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Slapping and spanking?

ChrisJaxon

By ChrisJaxon,
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bassjim Community Regular

bassjim

Posted
Posted

He needed to do something interesting.....A hammer would have done it. :D Have to say this is the typical long drawn out kind of bass solo that was typical in the 80s full of all the self indulgent things which are practiced at home in front of the mirror instead of what he should of been practicing. No real meaningful musical content either. Its the kind of bass solo that gives the anti slap bass dept the justification to put it down.

The drummer also helped by giving him no dynamic whatsoever instead choosing to play hard and loud through out forcing him to go for maximum hitting force rather than dexterity and taste. IMO of course :)

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Conan Mentor

Conan

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Posted (edited)

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1508148539' post='3390012']
He needed to do something interesting.....A hammer would have done it. :D Have to say this is the typical long drawn out kind of bass solo that was typical in the 80s full of all the self indulgent things which are practiced at home in front of the mirror instead of what he should of been practicing. No real meaningful musical content either. Its the kind of bass solo that gives the anti slap bass dept the justification to put it down.

The drummer also helped by giving him no dynamic whatsoever instead choosing to play hard and loud through out forcing him to go for maximum hitting force rather than dexterity and taste. IMO of course :)
[/quote]

I would agree with pretty much every word of that! B)

Still, it could have been worse...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPOiZ7p373g

Edited by Conan
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bubinga5 Grand Master

bubinga5

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Posted

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1508148539' post='3390012']
He needed to do something interesting.....A hammer would have done it. :D Have to say this is the typical long drawn out kind of bass solo that was typical in the 80s full of all the self indulgent things which are practiced at home in front of the mirror instead of what he should of been practicing. No real meaningful musical content either. Its the kind of bass solo that gives the anti slap bass dept the justification to put it down.

The drummer also helped by giving him no dynamic whatsoever instead choosing to play hard and loud through out forcing him to go for maximum hitting force rather than dexterity and taste. IMO of course :)
[/quote]I gotta agree, I don't like that type of slap at all. But that man is a monster bass player.

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bassjim Community Regular

bassjim

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[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1508157164' post='3390104']
I would agree with pretty much every word of that! B)

Still, it could have been worse...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPOiZ7p373g[/media]
[/quote] Verdine has a better class of sh*t solo that comes with stadium selling gigs and multi platinum record sales. He's obviously taking the piss here out of anyone thats really good. " that note just got me 200 dollars, that ones' worth $50, oooh! just got me another $600..ect ect"

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dmccombe7 Grand Master

dmccombe7

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Bass solos just for the sake of it is a big NO NO.
Different if its someone melodic like Steve Lawson, Steve Williams, Zander Zon, Stewart Clayton, Adam Nitti kind of material where the player is playing something meaningful.

The OP clip and the EW&F clips are def not for me at all.

Dave

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bubinga5 Grand Master

bubinga5

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Slap works quite well in the right hands though.Unfortunately fashion, and bad taste(Imo) has lead us to this point. You don't hear us debating tapping, or harmonics in the same way. Its a shame, because in the right hands slap bass can be so musical. Of course I'm not saying this Marcus Miller vid is all that, its subjective.

Quite an aggressive/percussive style for sure. Its just another technique thats been used in the wrong way for a long many years.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHdN_O5k3WM[/media]

Edited by bubinga5
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lowdown Grand Master

lowdown

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[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1508189590' post='3390441']
Slap works quite well in the right hands though.Unfortunately fashion, and bad taste(Imo) has lead us to this point. You don't hear us debating tapping, or harmonics in the same way. Its a shame, because in the right hands slap bass can be so musical. Of course I'm not saying this Marcus Miller vid is all that, its subjective.

Quite an aggressive/percussive style for sure. Its just another technique thats been used in the wrong way for a long many years.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHdN_O5k3WM[/media]
[/quote]

People may not like him stylistically, but with Marcus, not only is his time and groove always on it, he oozes melodic content.
(Sadly something a lot of Bassists don’t have during a solo - Just finger led, aimless wandering).
Terrific musician.

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dmccombe7 Grand Master

dmccombe7

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Thought the Marcus VID was melodic and don't have any issue with that particular slap style.

The Lee Ritenour clip i thought the bassist was good up until that spanking the strings section where i thought it was very amatuerish compared to what he was doing throughout the rest of the song. That wasn't entertaining for me i'm afraid.

Dave

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Conan Mentor

Conan

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Posted

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1508251598' post='3390859']The Lee Ritenour clip i thought the bassist was good up until that spanking the strings section where i thought it was very amatuerish compared to what he was doing throughout the rest of the song. That wasn't entertaining for me i'm afraid.

Dave
[/quote]

It's kind of a trademark of his. I think it's fun, but I can see how it would come across as a bit like the bass equivalent of Dad Dancing... :D

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drTStingray Mentor

drTStingray

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I think you guys all moan too much you know!!

That solo is very reminiscent of Stanley Clarke and Louis Johnson all rolled into one. I'd count myself fortunate to have seen them both live and both playing solos which, if I'd watched them played back would probably have bits which were questionable. They were very exciting live.

Louis spanked the strings like that. Abe was/is an exponent of flamenco type rakes.

Yes all of it can border on bad taste but it's exciting live and in some cases even to listen to. Jaco, Marcus, Stanley, Louis, Mark - all had/have tendencies to border into areas of bad taste occasionally for my money but if I had half of their ability I'd be a very happy person.

Hell, Marcus even plays a 77 Fender - that's bad taste in itself for some (not for me) - but he is guilty of some bits of tasteless solo playing IMHO.

Edited by drTStingray
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dmccombe7 Grand Master

dmccombe7

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I've heard some poor solos from Marcus Miller too but i wasn't really picking on individuals but more on the styles.
I find a lot of the slap solos extremely boring however in the Marcus clip shown above i actually found that one quite easy to listen to.
Usually i don't entertain people who slap without melody.
The spanking thing i could accept a very short one or two spanks across the strings as part of a melodic solo but not as shown in the Lee rItenour clip. I just don't find that part of his playing entertaining. I don't even regard it as technically difficult either so not sure why a talented bassist like him would lower himself to that. He's obviously an excellent and talented bassist and pretty sure he could have done something a little better than the spanking section.
Its just not for me i'm afraid.

I think for me a bass solo needs to have some kind of melody and not just random fast notes.

Dave

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drTStingray Mentor

drTStingray

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I don't totally disagree and like melodic solos - however slap (and even spanking the bass) are more to do with the rythmic/percussive side of bass playing - as is thumpy flatwound stuff for that matter (in an understated way)

Perhaps that spanking the strings is partially for the visual impact as well.

Edited by drTStingray
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chris_b Grand Master

chris_b

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This style of playing is not for me. I don't know if this guy is Joe Louis Walkers regular player but the guy(s) JLW uses are always very good players. . . . when they're not slapping like this.

JLW and the audience seem to think it's OK though, so what do I know!

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SpondonBassed Grand Master

SpondonBassed

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[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1508330728' post='3391402']
It's kind of a trademark of his. I think it's fun, but I can see how it would come across as a bit like the bass equivalent of Dad Dancing... :D
[/quote]

It's a bit like Tina Weymouth's [i]Frog Dance[/i] when the big lad lets loose and spanks his plank whilst leaping about the stage. Not sure who is the sexier of the two though.

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