Funk Bass Fills: For Funk, RnB, Soul, & HIp-Hop

Make your bass lines more creative, unique, and memorable. Tap into the groove, and evolve your bass lines by using fills. Funk Bass Fills brings you beyond the basics and helps you incorporate figures into your lines that are natural to the groove. Apply these techniques to funk, soul, RnB, and hip-hop. The play-along recording lets you hear the fills in context and practice them with a rhythm section. You will learn to:

• Create bass fills that are appropriate to funk, soul, RnB, and hip-hop contexts
• Play fills using different positions and in different keys
• Use characteristic funk rhythms and rhythmic patterns
• Mine the most useful pitch sources for effective fill notes: major and minor pentatonic, blues, and Mixolydian
• Develop bass lines over common funk progressions such as II V, I VI II V, and blues

Anthony Vitti has performed and/or recorded bass with artists including Sammy Davis Jr, Liberace, Rita Moreno, Bobby Vinton, George Burns, Nell Carter, Robert Klein, Jerry Lewis, Gregg Bissonett (David Lee Roth), Steve Smith (Journey), Toy Caldwell, Felix Cavalier, Carmine Apece, Blues Saracino, Boston, John Scofield, Gary Nicholson, and many others. Anthony is a professor of bass at Berklee College of Music, and has mentored hundreds of musicians.

"A master of feel and groove, Anthony Vitti is one of the great champions of what it means to play the bass. Having had the privilege of three years of private instruction with Mr. Vitti, I approach every session and gig with the mantra that it isn't the amount of notes you can fit into a single phrase that matters; it's carefully selecting those notes that are going to force the person standing in the back of the room with their arms crossed to start moving their feet without even realizing they're doing it. This book will sharpen your critically fundamental skills of timing and feel, and you will emerge a better musician than ever before."

—Annie Clements, Bassist (Sugarland)

"Another great method from the funk-meister/professor extraordinaire. This info couldn't come from a better source."

—Lincoln Goines, Bassist (Mike Stern, Dave Grusin, Michel Camilo, Dave Samules)

"Anthony is an incredible player, and I consider myself very lucky to have had the chance to learn from him. His impeccable time, monster groove, and creativity as a musician have been a true inspiration to me. I will certainly be buying this book, and I highly recommend you do as well!"

—Jenni Tarma, Bassist (Christina Perry, Kylie Minogue)

"I love what Anthony has done with this material. He has taken four very important and useful scales (major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, Mixolydian, and blues) and four very important and useful grooves (funk, soul, RnB, and hip-hop) and created a balanced, symmetrical book on funk bass fills. The music is entertaining and unpredictable. Great use of different keys and rhythms. It reminds me of a very balanced painting or meal. Bon appétit!"

—Rich Appleman, Chair of the Bass Department at Berklee College of Music