I am a bad slapper.

[Stag]

Hi chaps / chapettes.

Since i acquired a slightly more "slap friendly" bass (Fender MM) and have been playing it at home more than my normal gig workhorse (Ricky 4001) I thought id give slapping a go again. I have never, ever, had to use the technique at a gig and doubt I ever will but it is so cool. The thing is, even with a short scale easy bass like a Musumaster I am still rubbish.

Hints / tips / videos / anything appreciated! Just for my own amusement really... id love to steam into something funky one time in the middle of a rock song for a solo or something...

[tonybassplayer]

Yes I would also like to just be able to slip a few bars of relatively easy to play but sounds bloody impressive slap in to a song or two per gig ( perhaps when we do our "introduce the band bit".....hate it but the guitarist always does it at some point in the night )

[MissPenguin]

I think my life would be complete if i could master slap bass.

I don't know why i'm so, so drawn to it.

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='MissPenguin' post='154979' date='Mar 10 2008, 11:16 PM']I think my life would be complete if i could master slap bass.

I don't know why i'm so, so drawn to it.[/quote]

I once wrote a book called Ultimate Slap Bass that could be of help to you...!

Stuart

[bassaussie]

I really liked Louis Johnson's Starlicks video. It's like a crash course in the roots of slapping. I started from there, and found it fairly easy to expand out from what I learnt from his video. And that was about 15 years ago!!

[zapp]

Hi Guys, if you want some free tuition from You Tube check out MarloweDK. He has over 200 vids to choose from. Some are playalongs and some are technique ranging from basic to some fairly expert double thumb action (steady now) as well as using a pick and finger style.

[Stag]

hmmmm, ill give that a try... something funky for me to bop along to is aways welcome! Woke the missus up by playing slap the other evening though (with no amp! lol)

[lukeward2004]

I too am a lover of slap playing, although in moderation!

I cant recommend Stu Clayton's "Ultimate Slap Bass" and Ed Friedlands DVD "Ultimate Slap Bass Guide" - I spent around 2 years with each of these, perfecting my technique and learning the tricks of the licks. Im still not great at slapping but im alright, good enough for most slap esque stuff.

No, im nor endorsed by Stuart, but I bloody well should be with the amount of plugging I do whenever someone asks this type of question!

Darn it Stu, why'd you have to write such a good book?

[daflewis]

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='157764' date='Mar 14 2008, 11:41 PM']I cant recommend Stu Clayton's "Ultimate Slap Bass" and Ed Friedlands DVD "Ultimate Slap Bass Guide" -[/quote]
Don't wish to be pedantic, but i guess you might want to add "highly enough" to the end of that??!

I might have to check out Stu's book myself - need all the help I can get with this!

Daf

[MissPenguin]

I may have to check out this book.

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='157764' date='Mar 14 2008, 11:41 PM']I too am a lover of slap playing, although in moderation!

I cant recommend Stu Clayton's "Ultimate Slap Bass" and Ed Friedlands DVD "Ultimate Slap Bass Guide" - I spent around 2 years with each of these, perfecting my technique and learning the tricks of the licks. Im still not great at slapping but im alright, good enough for most slap esque stuff.

No, im nor endorsed by Stuart, but I bloody well should be with the amount of plugging I do whenever someone asks this type of question!

Darn it Stu, why'd you have to write such a good book? [/quote]


Luke,

You're very kind with your praise for the book! It was a labour of love, and the feedback that I've had from it, both from basschatters and members of other forums has always been overwhelming.

At some point I'll be following it up with 'Ultimate Tapping for Bass', or something like that!

Best,
Stu

[D-COOPER]

I too can highly recommend Stu's book.If you work thru it and can play everything in it you will already be a great slap player.I think id be more than happy to reach the standard Mr Clayton sets.Plus you get a lovely big photo of his GB Rumour and iv just ordered one!!!

[lukeward2004]

[quote name='Stuart Clayton' post='158467' date='Mar 16 2008, 05:27 PM']Luke,

You're very kind with your praise for the book! It was a labour of love, and the feedback that I've had from it, both from basschatters and members of other forums has always been overwhelming.

At some point I'll be following it up with 'Ultimate Tapping for Bass', or something like that!

Best,
Stu[/quote]


No worries mate, as I said before (excuse the typo mentioned previously) the book is fantastic and a good resource for all levels of skill.

If you write a book on tapping etc, i'd buy it! I've bought a few books from you since the slap book and all have been superb, really enjoying the Bernard Edwards book.

[matty589]

[quote name='Stag' post='153862' date='Mar 9 2008, 12:56 PM']I have never, ever, had to use the technique at a gig and doubt I ever will but it is so cool.[/quote]

Says it all.
Get a bunch of Sly/Graham Central Station/Brothers Johnson records and work the bass parts out. It's all you'll ever need.
Slap is cool for about 3 minutes until the audience and other musicians get bored of it. It's funny Bernard Edwards was mentioned as he was one of the funkiest bass players ever and most of his iconic lines were fingerstyle. Check out Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power or Teen Town by WR and then check out Marcus's impressive, but far less funky, slapped versions of What is Hip - doing something just because you can isn't always the best idea

[The Funk]

[quote name='matty589' post='172237' date='Apr 8 2008, 02:10 PM']Slap is cool for about 3 minutes until the audience and other musicians get bored of it.[/quote]

[Kubickiboy]

Slap is a technique that, it could be argued, is sadly slightly out of fashion and often slated for it's in-your-face front of house approach.

Why should we bass players always sit/stand in the background? Developing any technique to the point of being proficient so as to mature with your instrument of choice and enhance the music you choose to play is surely not a bad thing.

The first time I ever picked up a bass back in 1986 I hit the E string with my thumb. Then, and still now, I'm a huge Mark King fan. Back then - that's the way I wanted to play.

Now I've played in front of, and have talked to, new(bie) bassists who say they dream of playing slap bass but either can't or don't have an opportunity to do so in the bands they play in. I hope they go back and practise.

Slap brought me on in my playing. I've had to develop other techniques since (i.e. with a plectrum). It's my favourite style of playing. And whenever I hear it, it still excites me.

My only suggestion is bounce, bounce, bounce off your new strings. A good practise is to mute with your left hand whilst "playing" bass drum with your thumb, and snare with your popping finger along with the track you're listening to. Larry Graham style.

As long as you get the attack with your thumb and finger and the note sounds then you're half way there.

Realise you always look good as well as sounding good with slap bass....

Good luck

[The Funk]

Slap doesn't have to be aggressive or in-your-face though. It can be subtle, fluid and even slinky. The only way we'll get there is if we play slap more and don't think of it as showy tricks but an expressive right hand/left hand technique.

[matty589]

Most people think they sound good but they don't. Mark King was and is a fabulous bass player, but he's a better fingerstyle player. Marcus sounds great as a fingerstyle player but these days he can't play a bass line without slapping, which is why all his recent solo albums sound the same. If you listen to the earlier more fusion-influenced Level 42 tracks there are some wicked fingerstyle lines. Marcus is a monster sideman as his career in the 70's and 80's shows. Slap sounds good in a very specific area of music and is a niche technique that should be used only when it is appropriate. A lot of bass players can slap for days but can't hold a groove, lock in with a drummer, follow a chart or be sensitive to a type of song. The "pat" style of slapping is less obtrusive but still sticks out more in a track than either fingerstyle or pick playing. The other problem is that your harmonic choices are much more limited by the style of technique - the right hand is stuck over the fingerboard. Finally if you want to develop a style and sound of your own good luck as when you slap you sound like everyone else that slaps. I have heard 1000's of Mark King, marcus and more recently Victor Wooten clones. If you're going to do it a least try to do something different with it, like Alain Caron for example (although I still prefer his fingerstyle playing). It's a bit like fretless, it immediately sounds the same as everyone else unless you try to do something different with it (Mick Karn for example). Playing any instrument is about making music, and if you concentrate on a particular technique you miss the point. It's like sweep-picking on the guitar - a nice effect when used very sparingly but annoying and unmusical when overused.

[The Funk]

It's a different bass sound. As valid as fretless, as valid as pick playing, as valid as fingerstyle, as valid as harmonics, as valid as overdrive, as valid as chords, as valid as anything else.

I get the point of your post and agree that playing slap all the time and on every type of song can sound corny but I disagree with two other things you said. First off, one guy playing slap only sounds the same as everyone else playing slap if they're one of the 1000s of clones you claim to have heard.

Second of all, your harmonic choices aren't limited in any way. You can play exactly the same notes in exactly the same order when you're slapping and popping as when you're playing fingerstyle (or using a pick).

Also how can you say that someone can slap for days but not hold a groove or lock with a drummer? If they can't do those two basic things then they can't slap for sh*t either.

I just think there's a big grey area between the "used very sparingly" end of the spectrum and the "overused" end that you talked about. Every technique and sound is a legitimate music-making tool. I think it's extremely limiting so say "slap sounds good in a very specific area of music and is a niche technique". If we all thought that way then music and our instrument would never progress or develop.

Edited April 9, 2008 by The Funk

[matty589]

>>It's a different bass sound. As valid as fretless, as valid as pick playing, as valid as fingerstyle, as valid as harmonics, as valid as overdrive, as valid as chords, as valid as anything else.

True, I didn't say it wasn't valid.

>>First off, one guy playing slap only sounds the same as everyone else playing slap if they're one of the 1000s of clones you claim to have heard.

Precisely because most bass players that love slap above everything else ARE clones. I live above a bass shop and hear them all the time - look on YouTube, there's even a guy that sounds more like Marcus Miller than Marcus does! Most of the top players can surely slap as well as anyone because they may need it one day, but I bet they get to use it 1% of the time. Producers, singers, people that make music just don't want to hear it all over their music unless it really works. Remember the Seinfeld theme tune? A sampled slap bass sound played on a keyboard with a pitch bend wheel. Made it sound like a circus theme.


>>Second of all, your harmonic choices aren't limited in any way. You can play exactly the same notes in exactly the same order when you're slapping and popping as when you're playing fingerstyle (or using a pick).

Which is why the vast majority of slap lines are
1.) in E,
2) using root, b7th octave,
3) using one- or two-fret hammer ons - 4th to 5th and b7th to root

Due to the fact that you are hitting a metal string into metal frets with one digit (your thumb) instead of plucking them the sound is naturally more aggressive (even with a pat technique). The only player I heard that plays fingerstyle lines slapped is Alain Caron. He has amazing chops but it sounds like a gimmick - "I do it because I can".

>>Also how can you say that someone can slap for days but not hold a groove or lock with a drummer? If they can't do those two basic things then they can't slap for sh*t either.

I didn't say they can slap well or in time, just slap non-stop.

>>I just think there's a big grey area between the "used very sparingly" end of the spectrum and the "overused" end that you talked about. Every technique and sound is a legitimate music-making tool. I think it's extremely limiting so say "slap sounds good in a very specific area of music and is a niche technique". If we all thought that way then music and our instrument would never progress or develop.


I am all for pushing boundaries, learning different techniques and developing the instrument. It is a niche technique because it is too upfront and aggressive for a lot of situations - go listen to radio, film, TV, currently released music. Where do you hear it? Remember the joke about the best way to shut up a bass player - put a chart in front of them? Because from the mid-80's onwards bass players couldn't read a line or actually make music because they were too busy imitating Mark King. It was faddish and very popular in the 80's and is much less required or desired now, except for bass players that love doing it. I have had students who came to me and all they wanted to learn was slap. I got them to learn about music first, then learn to play fingerstyle in time and finally transfer that information to other techniques. I don't set out to dissuade them from slapping, just to show them there is so much more to music than one particular and very distinctive technique. I in no way believe it is limiting - one of the best songs I heard slap on was "Hearts Filthy Lesson" by David Bowie - one note, but worked perfectly for the track (it was the end title music for the film se7en). Also a couple of tracks on Black Tie White Noise were great too. Mark Egan on "Little Wing" on Nothing Like The Sun by Sting - great chorused slap line. Forget Me Nots, Never Too Much etc. All great lines. The problem with slap is it feels great so it is easy to overplay. Strong simple lines work whichever technique you choose. All the bass players I have ever met that LOVED slap could only do slap, or only wanted to play slap - that is what is limiting. People get hung up on the technique and not on the music.

[The Funk]

Well, I love slap bass, I play fingerstyle, slap and fretless. I'm quite happy to go through another person's gig without slapping a single note.

I also write all of the songs in my band: all the music, including guitar parts, keyboard parts and drum parts, and the lyrics and vocal melodies. And you know what - slap bass sounds good on a fair few sections of a few tunes.

It's not a niche technique. I don't use it all the time but I use it a hell of a lot more than 1% of the time. And I never listen to Mark King, Marcus Miller or Victor Wooten.

I think your point about a lot of players' slap technique being underdeveloped (ie. playing grooves in E) says nothing about the validity of the technique. Just because people use it badly or haven't put enough thought into how to use it effectively that doesn't mean that it therefore shouldn't be used at all.

[Golchen]

Just thought I'd chime in. I'm not too hot at slap stuff yet, but it's just such fun to play like that. I noodle about to Christian Worship stuff a lot and that style can really lift the music on mid-tempo to faster numbers, if not done in a too indulgent way. I always though that Mark King hit the right style as (to me!) it pretty much always seems to service the song.

[greyparrot]

slapping is cool. Im doing a wee bit here

[url="http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user&MyToken=73db7efd-9149-407b-88ce-5e1528bd2dfd"]http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...ce-5e1528bd2dfd[/url] (if it works on the vid page)

It takes time and a certain amount of pain! start just by hitting the e string to a steady 4/4 beat and then the a string then alternate. I think the tone is really important too, cos a good tone will make you more eger to persist with it! good luck.

[MikeyTron]

[quote name='matty589' post='172880' date='Apr 9 2008, 06:47 PM']Most people think they sound good but they don't. Mark King was and is a fabulous bass player, but he's a better fingerstyle player. Marcus sounds great as a fingerstyle player but these days he can't play a bass line without slapping, which is why all his recent solo albums sound the same. If you listen to the earlier more fusion-influenced Level 42 tracks there are some wicked fingerstyle lines. Marcus is a monster sideman as his career in the 70's and 80's shows. Slap sounds good in a very specific area of music and is a niche technique that should be used only when it is appropriate. A lot of bass players can slap for days but can't hold a groove, lock in with a drummer, follow a chart or be sensitive to a type of song. The "pat" style of slapping is less obtrusive but still sticks out more in a track than either fingerstyle or pick playing. The other problem is that your harmonic choices are much more limited by the style of technique - the right hand is stuck over the fingerboard. Finally if you want to develop a style and sound of your own good luck as when you slap you sound like everyone else that slaps. I have heard 1000's of Mark King, marcus and more recently Victor Wooten clones. If you're going to do it a least try to do something different with it, like Alain Caron for example (although I still prefer his fingerstyle playing). It's a bit like fretless, it immediately sounds the same as everyone else unless you try to do something different with it (Mick Karn for example). Playing any instrument is about making music, and if you concentrate on a particular technique you miss the point. It's like sweep-picking on the guitar - a nice effect when used very sparingly but annoying and unmusical when overused.[/quote]

i like what you say there. there are way too many w***y bass players who just slap the hell out of their bass and i for one can not stand any sort of music like that, though i do like Primus lol! but at least thats creative. though i can NOT stand flea.

i prefer a minimalist approach to slapping such as what you might hear Prince do. real basic stuff using only 3-4 notes.