"music shop" slapping

[Guest bassman7755]

OK I can do a bit of rudimentary octave slap/pop stuff as per alex slarevskys seminal instruction video (I guess half the bass playing population of the world learnt to slap from this ...) but when in a music shop I always feel inadequate having to resort to playing actual bass lines from songs while the 14 year old kid next to me blazes out what sounds like a cross between fire-fight in a kabul back street and harley davidson on tickover.

So help me - what is this special slap playing ? perhaps someone can point me to useful youtube vid

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='bassman7755' post='1319613' date='Jul 28 2011, 06:35 PM']OK I can do a bit of rudimentary octave slap/pop stuff as per alex slarevskys seminal instruction video (I guess half the bass playing population of the world learnt to slap from this ...) but when in a music shop I always feel inadequate having to resort to playing actual bass lines from songs while the 14 year old kid next to me blazes out what sounds like a cross between fire-fight in a kabul back street and harley davidson on tickover.

So help me - what is this special slap playing ? perhaps someone can point me to useful youtube vid [/quote]


it's called a 'drum kit'

[risingson]

It's the MacDonalds of bass playing. Impressive how quickly it fills you up but ultimately violating.

[bubinga5]

trust me.. you dont need to slap in a shop at any time anywhere.unless you want actually hear what the bass sounds like slapped......do your thing and try out the bass.. i cant stand people who slap/w*** in shops.. i went into guitar guitar to try a sadowsky and the guy got it down and started doing 100 miles an hour slap before i got to play it.. total idiot..

i dont go into a guitar shop to show everyone my chops.. your buying a bass not there admiration

Edited July 28, 2011 by bubinga5

[bubinga5]

[quote name='risingson' post='1319624' date='Jul 28 2011, 06:43 PM']It's the MacDonalds of bass playing. Impressive how quickly it fills you up but ultimately violating.[/quote]ha ha.!!!!. love this..

Edited July 28, 2011 by bubinga5

[allighatt0r]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1319626' date='Jul 28 2011, 06:46 PM']trust me.. you dont need to slap in a shop at any time anywhere.unless you want actually hear what the bass sounds like slapped......do your thing and try out the bass.. i cant stand people who slap/w*** in shops.. i went into guitar guitar to try a sadowsky and the guy got it down and started doing 100 miles an hour slap before i got to play it.. total idiot..

i dont go into a guitar shop to show everyone my chops.. your buying a bass not there admiration[/quote]

Can't agree more with this. The whole idea of trying a bass in a shop is to get an idea if it suits your own playing style and technique, not to impress the punters you'll never meet again and the numptys that work there who have to listen to that sort of crap day in, day out!

[Lfalex v1.1]

Do it fingerstyle in an aggressive fingerstyle-funk/typewritery sort of way.
Or play chords. Weird ones. In a melodic and constructive way.

Failing that, ask for a Tuner and Allen keys. It's what many basses in showrooms need most anyway.

[Pete Academy]

Working in a music shop, I find the most annoying thing that bassists and drummers do is play as fast as they can. I always feel like saying, 'But what if someone asks you to play a slow blues or a groove?'

Why the need for speed?

[JTUK]

Well, if you are buying and you play slap..then you'll need to hear how it goes.

Otherwise file under band riffs... and if you OD on a bass you aren't going to buy or even pretend to buy....you have to put money in the charity box.

Mostly people slap in music shops because their basic playing isn't that good and so they trot out their party trick.

[Spike Vincent]

Stock statement to anybody playing fast slappy show off to their mates in a music shop :

Now play E/F/E/F/E/F/E/F/E/F/E/F/E for 10 minutes,not lose time or cadence and not get bored.Then you can call yourself a bass player.


Then wait until they've put the bass down and proceed to slap the crap out of it faster than they did.

[Spike Vincent]

Also,be prepared and always have a well used plectrum in your pocket when visiting music shops.

[risingson]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1319627' date='Jul 28 2011, 06:47 PM']ha ha.!!!!. love this..[/quote]



Don't get me wrong, slapping is fine but only when it's done properly. My personal issue is that it kills all known dynamic intricacies stone dead, but it has it's place and I do sometimes like to use it myself.

[skankdelvar]

As surprisingly few schoolboys know, egregious rapid-fire slapping in a retail environment is a sure mark of the hobbyist dilettante.

Simply approach the offender, moisten one's fingertip and push it into their ear with a to-and-fro circular motion. Peace will be restored.

Edited July 28, 2011 by skankdelvar

[4000]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1319638' date='Jul 28 2011, 07:03 PM']Working in a music shop, I find the most annoying thing that bassists and drummers do is play as fast as they can. I always feel like saying, 'But what if someone asks you to play a slow blues or a groove?'

Why the need for speed? [/quote]

To see whether or not you [i]can[/i] play quickly on it. It's something I always do. I want the instrument to be as easily playable as possible.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='1319649' date='Jul 28 2011, 07:14 PM']As surprisingly few schoolboys know, egregious rapid-fire slapping in a retail environment is a sure mark of the hobbyist dilettante.

Simply approach the offender, moisten one's fingertip and push it into their ear with a to-and-fro circular motion. Peace will be restored.[/quote]

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='4000' post='1319666' date='Jul 28 2011, 07:36 PM']To see whether or not you [i]can[/i] play quickly on it. It's something I always do. I want the instrument to be as easily playable as possible.[/quote]

I would say it's most irritating on drums. Slow down, for God's sake!

[lowdown]

It's not the 14 year old kid you should worry about in a music shop, he might grow out of it......

It's the grown men with a tash and a beer gut that are attempting it - now thats a problem.




Garry

[Doddy]

[quote name='risingson' post='1319648' date='Jul 28 2011, 07:13 PM']Don't get me wrong, slapping is fine but only when it's done properly. My personal issue is that it kills all known dynamic intricacies stone dead, but it has it's place and I do sometimes like to use it myself.[/quote]

You can get a lot of dynamic range when slapping. Contrary to popular belief,you don't have to
hit the strings as hard as you can in E minor. The problem is that lots of people don't seem
to realise this. It says more about the player than the technique.

[mcnach]

[quote name='risingson' post='1319624' date='Jul 28 2011, 06:43 PM']It's the MacDonalds of bass playing. Impressive how quickly it fills you up but ultimately violating.[/quote]

[Blademan_98]

I can't slap (yet) but as I have a tash and a beer gut, perhaps I had better stop now!

I tend to run scales, then play Radar Love (Golden Earing) and give it back to the shop chap

Though the last time I did that, the music shop guy joined in on the drums!

[4000]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1319675' date='Jul 28 2011, 07:48 PM']I would say it's most irritating on drums. Slow down, for God's sake![/quote]

I don't slap much. I mainly widdle. But seriously, if I don't try playing a bass fast, how do I find out if I [i]can[/i] play it fast? As I believe Chuck Rainey said, you don't want the instrument to hinder your expression. Therefore you have to see what you can do on it. When I'm trying an instrument I want to see how little it limits my expression, not whether I can play a blues in A; being able to play it with as little hindrance as possible is very important to me.

One other thing, people always seem to assume that people playing fast in shops (slapping or otherwise) are showing off/attempting to show off. Why? I'm usually in my own little world (see first para), and unaware of most people around me. I know plenty of other people who are the same.

[bubinga5]

[quote name='4000' post='1319767' date='Jul 28 2011, 09:10 PM']I don't slap much. I mainly widdle. But seriously, if I don't try playing a bass fast, how do I find out if I [i]can[/i] play it fast? As I believe Chuck Rainey said, you don't want the instrument to hinder your expression. Therefore you have to see what you can do on it. When I'm trying an instrument I want to see how little it limits my expression, not whether I can play a blues in A; being able to play it with as little hindrance as possible is very important to me.

One other thing, people always seem to assume that people playing fast in shops (slapping or otherwise) are showing off/attempting to show off. Why? I'm usually in my own little world (see first para), and unaware of most people around me. I know plenty of other people who are the same.[/quote]
i can tell the difference in someone trying out a bass and shining his ego...

[Guest bassman7755]

I was kind of hoping there would be a hal leonard "gratuitous rapid fire slapping for beginners"

Seriously though I'm genuinely curious as to whats actually being played, as far as can tell it seems to involve belting the open E in alternation with hammer-ons and snaps randomly around the rest of the fingerboard.

[Doddy]

[quote name='bassman7755' post='1319786' date='Jul 28 2011, 09:38 PM']Seriously though I'm genuinely curious as to whats actually being played, as far as can tell it seems to involve belting the open E in alternation with hammer-ons and snaps randomly around the rest of the fingerboard.[/quote]

That's what it is most of the time-E,b7 to octave hammer on. Maybe a minor pentatonic scale for the more adventurous ones.

[Lozz196]

I just always play my favourite bass-lines when trying out a bass, mostly Jam stuff, but others, such as Elvis Costello, The Ruts, as that`s what I`m buying the bass for, to play those lines.

No point in widdling all over the fret-board to impress people, then getting the new bass home, only to find out it sounds rubbish at the songs I`ll be using it for.