Bunch of slappers!

[operative451]

Slap bass. I know it comes up on occasion... But what the flip is it with youtube and instagram bassists and the slappidy bappidy clippedy boing noises?! Argh!!

I'm totally after things about tone, amp settings, nice playing tips, just nice playing full stop but everything on there seems to be some noodle with a bass in their armpit and their thumb flapping back and forth like they're having a very localised seizure...

Seriously, is there any popular, recent, fun or interesting music that uses it? I've noticed the odd bit of clonking here and there on some Bruno-Mars-esque stuff but mostly no, because we want to hear, y'know, notes, not the sound of stainless steel rattling and thwacking.

It makes me want to use a pick just to annoy them....

[ubit]

Just about every review you see on Youtube of a bass, has some plonker slapping all over it. There is a time and a place for it.  The mid-eighties!

[Beedster]

43 minutes ago, operative451 said:

 

Seriously, is there any popular, recent, fun or interesting music that uses it? I've noticed the odd bit of clonking here and there on some Bruno-Mars-esque stuff but mostly no, because we want to hear, y'know, notes, not the sound of stainless steel rattling and thwacking.

I’ve always wondered why so many bassists use slap in demos etc when it appears to be such a little used technique in the real (recording and public performance) world? It’s a bit like a demo for a lawn mower showing how well it can be used to carry the shopping home. I suspect however that it is a convention so hard-wired into our collective consciousness, that even if we are never going to use it, deep down we need to know whether a prospective purchase is good for slap. Just in case. 

[ubit]

That's why I like Scott Devine. he can slap very well but never uses it to demonstrate unless that's what he is talking about.

[operative451]

Its like 'shredding' in guitar demos... Nobody does that anymore, its the pulling wheelies of playing an instrument..! The sole purpose of it is to show that you can...

I like Scott Devine too - but he's got a real habit of playing jazzy sounding licks with harmonics at the moment.. And on that really ugly brown bass with the centre stripe. That he wears stuck up his nose..

I may be in an intolerant mood though..

[ahpook]

No, you're right it's silly.

It's not showing off the bass, it's the bassist showing off.

 

Edited January 22, 2019 by ahpook

[PawelG]

 

[EliasMooseblaster]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

I suspect however that it is a convention so hard-wired into our collective consciousness, that even if we are never going to use it, deep down we need to know whether a prospective purchase is good for slap. Just in case. 

Ironically, I seem to recall that one of the main things that confirmed my decision to buy an Epi EB-3 was a demo video where the reviewer insisted it was terrible for slap!

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Ironically, I seem to recall that one of the main things that confirmed my decision to buy an Epi EB-3 was a demo video where the reviewer insisted it was terrible for slap!

Ha ha, love it

[Guest oZZma]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

I’ve always wondered why so many bassists use slap in demos etc when it appears to be such a little used technique in the real (recording and public performance) world

Because in most cases demos are just an excuse to show off 

There are very few demos channels that I enjoy and actually demonstrate the sounds and are insightful of the potential of effects (Dennis Kayzer is my favourite)

[Lfalex v1.1]

I recommend Yamaha Attitudes.

That big neck (and it is up by the neck) pick-up, leaves little room for a thumb to slap effectively and none for fingers to "pop" from beneath the G or D strings.

Same as the Gibsons that sport neck pick-ups in that position.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Lfalex v1.1

[operative451]

17 minutes ago, PawelG said:

 

 

[operative451]

To be fair though, i quite like the Judith Hill thing..

[Newfoundfreedom]

Yeah it does get rather tedious. But what I find even more annoying is when you're watching a review and all they do is play chords at the top end of the neck. It's a bass you pillock! We want to hear what the low notes sound like. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Newfoundfreedom

[oldslapper]

It's the equivalent of a Frank Spencer impression.

 

 

😉

[operative451]

27 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Yeah it does get rather tedious. But what I find even more annoying is when you're watching a review and all they do is play chords at the top end of the neck. It's a bass you pillock! We want to hear what the low notes sounds like. 

Yes!!! Its not clever to make a bass sound like a ukulele!!  Its not even clever to make a ukulele sound like a ukulele!!

[ped]

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I bloody love slap bass as much as any other style and I’m all for seeing it included in demos

[Hellzero]

I once wanted to create the A.S.L. way back in the early nineties. I should have done it or protect the name as I'm sure it's being used somewhere now : the Anti Slap League.

I just couldn't stand these slap "demos" (along with the shredding shredders) you were "hearing" everywhere in the shops, at the shows, ... : anywhere it was plink, plank, plonk, ta, ta, ta, tak. So BORING !

That said I don't care, I just play fretless... 🤣

[Hellzero]

That said, there are great slap players, but funnily, they are better when they don't slap. 😉

You want 3 names, but the list is almost endless : Stanley Clarke, Mark King and Marcus Miller...

[dave_bass5]

3 hours ago, ubit said:

That's why I like Scott Devine. he can slap very well but never uses it to demonstrate unless that's what he is talking about.

When he stops talking and rambling, which seems to take him a long time to do.

[lozkerr]

19 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

I once wanted to create the A.S.L. way back in the early nineties. I should have done it or protect the name as I'm sure it's being used somewhere now : the Anti Slap League.

You should resurrect it. We could have regular events - Funk Bonfire Night where we burn funk albums, Slap a Slapper Day... endless possibilities! 

[leftybassman392]

Ummm... Would this be a bad time to remind people that slapping was in widespread use by double bass players long before electric instruments were even invented?

So are you guys saying it's ok to do it on a double bass but not on an electric one? I don't have an axe to grind btw. I'm just a bit concerned that there might be a touch of selective memory going on.

Edited January 22, 2019 by leftybassman392

[Cato]

Finally getting around to learning how to play slap properly a few years back got me out of a playing rut that had gone on so long that I was almost at the point where I didn't want to pick up a bass anymore.

These days it's far from the majority of what I play but it definitely reignited my interest in the instrument. It opened up a couple of new ways of thinking about my standard finger style playing as well, as an example, before slap I barely knew what a ghost note was let alone how to use them effectively.

Suffice to say I'm a fan.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Cato

[bassfan]

Horses for courses. I like it when it’s done right. 😎

[Lozz196]

I can play one slap bass line and one only, This Is Not A Love Song by Public Image Ltd.