Pauls pickup selector) may be directly in the path of your slapping arm.

ALL IN THE WRIST

No matter how impressive a given piece of slap-guitar kung fu sounds, most black-belt spank riffs can be broken down into a succession of basic white-belt-level moves. The most crucial of these is the simple slap technique in Ex. 1. To execute this percussive maneuver, fret a note on the lowest string with your 1st finger, and, while using the underside of that same finger to mute the other five strings, slap (indicated throughout this lesson by an S between the staves) the sixth string with the outside edge of your strumming-hand thumb. (Pickers will have to store their plectrums between their palms and middle or ring fingersor, simply chuck em aside.)
EX. 1

If youre new to this form of 6-string smackdown, start off gingerly. Blisters, bone spurs, and fractured thumbs are unlikely, but if you become hooked on this style, the side of your thumb will have a big callous in its future. For a good tone, dont press or poke with the slapping thumb. This appendage should be almost fully relaxedan extension of the hand that can be whipped hard against the string using the centrifugal force generated from a quick twist of the wrist. Only a loose thumb immediately bounces off the string, thus minimizing the actual flesh/string contact time so that the string vibrates unimpeded. While many funk bassists slap with their thumb angled upwards in an approximate two oclock position (if theyre righties, that is), as this lesson unfolds, youll find that in spank guitar, the thumb can execute many cool stunts when the slapping hand is angled more towards the floor, as shown in Ex. 1s accompanying photo. Spank guitar also involves a lot of slapEX. 2

POP MUSIC
The natural counterpart to slapping is poppingthe tasty practice of yanking a string away from the fretboard with the tip of your index finger and releasing it (indicated by a P between the staves) so that, by its own tension, it slams against the fretwire with a distinct metal-on-metal pop that precedes the ensuing note [Ex. 2]. You can lift the string with the pad of your finger, or, like some ace chicken pickers, with your actual fingernail. (An acrylic nail may be necessary for those players whose natural nails are on the fragile side.) And slapped and popped notes muted by the fretting hand are often employed to further boost the percussive element in spanked riffs [Ex. 3].

3
1 *S T A B

*P T A B

7
*P = pop string w/picking-hand index finger.

5
*S = slap string w/picking-hand thumb.

EX. 3

*S T A B

*P

X X
*Mute string w/fretting hand before slapping/popping note.

Who taught bass phenom Victor Wooten to be so funky? His guitarslapping big brother Regi [left], thats who. Regis really the basis of everything I do, the younger Wooten once told Bass Player magazine.

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Eventually, you may find it useful and fun to incorporate tapped notes [Ex. 4] within your spank riffs.

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make the overtones scream. Spank the strings approximately an octave above Ex. 7s fifthposition A7b9 (landing the side of your thumb right between the 17th and 18th frets) and, despite the chords zigzag shape, the partials will ring brightly.

THE SECRET INGREDIENT

Technique-wise, slap guitar does, indeed, borrow a lot from slap bass. On a 6-string, however, the style really comes alive when you incorporate the electric guitars many compelling sonic capabilities, including, most important, octave harmonics and other shimmering partials. As the stunning two-hands-on-the-neck timbres of Michael Hedges acoustic piece Aerial Boundaries, Edward Van Halens Mean Street intro, and Tuck Andress slap magic on Tuck & Pattis Tears of Joy each prove, having sparkly harmonics fly forth from a simple slap on the fretboard can be thrilling for guitarist and listener alike. And, once again, its all about the bounce. Get that slapping thumb to ricochet cleanly off the string (this time exactly one octaveor 12 fretsabove the C held at the
EX. 4

5th fret of the third string) and an octave harmonic will ring forth [Ex. 5]. For boosted sustain, hit the string exactly over the prescribed fret and add some compression or distortion. Even more satisfying than single harmonics, of course, are chords made up of slapped harmonics, and theyre not hard to execute once youve developed a decent spank attack. For instance, fret a simple Am triad at the 5th fret of the highest three strings and, mimicking its vertical shape with your thumb exactly 12 frets up, slap the strings cleanly [Ex. 6], and the resulting chord should burst with juicy harmonics. And if the chord tones dont all reside at the same fretas is the case with the second chord, the diagonal Dm triad fingeringsimply angle your thumb as shown to match the chords diagonal shape. Of course, chords dont always have fingerings that can be exactly mimicked with the thumb, but sometimes just striking within the vicinity of the chords octave frets is enough to
EX. 5

T H E D I S C O D O O R WAY
Now that all the engine parts are in place, its time to put them together and get your slap/pop motor running, and theres probably no easier jumpstart than the simple disco groove in Ex. 8. As indicated, slap each low A and pop each high A, holding the low notes for a full eighthnote and the high notes for only a staccato burst (as directed by the staccato dots). When its time to cut off a note, do so by simply lifting its fretting finger. Most of all, though, focus on keeping the time even and the groove strong. Without a fat, confident, pocket, it doesnt matter how hard you hit your guitaryour slaps will have no sting.

~~~~~

*S
*T T A B

~~~~~
T A B 5 17

17
*T = tap note w/picking-hand finger.

*Slap string 12 frets higher than fretted note to produce harmonic.

EX. 6

Am
Freely

Dm

S T A B 5 17 5 17 5 17

S 5 17 6 18 7 19

8va

EX. 7

EX. 8

*A7 9
8va

Disco feel = 120-144

A or Am

3 1
S T A B 6 18 5 17 6 18 5 17 *Implied harmony.

S T A B

etc.

7 5 5

7 5

7 5

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and chicken pickers often incorporate open strings into their riffs to facilitate fretting-hand position shifts. Another reason they do so is that open notes are useful as clone tonesalternate versions of pitches fretted on lower strings that create a pleasing timbral contrast between two otherwise identical notes. Plus, they just plain sound good, because nothing rings as vibrantly as an open string, particularly when it is popped, which is exactly why Ex. 13 is so full of zeroes. Each 0 in the tablature represents an open string that is spanked, yanked, or pulleda note that (in many cases) could have been played as a fretted pitch but is instead sounded at the nut to achieve a more lively tone.

THRASH-FUNK ENGINE
Many a great slap lick can be constructed from a sixteenth-note funk feel. A good place to start is with an aggressive, highly percussive punkfunk freakout such as Ex. 9. Inspired by Fleas memorable bass bombast on the Red Hot Chili Peppers Blackeyed Blonde, this repeating onebar loop adds muted notes and hammer-ons (which, like pull-offs, are indicated by standard slur markings) to the spank party. Remember, only when youve committed the moves to motor

memory and the music is no longer trickling out of your brain, but exploding with true conviction from the center of your chest, will you be able to deliver this riff with any real power.

P E N TAT O N I C C H O K E H O L D
Theres a reason the pentatonic scale [Ex. 10] is so beloved by the worlds guitaristsit fits the human hand perfectly, and when it comes to spank licks the scale is no less convenient. Building on the rhythmic fabric of Ex. 9, Ex. 11 adds fourths hammered at the 7th fret and harmonics slapped at the 5th on beats two and fourchordal handclaps, if you will. Play this with a slow sweep of the wah pedal and, perhaps when the rest of the band breaks for a few beats, burst into the flashy triplets shown in Ex. 12, and youll get everybodys attention.

R E P E AT YO U R S E L F
Phase shifters, ring modulators, envelope filtersthese are just a few of the many effects that will add dramatic colors to guitar riffs, including, of course, spanked licks. One of the most

OPEN KIMONO
Its no secret that flat-pickers, twang-bangers,

EX. 9

EX. 10

la early Red Hot Chili Peppers = 108

Am7
2 3 1 S S S P P S P S S P S P 4

A minor pentatonic scale

V

As the explosive Justin King proves at every show, acoustic guitarswith their drum-like bodiesmake stellar slapping instruments.

T A B

4 5 3 5 X X
1 1

4 3 5 X X X

5 X

EX. 11

EX. 12

Percussively = 100

Percussively

Am
4 3 1 S S P

1 1 1

= 100

Am
3 4 3 1 3

1 1 1

S 5 17 5 17 5 17

S 5 17 5 17 5 17

S P S P

S 5 17 5 17 5 17

3
S P S P

T A B

7 7

X X

7 7

7 7

7 7

7 7

7 7

7 7

T A B

7 7

X X X

7 7

X X X

Ben Lacy is a veritable one-man band unto himself. His spank-guitar tour de force Layercake is one of the funkiest solo guitar pieces ever recorded.

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exciting effect treatments is an echo set to repeat a note precisely a dotted eighth-note afterand at exactly the same volume at whichit is initially struck. Echoes timed in this manner will transform ordinary picked or slapped staccato eighth-note lines into machine-gun fast sixteenth note textures la EVHs volume swells on Cathedral; The Edges sheets of sound on U2s Streets Have No Name, and Albert Lees twangy pyrotechnics at the end of Country Boy. Miraculously, much of this dotted-eighth delay magic can be simulated with a good spank/hammer attack, as is required to play the simple echoing lick in Ex. 14. Employ efficient use of fretting-hand string muting, add a sweep filter of some kind, and youve got a mesmerizing electronica texture. As Ex. 15 demonstrates, you can also liven things up by tossing in a hammered fourth on the highest two strings at the 10th fret and

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then slapping the interval as harmonics a sixteenth-note later.

SEEING IS BELIEVING
No example in this lesson is a musical piece unto itself. However, each example is a key that can unlock the door to a boundless world of inspired spank riffs. To see video of me demonstrating where each of these gateway riffs (and much more) can lead, be sure to go online and click to GuitarPlayerTV.com. g

Spanking in Bangkokthe author slapping an Ernie Ball Music Man 20th Anniversary Silhouette in Thailand on the recent Bx3 Asia tour, featuring bass deities Stu Hamm, Jeff Berlin, and Billy Sheehan.

EX. 13

EX. 14
Techno feel

EX. 15
Techno feel = 132

E11 or
3 1

= 108

Bm

= 132

Em or E7
3

8va loco

2 3 S T A B

1 P S S

P S

0 7 6 7

4 0

5 0 4

4 0

7 0

4 0

T A B

9 9 0 7 7 7 7

T A B

9 9 0 7 7 7 7

1010 22 1010 22 7 7

9 9 7 7

HUH?
As is the case in many other styles, in spank guitar the fretting hands job is not only to hold notes, but also to silence them through the use of fretting-hand muting. Generally speaking, when any note is slappedsuch as the spanked low-E that opens Ex. 14only that note should ring. The other strings should be muted with the underside of one or more fretting fingersor, in the case of the lower strings, by creeping the thumb over the upper edge of the fretboard. (Advanced muting tip: When you hammer Ex. 14s second notethe octave E at the 7th fret of fifth stringland the hammering finger with its pad slightly touching the adjacent, ringing low-E string. This will conveniently mute the low E, cutting it off at its written value of a sixteenth-note.)

Learn more spank riffs from Jean Marc Belkadis book Slap & Pop Technique for Guitar [Hal Leonard]
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