Slap Happy Chappy? No, Cos I'm Crappy :(

[Grahambythesea]

23 hours ago, Teebs said:

I agree with Chief-Inspector Felbag!

So do I. It’s a bad way to damage the delicate bones in your hand. Do you want early onset arthritis? 🖐

[Heathy]

I have recently made the decision to give up playing slap altogether. It has taken up an inordinate amount of practice time over the years, so I suppose it's just not for me. Added to that, I struggle to actually hear myself live when slapping.

The chorus to Peg is really hard to play fingerstyle though, so I may change my mind again before my next gig! 

[runforcover]

I cannot understand why people who say they cant play the slap bass syle of bass playing.Then go on to discredit it surely its just another way of playing the bass ? It can be used in certain styles of music with great effect i have even seen it done on a pbass with flats and it sounded great

[ped]

Just now, runforcover said:

I cannot understand why people who say they cant play the slap bass syle of bass playing.Then go on to discredit it surely its just another way of playing the bass ? It can be used in certain styles of music with great effect i have even seen it done on a pbass with flats and it sounded great

I LOVE the sound of slap on a P with flats. 

[runforcover]

It is a wonerfull indeed😀

[Ricky 4000]

29 minutes ago, ped said:

I LOVE the sound of slap on a P with flats. 

I'm more than half convinced that Larry used flats on "Hair":

 

[ped]

Yeah definitely 

[bubinga5]

1 hour ago, Heathy said:

I have recently made the decision to give up playing slap altogether. It has taken up an inordinate amount of practice time over the years, so I suppose it's just not for me. Added to that, I struggle to actually hear myself live when slapping.

The chorus to Peg is really hard to play fingerstyle though, so I may change my mind again before my next gig! 

Use the underside of your thumb (to pull the lower strings) and the inside of your finger/s (pull) to slap. There is more than one way to play slap bass. I call it picking slap. Sounds the same. People like huck Rainey. Abe Laboriel use different ways to achieve the same sound all the time. 

Edited May 18, 2019 by bubinga5

[Stub Mandrel]

I played my slap version of Living After Midnight at Friday's rehearsal.

The guys didn't prefer it and the guitarist was almost rude...

😪

[paul_5]

That's "Breaking the Law", surely...

[FinnDave]

I have no idea whether I can slap or not, never had any call for it in the types of music I play. I suspect that even if I could have played it years ago, I wouldn't be able to now, as my right hand is pretty much knackered. 

I've heard very little of it, to be honest, mostly seems to sound very 'showy', which is something I don't usually associate with bass playing.

[ricksterphil]

On 17/05/2019 at 15:26, StevieE said:

Nooooo!!! I'm looking for a shortcut, not sensible advice!! Pah! 😂

Ashes to Ashes

I struggled to do anything resembling slap until we did Ashes to Ashes, which is a mix of slap and fingerstyle. Having to get on top of it for this song I have managed to make a reasonable fist of it. Les Claypool I am not though!

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, runforcover said:

I cannot understand why people who say they cant play the slap bass syle of bass playing.Then go on to discredit it surely its just another way of playing the bass ? It can be used in certain styles of music with great effect i have even seen it done on a pbass with flats and it sounded great

Stop being reasonable. We came here to air our prejudices 😁

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, ricksterphil said:

Ashes to Ashes

I struggled to do anything resembling slap until we did Ashes to Ashes, which is a mix of slap and fingerstyle. Having to get on top of it for this song I have managed to make a reasonable fist of it. Les Claypool I am not though!

A great example of slap-bass, can’t think how much the song would change if played without those slapped parts.

[ricksterphil]

18 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

A great example of slap-bass, can’t think how much the song would change if played without those slapped parts.

Spot on!

[visog]

23 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

It’s due a resurgence...

Hopeful. 1) There's precious little bass guitar-enabled popular songs anymore. And I'm not talking about artists before 2000 Grandad, and 2) It's basically 'assault' on the ears and should be charged as such by every court in the land. The world has moved on since this was the most exciting thing ever!: 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by visog

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, visog said:

Hopeful. 1) There's precious little bass guitar-enabled popular songs anymore. And I'm not talking about artists before 2000 Grandad, and 2) It's basically 'assault' on the ears and should be charged as such by every court in the land. The world has moved on since the time this was the most exciting thing ever!: 

 

 

If it’s consensual slap bass between two or more people of an appropriate age...leave them be.

I’m doing it. You can join in or f*ck off.

😂😉

[visog]

Go for it!

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, visog said:

Go for it!

Hahah good old George. He was a slap bass monster, and early influence for Larry Graham so I’ve read.

[ped]

To be honest I’m noticing more and more in the ‘soultronic’ genre I tend to listen to that groovy bass lines accented with popped and slapped notes are becoming more common. 

[Stub Mandrel]

Has anyone else noticed taht when he is soloing Mark King starts to look like Gruber from Allo Allo?

[Stub Mandrel]

Not sure if this has some slap in it or just aggressive picking - but it's brilliant? Listen from 1:55.

 

[timhiggins]

Slap has never really left jazz/funk/fusion electronica type styles, it has always been useful addition to have in your bag of tricks along with lots of other technically quite advanced styles of playing which i'm still enjoying  learning at 50.

As for its popularity in pop/chart music i dont really care and never did . 

[Ricky 4000]

13 hours ago, ped said:

It’s funny how some see slap as a completely different way of playing. I mean it kind of is but I like my slapping to sound similar to when I dig in, and blend it in with normal playing. I think when people hear the word slap bass they think of super fast nail gun antics rather than something more subtle. Think about a John Entwistle’s typewriter technique. That’s basically slap. 

I think so too. Jerry Preston's playing here would seem a perfect example of the blending you describe:

I don't see anybody there complaining about the bass.

Edited May 18, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[ped]

Yeah, just like that. Great clip 👍🏼