Larry Graham

Larry Graham, Jr. (born August 14, 1946) is an American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "thumpin′ and pluckin′".

Life and career

Born in Beaumont, Texas, to successful musicians, Graham played bass in the highly successful and influential funk band Sly and the Family Stone from 1966 to 1972. It is said that he pioneered the art of slap-pop playing on the electric bass, in part to provide percussive and rhythmic elements in addition to the notes of the bass line when his mother's band lacked a drummer; the slap of the thumb being used to emulate a bass drum and the pop of the index or middle finger as a snare drum. This style has become archetypal of modern funk. Slap-pop playing couples a percussive thumb-slapping technique of the lower strings with an aggressive finger-snap of the higher strings, often in rhythmic alternation. The slap and pop technique incorporates a large ratio of muted or "dead" notes to normal notes, which adds to the rhythmic effect.

Larry Graham (politician)

Larry Graham (born 24 December 1950) is a former Australian politician.

He was born in Brisbane and arrived in Western Australia in 1956. He worked as an electrical fitter and trade union official before entering politics. In 1989 he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the Labor member for Pilbara. He was Opposition Regional Spokesman for Pilbara from 1994 to 1996 and Shadow Minister for Regional Development, North West, and Works and Services from 1996 to 1997. He resigned from the Labor Party in 2000 and was re-elected in 2001 as an independent. He retired from politics in 2005.

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