Slap

[JTUK]

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1480376963' post='3183961']
Anyone got any tips as to the best eq settings? Also neck or bridge pickup or a combination? Whenever I try the technique it just sounds awful. Ta very muchly.
[/quote]

I'd say not a MM myself but that is another thread. Firstly what bass do you have?
Twin pickups are better for me as the rear on a Jazz for example means you have to be VERY clean and price..because that is the nature of a Jazz bridge pickup.
Go too far with the front and you are into P-Bass territory.

I think the pickup bias determines what and how you platy...so until you know that, it is best to be rather neutral in the positioning.
In time you will vary your hand position quite a lot but firstly you want consistancy so get a locked hand posiution that you can go to in an instant.

The best slap sounds, are, IMV, going to require a scoop. People try and hide from this, but most sounds have it anyway. This means I'd start with the amp controls on 12... this doesn't mean flat, it means a starting point. Roll off on the mid controls so get a nice rounded sound. Too much bass is a killer too, so look to take that down below 12 if poss. You want a scooped bass sound when striking with the thumb so it will need to have an emptiness about it. As always, set to taste...which is yours alone.

To start with, there are a few no-no's, but you can break these rules when you have got a few miles going.

New responsive strings, No flats.
Scooped EQ on both bass and amp.
Cab with a tweeter.

Develop so you can get a sound where you don't need to EQ differently between styles. It is not good having to hit a pedal, for a 1 bar fill on the fly and it is pointless doing it if it can't be heard or come across.

[Kevsy71]

Being a blinkered metal fan of the 80s I loathed slap - until I saw this.

http://youtu.be/3WTF42N8dAw

I can blag a passable version of it, but really need to give time to the terrific Scott Devine tutorials (especially 'Hair'!)

[ped]

Love a bit of slap. I have a really low action and when I dig in slightly it sounds a bit like slap anyway, so during finger style playing I'll often slap a single note, do a pop or a quick triplet and it doesn't stand out as a totally different technique, which is where I think it sounds best.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1480344075' post='3183529']
I've heard plenty of slapping n 'popping outside funk & jazz funk and in most cases I'd have said it was inadvisable, especially in rock genres like metal.
[/quote]

The guy in Mudvayne didn't get the memo
(and I'm glad, as he sounds great)

[mcnach]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1480351691' post='3183612']
I had to turn down a suggestion of Can't Stop which got me thinking. I think the reason I haven't perservered is because it does't bother me that much, but its a bitch having to say "sorry I cant play it"!
[/quote]

and that's a good reason to learn, I think.

It's a technique that features in a lot of 'popular' songs, so it's good to be able to pull it off, even if you won't use it much. That's why I learnt, and Can't Stop was the first song I had to do It was satisfying to be able to do it and to realise that a lot of slap in many songs is not hard at all. I would not say Flea is the best example to follow regarding slap, for he has done a LOT of fast punky slap that I don't particularly rate. But he has also a good amount of cool slapped basslines, like Can't stop.

I ended up playing in a RHCP covers band and it was a bitch going to some of their old stuff like Get up and jump and Black eyed blonde, which are not difficult, only fast... so just a matter of practicing a little. But there were some fun more modern stuff.
The thing about those fast slap basslines is... they sound so much better and funkier if you play them more slowly!

I love the bassline in "Forget me nots" (Patricia Rushen) which is played, I believe, by Freddie Washington (I think!). It's a lovely mid pace bassline and shows how good a Precision can sound slapped. In fact it's probably the song that turned me onto Precisions. It's a beautiful bassline that is surprisingly hard to get *just right*. It's not fast. There are no complicated fingering issues. It's just the right timing and right feel... That's often my example of a tastefully played slapped bassline. More flashy lines have their place too, but I'd start with something like that to build technique and confidence.

In my originals band I use a little slap in a couple of songs, purely for dynamics. They're mostly fingerstyle but one in particular is a bit of a build-up... starts with a moody couple of bars of pulled guitar chords by itself, then another guitar joins in and hi-hats... and it keeps building up, you get some bass drum... eventually the song picks up some pace, the drums become a bit more busy and snare comes in, and finally bass comes in... It's still mid tempo and it keeps going, changing melodically to something a bit more upbeat, and for the chorus I add some slap, and I think it fits very well and adds contrast, especially when it stops and goes back to a calmer verse,, with bass played fingerstyle.
I am not a huge fan of slap, nor am I a great slap player, but I think it can be a very cool sound to have in your palette of options. Just don't try to show off... it rarely works unless you really have something special going on. Most people realise you're trying to show off, and they'll call you names and you'll look ridiculous to the musicians in the audience...

which reminds me... I need to do something about one song we often end up our gigs with... in the live version we add a long ending that has a lot of slap. It just came up one night, and I only slapped because that's what the singer asked for and I didn't come up with anything interesting... almost just straight octave slap pop changing chords as the progression changes. Which is not necessarily bad... BUT he often has the habit of bringing people's attention to me while I play that as if I were some virtuoso bass player, and it deeply embarrasses me . I have to a) come up with something more interesting and ask him to stop doing that... I am a bass player, don't put the spotlight on me, damn it!

[No lust in Jazz]

^ Great Post

[mcnach]

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1480376963' post='3183961']
Anyone got any tips as to the best eq settings? Also neck or bridge pickup or a combination? Whenever I try the technique it just sounds awful. Ta very muchly.
[/quote]

Pretty much whatever your normal tone is.

I see many suggesting a scooped sound. That sounds good alone, but in a band context it'll just get a succession of bangs and clanks with no substance. You *may* reduce mids a bit if you're using a very mids rich sound, but be careful.

[mcnach]

The right bass/set up is also very important especially at first. My first attempts were very frustrating... until I tried another bass and it actually sounded good. Clumsy but good sound. As JTUK said, make sure the strings are responsive... flats work and are beautiful but not the best to start with, same with dead rounds. Use something reasonably fresh. Low action. With high action you'll have to work harder at getting the right bounce and it'll feel a lot harder than it has to be. Sound... if you're practicing by yourself... a slightly scooped sound would probably sound more pleasant. Both pickups? Try both full or back off the bridge one a little to get a bit more presence. Try just the neck alone for fun and see what you think, for a more "70s" type of sound...
Also... mind where you hit the strings. Some basses, in particular P/J type, have a pickup right in the way. A Stingray is perfect... but a Jazz also has a good space to do your popping with ease.

And try to relax!
When I started I found it exhausting and often my shoulder and/or arm would feel tight. I was just tensing up too much and I was probably leaving my whole arm rigid and moving the whole thing, flapping the hand a great distance away from the strings too. That meant: tiring, very imprecise, noisy...
As I got better, my movement started to get restricted more and more to my hand alone, to the wrist. I'm still nowhere as economic and smooth with my wrist action (shut up, you in the back) as I should... but it's a lot better and the sooner you focus on that, the faster you'll get better at it.

[AdamWoodBass]

I have a love/hate relationship with slap. I dedicated a LOT of time to getting it down and as such got pretty good at it. Then I realised that unless you're Marcus Miller it's not much more than a party trick in my opinion. Subtlety and timing is key (as with most "advanced" things in bass playing). Too much of it and it sounds really really really REALLY boring.There's nothing worse than walking into a guitar shop and hearing someone hammering the hell out of a bass playing 1500 notes a second with absolutely zero regard for feel and groove.

On the other hand if done tastefully it sounds sublime. For me slap is ALL about groove; accenting an off-beat with a well timed snap or another thing I like to do is drop out of the groove all together to play an alternating thumb and pluck run in a swung triplet feel over a straight 4/4 for a bar or two then going straight back to the groove. It's really effective (especially if the drummer hears you and accents your run with cymbols) and makes people sit up and listen. But it's just that really, it's seasoning to your playing and not the main flavour. I used to be the kind of player that would slap at every opportunity which looking back must have been so irritating for my bandmates. Now I very very rarely play slap over things, I still practice the technique so that if there comes a rare opportunity where it will work I'm ontop of my game but it's all about making sure what I'm playing is musically appropriate.

As for learning it depends how "good" you want to get at it like any other technique. Also depends on what sort of style you want to play, Mark King and Marcus Miller for example are very very different in style. I tried to get the Mark King thing down but realised I a ) didn't have enough control in my wrist and b ) I massively preferred Marcus Miller's sound so that's the route I went down. Starting out it really is a case of back to basics "thumb, pluck, thumb, thumb, pluck". Once you get the basic technique down start adding in additional rhythms or increasing the tempo. My best advice is to always practice with a metronome or drum track, because slap is such a rhythmic thing you really need to make sure your timing is dead on point.

Edited November 29, 2016 by AdamWoodBass

[lowdown]

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1480426466' post='3184264']
Then I realised that unless you're Marcus Miller it's not much more than a party trick in my opinion. S
[/quote]

A bit more than a party trick for a working freelance player.
If you don't dep, fine. If you do, be prepared to run into the likes of 'Car Wash', 'Somebody Else's Guy'. If you don't slap then you should hide, or be prepared to 'Run for Cover'.

Edited November 29, 2016 by lowdown

[funkgod]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1480430776' post='3184320']
'Run for Cover'.
[/quote]

ba da bum

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1480430776' post='3184320']
A bit more than a party trick for a working freelance player.
If you don't dep, fine. If you do, be prepared to run into the likes of 'Car Wash'
[/quote]

Ah yes... the annoying fill that 99% of bass players do an awful job of playing.

[AdamWoodBass]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1480430776' post='3184320']
A bit more than a party trick for a working freelance player.
If you don't dep, fine. If you do, be prepared to run into the likes of 'Car Wash', 'Somebody Else's Guy'. If you don't slap then you should hide, or be prepared to 'Run for Cover'.
[/quote]

True and in my last function band there were a couple of tunes where it was required ("Car Wash" and "Never Too Much" etc) but on the whole it takes up about 2% of my playing.

Also "Run for Cover" - I see what you did there . I'm going to stop commenting before I get myself into "Hot Water".......

I'll get my coat.

[lefrash]

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1480333516' post='3183377']
There's some stuff on YouTube by Scott Devine that looks pretty good, you could sign up to his lessons too, costs a bit but seems to be rated by people on here.

Also I used this back in the video days, don't know if it's available on DVD but it helped me a lot,


http://youtu.be/BMTgvcX6bts
[/quote]

I used to have this video!! Haha it's pretty much how I learned how to do it. Not that I'm great at it. I've barely used it in band situations over the years. It's one of those techniques that I've spent way more hours practising it than its worth.

[Conan]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1480358059' post='3183683']
I was massively into slapping in the 80's. I was a serious Mark King fan & had the Trace Elliot Stack & the Jaydee Supernatural bass to prove it.
I still really enjoy playing slap bass occasionally, but my technique isn't anywhere near what it was back then.
[/quote]

Me too! Except I had the Status series II rather than the JayDee...
[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1480412563' post='3184082']
For my money the best example of how to slap with groove is Mister Magic by Troublefunk with Big Tony Fisher on bass. I don't know how to put up YT stuff in a post here. For the funkless, Troublefunk were the big band of Washington DC's 80s Go Go scene. Big Tony was /is a monster player and deserves more acclaim.
[/quote]

Awesome! I'd totally forgotten about Troublefunk! I was heavily into them in the late 1980s and early 90s. Their "Trouble over here" gig at the Brixton Academy was still one of the best I've ever been to! Big Tony's tone was great. Hey T-bone!!

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDQL5dCqgU[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewiFYU5D2NI[/media]

Edited November 29, 2016 by Conan

[Conan]

Let's not forget Shakatak and Mezzoforte. OK, they can overdo it at times, but some lovely slap lines in there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbE9yf0ejM0
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LaeyZTVDo[/media]


And how about a bit of slap on an 8 string bass?
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KCcn3mzT5c[/media]

Edited November 29, 2016 by Conan

[Conan]

And how about this one for a simple groove? Plenty of space one might say. Yippee aye oh, hi ay

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDbpg_EYgE0[/media]

Edited November 29, 2016 by Conan

[RhysP]

I was a big fan of Kim Clarke's superb slap playing with Defunkt in the 80's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhk4aZ89iS8

[lowdown]

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1480433957' post='3184365']
I'm going to stop commenting before I get myself into "Hot Water".......

I'll get my coat.
[/quote]

That's embarrassing and the sort of drivel that comes out of the mouth of a teenager.
It reminds me very much of my 'School Days'.

I will leave you to get your own coat.

[lowdown]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1480433438' post='3184361']
Ah yes... the annoying fill that 99% of bass players do an awful job of playing.
[/quote]

Ah yes...The dep spends the whole number trying to get that phrase right, only to find that there is a different one in the last chorus...

[funkgod]

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1480433957' post='3184365']
I'm going to stop commenting before I get myself into "Hot Water".......
[/quote]
[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1480438964' post='3184415']
That's embarrassing and the sort of drivel that comes out of the mouth of a teenager.
It reminds me very much of my 'School Days'.
I will leave you to get your own coat.
[/quote]


Oh dear, i must of heard that 42, 43 maybe even 88 times
"The Essential" thing is when the spot light is on you and your "standing in the light" just have a "blast"
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-rWGHNGdKo"]https://www.youtube....h?v=M-rWGHNGdKo[/url]

errr
pass mine as well will you.
goodbye ray....... ( you might have to think about that one )

Edited November 29, 2016 by funkgod

[Funky Dunky]

Please stop describing slap bass as a party trick. It's quite insulting.

[MisterT]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1480438501' post='3184409']
I was a big fan of Kim Clarke's superb slap playing with Defunkt in the 80's.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhk4aZ89iS8[/media]
[/quote]

That's lovely, ta for posting, I'll look them / her up.

Gotta learn this one... the opener sounds doable after about a year of grafting but after that...mmm, yeah right. MarloweDK does a good job on a playalong somewhere.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q3PsoWbW9I[/media]

[Conan]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1480453305' post='3184586']
Please stop describing slap bass as a party trick. It's quite insulting.
[/quote]

Who did that? I don't think it was me...

Edited November 30, 2016 by Conan

[AdamWoodBass]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1480490658' post='3184725']
Who did that? I don't think it was me...
[/quote]

I think it was me and was probably a bit harsh so I hold my hands up to that. Don't get me wrong I love slap and I love getting the opportunity to do it, I just get a bit bored of it.