An excerpt from BassPlayer -
“I wasn’t interested in learning the ‘correct’ style of playing bass. I was going back to guitar”: Larry Graham explains how his unorthodox six-string style invented slap bass
How the father of slap bass drove the world’s grooviest band
By Nick Wells
Bassists like Larry Graham come around maybe once a century. Widely credited as the man who invented thumping and plucking, or slap bass if you prefer, he switched to bass from guitar and famously began to thump the strings while playing in his mother's band as a teenager.
Joining Sly & The Family Stone in 1967, Graham made his new style the defining sound of funk. No group before or since – with the possible exception of Prince – had such success in crossing funk grooves and pop melodies the way Sly and his band did on tracks such as Stand! and Dance to the Music.
“Dance to the Music stands out as one of my favorite basslines,” Graham told Bass Player. “Bass players weren't using effects up until that point, and that opened the door. Everyday People is also unique because I'm just thumpin' one note with the same rhythm for the whole song. I'd never heard that before.”
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