Slap bass - no longer mainstream?

[Heathy]

Being honest, I would like to be able to slap in a tasteless way like a typewriter.

I'm sure I'm not alone.

[drTStingray]

If you were around in the 80s, if you couldn't slap you'd be quite likely to fail an audition.

Used tastefully it can create a nice dynamic change - and from my experience, audiences find it exciting and like it.

Of the bass players I know locally, there are very few who use the technique and probably a similar number who can't actually do it.

It's well worth using, in my view, as long as you do it tastefully.

[NancyJohnson]

If slap is dead, then there is a god.

[LITTLEWING]

The odd little riff in a toon adds colour and emphasis if done tastefully, other than that it's a bloody annoying noise you wish would stop, a bit like bagpipes.

5 and 6 string basses will die out next. Waste of wood and strings.

[Japhet]

Slap may be out of fashion but the snobbery it evokes will never die.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1507468229' post='3385628']
Slap may be out of fashion but the snobbery it evokes will never die.
[/quote]

Yep, along with fun poking, and p*ss taking from the opposite corner.. Like this thread for instance.
Still plenty of slapping going on if you search it out. This year I have seen Marcus Miller, Will Lee, Melvin Davies and Nathan East, all still slapping away and very good too.

Edited October 8, 2017 by lowdown

[Hobbayne]

I havent slapped for years. I used to do it quite a lot when it was popular. I cant even remember how to do it these days.

[louisthebass]

Sounds good when used tastefully & sparingly in a tune (Forget Me Not's & Never Too Much for example). Unfortunately it can get overdone in the hands of the wrong bassist - that's when everyone gets hacked off with it... With the likes of Flea and MK, it became an essential part of the sounds of their respective bands, and to my ears works well.

A technique that I've only recently started to get to grips with, but don't plan on doing loads of machine gun triplets or 16ths anytime soon...

[Mastodon2]

It's funny how much ire slap seems to draw. People don't see to get so worked up about being "tasteful" with their fingerstyle for example.

[Al Krow]

[quote name='Mastodon2' timestamp='1507483160' post='3385775']
It's funny how much ire slap seems to draw. People don't see to get so worked up about being "tasteful" with their fingerstyle for example.
[/quote]

Very true.

But isn't the point that bass is very (all too?) often the thing in the background, albeit the gorgeous glue in the mix. This works for good and bad e.g. it's much less noticeable if you screw up when playing live vs either the vocalist or, worse still, the lead guitarist hitting a set of bum notes?

Once you start introducing slap into the set the bass becomes more of a front instrument and suddenly gets [i]noticed[/i].

[ahpook]

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1507397922' post='3385251']
One of my BC buddies raised the question is slap no longer something that leading bassists use as part of their sets...
[/quote]

It depends what you mean by leading bassists I suppose. A lot of 'virtuoso' bassists still use it, don't they ? - your Victor Wootens, Marcus Millers, etc.

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1507483749' post='3385779']
Once you start introducing slap into the set the bass becomes more of a front instrument and suddenly gets [i]noticed[/i].
[/quote]

Indeed, I think it's a bit like a guitar solo - folks hear a solo and go 'guitar', a slapped bass says 'here's the bass'

Edited October 8, 2017 by ahpook

[lowdown]

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1507483749' post='3385779']
Once you start introducing slap into the set the bass becomes more of a front instrument and suddenly gets [i]noticed[/i].
[/quote]

Well there you are, no hiding place. You really need to be on it, a bad thumb sticks out like a sore thumb.

[Cuzzie]

Disagree about bass not being noticed if you foul up in the depths of a song, I thing it’s more noticeable than a guitarist chugging slightly out of time, a wrong string in a chord.
We have to keep the groove and the time

Either instrument doing a solo and doing it wrong will get noticed

Edited October 8, 2017 by Cuzzie

[spectoremg]

[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1507465077' post='3385595']


5 and 6 string basses will die out next. Waste of wood and strings.
[/quote]Nice one. Your avatar's ace too.

[Al Krow]

[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1507465077' post='3385595']
i) The odd little riff in a toon adds colour and emphasis if done tastefully,
ii other than that it's a bloody annoying noise you wish would stop, a bit like bagpipes.
iii) 5 and 6 string basses will die out next. Waste of wood and strings.
[/quote]

i) agreed
ii) certainly can be, particularly when done incessantly at bass product launches and events!
iii) would you describe yourself as a generally cheery person who finds change and innovation a little annoying and, whilst we're on the subject, might perhaps prefer to abolish all bass effects pedals - other than tremolo as the VOX AC 30 had one of those, and were actually surprised and slightly perturbed by the advent of the electric bass, brought in by Leo Fender, given that upright basses were already doing the job just fine?

Edited October 8, 2017 by Al Krow

[FuNkShUi]

I went through a period of learning, where all i wanted to play was slap, and play it as fast as possible.
I quickly realised how pointless, and tasteless that was, and that it doesn't work in a band context.
Doesn't mean it was a bad thing to learn though, because now i know the difference between a musical slap line, and a slap line that sounds like someone has just thrown the cutlery drawer down the stairs.
In our average set list there are 30 songs. I play a slap line on 1 of them (because the original was a slap line).
I don't understand the hate towards it though. As has been said, when done well it can sound really good.
But it's the same with anything/everything isn't it? Fingerstyle can sound really good, or really bad depending how tasteful the player. Same with drumming. Same with....etc

[skej21]

Slap is certainly not dead. Depends where you look, as it seems pretty main stream on YouTube, where every other video seems to be a product demo consisting mostly of slap!

Edited October 9, 2017 by skej21

[Barking Spiders]

I'm surprised at the lack of love for slap. Not only do I love it but many of my fave players are well known exponents, Larry Graham, Marcus Miller, Louis Johnson, MK,..As with pick playing and fretless it can sound sh*t when overused

[Wolverinebass]

[quote name='Cuzzie' timestamp='1507441835' post='3385427']
Oh crikey, I am such a bell end, thanks for that.

I was thinking of the film Machete at the time.

Silly me
[/quote]

That's Danny Trejo.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1507537422' post='3386057']
I'm surprised at the lack of love for slap. Not only do I love it but many of my fave players are well known exponents ...
[/quote]

Well there's your problem.

[Cuzzie]

[quote name='Wolverinebass' timestamp='1507540565' post='3386078']


That's Danny Trejo.
[/quote]


Yep I was completely wrong on so many levels, I need to slap myself!

[markdavid]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1507533268' post='3386024']
Slap is certainly not dead. Depends where you look, as it seems pretty main stream on YouTube, where every other video seems to be a product demo consisting mostly of slap!
[/quote] this is a pet hate of mine, when you look up a demo of a bass or a pedal and its just slap all the way through, really does not give a good representation of the item

[Leonard Smalls]

Sometimes a bit of slap is just what the doctor ordered...
Here it is, preceded by proper cheesey interview!
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqXbIXfmH3g[/MEDIA]

[visog]

Yeah the GCS is mainstream but 43 years ago. This thread needs to learn what 'mainstream' means and that the implication means current time period.

Sadly there's a vanishing amount of bass guitar in the mainstream period and only few percent of that played as slap or with a typical note duration of an eighths or finer.

And don't go citing some obscure math metal combo from Iceland at me... it's not mainstream!

[spectoremg]

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1507505745' post='3385977']
i) agreed
ii) certainly can be, particularly when done incessantly at bass product launches and events!
iii) would you describe yourself as a generally cheery person who finds change and innovation a little annoying and, whilst we're on the subject, might perhaps prefer to abolish all bass effects pedals - other than tremolo as the VOX AC 30 had one of those, and were actually surprised and slightly perturbed by the advent of the electric bass, brought in by Leo Fender, given that upright basses were already doing the job just fine?
[/quote]A smiley does not excuse a miserable post. Lighten up.