To Slap or Not to Slap

[Protium]

I can but don't like to outside of private practice The guitarist thinks it's awesome and insists on me playing something every band practice

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='605827' date='Sep 22 2009, 05:08 PM']Unless you're Mark King or Marcus Miller, don't bother. These guys (and possibly a very few others) make it sound sort of musical-ish, but otherwise it's just Yo-look-at-me-I'm-faster-and-therefore-better-than-you showing off.[/quote]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqkMsXcHQYg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqkMsXcHQYg[/url]

Edited September 30, 2009 by Protium

[BassAgent]

I like slapping, but the problem is many bass players don't know how to limit the amount of slapping in their songs. It's always either everything or nothing.

[wateroftyne]

I think the main beef I have with slapping is...

When you look for a demo of a bass or a bit of gear on YouTube, 75% of the time it'll consist of someone showing off their slappity slap slap chops - which isn't really that helpful.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='BassAgent' post='616142' date='Oct 4 2009, 12:07 AM']I like slapping, but the problem is many bass players don't know how to limit the amount of slapping in their songs. It's always either everything or nothing.[/quote]
In my case, nothing.

[TheBlueFalcon]

This thread really puts a downer on me wanting to learn.

[thepurpleblob]

I've given it a shot and I would quite like to but it's clearly WAY difficult and I'm better off putting the hours and hours of practicing time into something more useful.

[YouMa]

Girls love it,and i love funky music and girls,i love slap.

Edited October 4, 2009 by YouMa

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='YouMa' post='616956' date='Oct 4 2009, 10:41 PM']Girls love it,and i love funky music and girls,i love slap.[/quote]
Actually girls also like a bit of fingerstyle.

[samkeen]

It all depends on how competent you are slapping without having to use open strings. If all you can do is slap in E minor then it's all just w*nkery as others have said. If you're able to develop the techniques so that you can play anywhere on the bass then it's just as good a tool for expression as any other. I love it

[Gust0o]

I think when I'm older, more girzzled, and dripping with boutique hardware, then I will reconsider slap.

Not before, though.

It's a technique, and one I believe I've only half-mastered. It's very rarely used in the music I play and listen to, which has been a real disincentive to perfecting it. Great for the odd show-off, but not something I think I could compete on.

Maybe one day, though. Hopefully!

[Bassassin]

I've said before - a gentleman is a man who can play slap bass. And doesn't. So I've voted "can but don't".

A bit disingenuous, tbh, I can slap a bit, & like many other young bassists in the 80s I worshipped at the altar of Mark King, and was quite prone to punctuating songs with flurries of sloppy machine-gun triplets, with scant regard for either taste or suitability.

It was just a phase and I never got that good at it, I simply didn't have the dedication to put in the work to get it spot-on, probably because the music I was playing didn't actually call for it. These days it's purely a sitting-at-home-noodling technique I find myself occasionally mucking about with, and within the last few years I've experimented with double-thumbing, just to suss out how it works. Again, I haven't developed the technique because it doesn't have any real place in the music I write & play.

But yes - I like slap when done well and in context - and to be entirely honest I harbour a secret desire to be able to play like King, Marcus, Victor & all those slapmonster stunt bassists on YouTube.

In the privacy of my own room, of course.

Jon.

[mep]

Slap has it's place and always will, especially with Flea carrying the torch. I can slap but have hardly use it in band songs (We don't do funk or Flea). I'd rather pop some octaves with my fingers. If you want a quick slap section you may need to tweek your Eq mid song which isn't always easy.


What about Chris Wolstenhome of Muse slapping in their new single Undisclosed Desires?

[Low End Bee]

As I've said before. If someone gives me a plectrum with a giant plastic thumb attached I might have a go.

[zero9]

A crap bassline is a crap bassline, slapped or otherwise.

I like the percussive aspect of playing 'slap', although it doesn't mean that this is restricted to just using your thumb. John Entwistle style, for instance, was tapping the strings with the top of his fingers, which created a similar percussive effect.

Maybe it should be illegal below the age of 18?

Wil

[Dread Bass]

Yes i do slap its just a technique.

[nig]

[quote name='Doddy' post='604750' date='Sep 21 2009, 05:22 PM']Slap is just another way of making the note sound. To many people approach it
as a style in itself,which it isn't......it's a technique

So to answer the question..Yes I do slap[/quote]

There you go, the perfect answer, we arnt all mark king or larry graham, I put a few pops in last night......there was a space and ooh a couple of blang dugga daks !!! and back to behaving myself...tea riffic.

[Marvin]

Quite a time and place for everything.

I can't slap...well TBH I haven't ever tried.