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

[Reggaebass]

It’s not really slap , but more of a pop / hammer on , that I think gives this boz scaggs track a nice groove 🙂https://youtu.be/-C6Azq3ecrA 

[Ricky 4000]

7 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

It’s not really slap , but more of a pop / hammer on , that I think gives this boz scaggs track a nice groove 🙂https://youtu.be/-C6Azq3ecrA 

That's nice And a lot more accessible (easier) than the Jerry Preston one, that I've been working on for months (and still nowhere near on it!).

[Reggaebass]

15 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

That's nice And a lot more accessible (easier) than the Jerry Preston one, that I've been working on for months (and still nowhere near on it!).

Yeah , I found it’s a good one for just keeping timing too , and there’s  space to add your own thing 🙂

[Ricky 4000]

45 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Yeah , I found it’s a good one for just keeping timing too , and there’s  space to add your own thing 🙂

Well that's a problem. My own things move swiftly toward sounding like the work of Derek Smalls, which is not where I want to be! 😃

Edited May 19, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[DoubleOhStephan]

8 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

It’s not really slap , but more of a pop / hammer on , that I think gives this boz scaggs track a nice groove 🙂https://youtu.be/-C6Azq3ecrA 

Funnily enough we played that in my last band. It gets a little repetitive after 50 or so play throughs... 😬

[Leonard Smalls]

8 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

work of Derek Smalls,

The works of Brother Smalls are to be venerated! I suggested this as a cover for our band but was shouted down by those with a lack of vision...

 

[mcnach]

On 17/05/2019 at 14:41, StevieE said:

Thanks guys! I know it's the world's greatest evil... 😂

It's more the fact that I've got the technique down (@ped I can do it quite proficiently in small bursts, like the popped run in We Are Family), it's more that my timing constantly fails me.

 

 

Like most things, when abused it's a terrible thing, but slap bass can be done tastefully and it can be very nice in the right context.

If your timing is failing you, I think it just means you need to practice it more. I think the key is to not try to put in more notes/percussive tones than we're able: make it sound good for the song first, simplify the line of you must, and once you get it grooving and you're comfortable, you can worry about adding more elements to it if you want to. 

I know that when I started to learn, my timing could be all over the place and I was far too tense, my arm would hurt sometimes and I needed to consciously relax it. Also, I'd move my hand/arm far more than is necessary, so I was very rough. By doing it again and again it gets easier and you relax more, and when you relax more it gets easier, and then you relax more, and then it gets easier, and then... you see the pattern, right?

 

[DoubleOhStephan]

@mcnach yeah I'm getting it's the practice thing. Dammit 😜

[Stub Mandrel]

The thing about slap is it doesn't need to be frantic, when MK revs up what his left hand is doing becomes irrelevant...

I think it actually sounds better if you can hear the notes as well as the percussion.

[mcnach]

12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

The thing about slap is it doesn't need to be frantic, when MK revs up what his left hand is doing becomes irrelevant...

I think it actually sounds better if you can hear the notes as well as the percussion.

 

Indeed. Which is why this one remains a favourite of mine, and turned me on to the sound of a Precision slapped:

 

 

and the bassline in detail by the guy himself:

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

My utter inability to slap saddens me.

And I just don't know where to begin.

Is it the bass, my preferred action, neck relief, EQ, the state of my strings, my choice of strings, the gauge of my strings, the fact that my sweaty mitts will dull a set of Rotos in 3 seconds...

Is it the gain architecture I chose, do I need compression, is it the amp EQ...

I can tolerate quite narrow string spacing for fingerstyle. I even had a 5 restrung E, A, D on the first, third and fifth saddles and nut slots and couldn't hit one clean note even on that.

I find the whole thing physically awkward. Am I playing too hard or not hard enough? Am I trying to hard or not hard enough? What's my fretting hand supposed to be doing?

I accept that it is virtually impossible to "teach" me anything. I have to have my own Eureka moments for the pieces to fit together into anything meaningful. 

I've had more satisfaction from my fumblings on the Stick after 5 minutes than my sporadic (but lengthy) attempts at learning slap..

[Ricky 4000]

In my small and not very good at it way - I'd have to say all, and also none of the above.

I'd say it comes very slowly, and while the finer points of action height, strings, EQ settings etc, can help - once you get a bit of a feel for the playing, you can probably do it on any rig...

I think the challenge is feel and control with the thumb as well as you can probably already control the fingers... that and teaching a finger to hook under and pull...

And (again, in my small experience, FWIW), Forget Me Nots isn't the easiest song to get right for a beginner. 👍

Edited May 20, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[Lfalex v1.1]

Thanks, Ricky4000. Strangely, my first, only and short-of-tenure bass "teacher" used to extol the virtues of "Forget-me-nots" whilst steadfastly refusing to teach me even the rudiments of slap whilst showing off.

And as for feel.. I'm told by everyone that I missed my path when I didn't go into demolition as a career. My playing certainly isn't nuanced!

Maybe that's the problem. Tuition induced PTSD coupled with a complete lack of "feel"!

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm not very good at slap, but try this exercise.

Finger the a-string at the 7th fret and g-string at the 9th to get the octave.

First practice flicking the a-string against the fretboard alternating with using your middle finger to pull up  the g-string and so pops back against the fretboard.

Once you can keep up a steady 1-2 rhythm try doing the following 8 to the bar pattern:
 

G--------9-------6-------7--------8

D----------------------------------  

A----7-------4--------5-------6----

E----------------------------------

Once you can play this steadily, try combining the two techniques into different syncopated slap/pop patterns on 7 and 9.

When you can do these reasonably cleanly, try playing a simple bassline, not a fast one, you know well that is all on the  E and A strings. slapping all the notes on the E and A strings and double them up by 'popping' them on the D and G strings.

Also, try simply playing basslines using your thumb to slap instead of a finger to pick the notes.

From here you are probably as good as me and on your own... this won't make you fast, but it shoudl help you build your technique without trying to do too much at once or confusing things by trying to learn new patterns for your fretting hand when its your playing hand that needs to learn.

 

[ped]

Mark King gats a bad rap here but a lot of his playing is very laid back and groovy. The super fast stuff he does is normally just for show, because believe it or not a lot of his fans kind of want to see that side of it too.

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

My utter inability to slap saddens me.

And I just don't know where to begin.

Is it the bass, my preferred action, neck relief, EQ, the state of my strings, my choice of strings, the gauge of my strings, the fact that my sweaty mitts will dull a set of Rotos in 3 seconds...

Is it the gain architecture I chose, do I need compression, is it the amp EQ...

I can tolerate quite narrow string spacing for fingerstyle. I even had a 5 restrung E, A, D on the first, third and fifth saddles and nut slots and couldn't hit one clean note even on that.

I find the whole thing physically awkward. Am I playing too hard or not hard enough? Am I trying to hard or not hard enough? What's my fretting hand supposed to be doing?

I accept that it is virtually impossible to "teach" me anything. I have to have my own Eureka moments for the pieces to fit together into anything meaningful. 

I've had more satisfaction from my fumblings on the Stick after 5 minutes than my sporadic (but lengthy) attempts at learning slap..

 

At first I felt the same way.

So I found a local teacher and went in for a couple of lessons. My bass made all the right sounds in his hands, so I knew it was just me, and he showed me how to start. Then I went home and practiced.

Going for a lesson or two here and there could be very useful. You don't need to commit to a long series of lessons, just find someone who will teach you what you want to learn.

[Ricky 4000]

2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Thanks, Ricky4000. Strangely, my first, only and short-of-tenure bass "teacher" used to extol the virtues of "Forget-me-nots" whilst steadfastly refusing to teach me even the rudiments of slap whilst showing off.

And as for feel.. I'm told by everyone that I missed my path when I didn't go into demolition as a career. My playing certainly isn't nuanced!

Maybe that's the problem. Tuition induced PTSD coupled with a complete lack of "feel"!

 

Larry G. is your man for the hard-hitting style!

The last 2 minutes here are probably the most useful, although as I watch it through, he is so dynamic with his thumb (and thumb nail).

 

[Stub Mandrel]

One of these guys is uber-cool. One of them is not.

Can you guess which is which, children?

[Ricky 4000]

24 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

One of these guys is uber-cool. One of them is not.

Can you guess which is which, children?

Ummm, I dunno, is it white boy day?

If today isn't white boy day, then it's gonna be L.G. 😃

 

Here's a much longer thing by L.G. if anybody's interested. Sound is a bit dodgy, but there's some diamonds in there if'n you stick with it:

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[operative451]

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/that_time_metallica_used_slap_bass_5_things_you_never_noticed_in_tallica_songs.html

Still not cool though..

Although that Larry Graham video is very cool...

 

[EMG456]

Always a lot of grouching in here about slap bass or indeed any bassing  that’s in any way extending the standard bass player’s role. Funny that we’ve arrived here in the 21st century. 

Anyway, like or loath it, the punters still love it. I hardly do any slapping these days but one of the songs the *folk* band I play with does, now has a mad slap bass ending and it generally brings the house down!

Anyway 2- here’s the master at work- tasteful mix of fingerstyle and slap. Clarity, punch, melody, rhythm and a tone from that Stingray that no one else has IMHO ever been able to replicate. 

 

[thepurpleblob]

I've never played slap. Never had any inclination or obvious need to do so. 

However, you would *think* that it's the only style anybody plays if you watch YouTube for 5 mins or walk into a music shop 😛 

"Double thumbing"... same. "Can you double thumb on bass XYZ??". Honestly, who cares....

Edited May 21, 2019 by thepurpleblob

[FinnDave]

6 minutes ago, thepurpleblob said:

"Double thumbing"... same. "Can you double thumb on bass XYZ??". Honestly, who cares....

Genuine question - what is double thumbing? Never heard of it! I have two thumbs already, does that count??

[thepurpleblob]

2 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

Genuine question - what is double thumbing? Never heard of it! I have two thumbs already, does that count??

I don't know either. I think it was popularised by the world's most boring bass player, Victor Wooten. That's all I know. Others will be along soon to give me the abuse I deserve  

[Barking Spiders]

7 minutes ago, thepurpleblob said:

I don't know either. I think it was popularised by the world's most boring bass player, Victor Wooten. That's all I know. Others will be along soon to give me the abuse I deserve  

Ha ha not from this quarter you won't . I'm not a fan of any of these hyper, super advanced technical players whose musical output is largely limited to the stultifyingly boring fusion/jazz rock genre. Just my 10 cents worth. I really see little point in double thumbing. I can do it quite well but it doesn't groove.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Barking Spiders