Were You Ever A SASM?

[Pete Academy]

Back in the 80s, Mark King created a monster...the 'Saturday Afternoon Slap Monster' - a creature that inhabitated music shops and drove everyone mad.

Dare anyone admit to being one?

[Cat Burrito]

Never was but back in the 80s I only ever seemed to get handed basses in the shop by staff that were!

[thisnameistaken]

Nah I was one of the sneering shoppers. The only player's slap sound I like is Larry Graham's, everyone else sounds like a dustbin full of cutlery rolling down an escalator.

Edited March 5, 2010 by thisnameistaken

[discreet]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='765376' date='Mar 5 2010, 04:45 PM']The only player's slap sound I like is Larry Graham's, everyone else sounds like a dustbin full of cutlery rolling down an escalator.[/quote]

Snort! +1

[Stingray5]

I think that was the reason I vowed never to enter a music shop on a Saturday afternoon ever again!

[yorick]

Big fat NOPE..........

[gafbass02]

sadly on reflection i think i may have been :-(

[Marvin]

I was too young and too skint.

[retroman]

Nope, can't slap to save my life!

[vmaxblues]

Only thing i can slap is the drummer....

[iamthewalrus]

I wasn't, but I can still remember my trips to Wapping where there were always a few who wanted to be the next Mark King or Marcus Miller.....

Those were the days

[Kiwi]

Hell yes, people liked listening to it when I did it in the 80's. In the 90's it was a bit ho hum and now I don't do it much at all, but slapping is still a good way of finding out what the bass can deliver in terms of attack and frequency response. I stand unashamed.

In twenty years time what questions will be asked of how we play now?

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='765376' date='Mar 5 2010, 04:45 PM']Nah I was one of the sneering shoppers. The only player's slap sound I like is Larry Graham's, everyone else sounds like a dustbin full of cutlery rolling down an escalator.[/quote]

Nice metaphor!

[Pete Academy]

As legend has it, Larry Graham invented the style when, as a kid playing in church with his keyboardist mum, they didn't have a drummer, so he compensated by 'thumping' the bass with his thumb.

I can truly say that on every Saturday afternoon during the 80s, me and the rest of the staff in our shop wished he'd just advertised for a f***ing drummer!

[The Funk]

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='765362' date='Mar 5 2010, 04:36 PM']Never was but back in the 80s I only ever seemed to get handed basses in the shop by staff that were![/quote]

Same here. In my childhood I was totally put off guitar shops because of it.

[Bassman68]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='765493' date='Mar 5 2010, 07:01 PM']Hell yes, people liked listening to it when I did it in the 80's. In the 90's it was a bit ho hum and now I don't do it much at all, but slapping is still a good way of finding out what the bass can deliver in terms of attack and frequency response. I stand unashamed.

In twenty years time what questions will be asked of how we play now?[/quote]
Yeah, go on...I'll hold my hand up too! Either Monkey business in Romford or The bass centre in Wapping (when they were still upstairs).
Reckon they'll be asking what shoes we gazed at? in 20 years, either that or what Wooten lick we ripped off!

[MoonBassAlpha]

It's an interesting question, but it also asks "what are we aspiring to these days?"
I think it really shows what an influence these guys/this style had then.

[Pete Academy]

When I get aspiring bass players come into our shop, they invariably say, 'I want to play bass because I've heard it's easier to pick up than guitar.' I always say it generally is, but there are techniques on the bass that are harder to learn than on guitar.

I personally love slap bass. It sets us apart from those skinny-stringed widdlers.

So come on...Viva la Slap! Thumbslingers unite!!!

Or shall I get me coat?

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Bassman68' post='765548' date='Mar 5 2010, 07:54 PM']Yeah, go on...I'll hold my hand up too! Either Monkey business in Romford or The bass centre in Wapping (when they were still upstairs).
Reckon they'll be asking what shoes we gazed at? in 20 years, either that or what Wooten lick we ripped off![/quote]
I suspect it might be more of the jazz based widdly stuff.

Basschat 2030...[i]"Were you a widdler?"[/i]

[neepheid]

Slap? Surely the result of an ill-advised comment of some sort?

[Malc62]

(Cough cough) I might have had a go once or twice. At least I tried to vary it some by tuning the bottom E down to D. If I try a bass in a shop these days, I actually turn it off or unplug it before seeing how well it slaps.

[Golchen]

I like slap. Do I need to register with slappers anonymous?

[discreet]

[quote name='Golchen' post='765830' date='Mar 6 2010, 08:31 AM']I like slap. Do I need to register with slappers anonymous?[/quote]

Too late. We know who you are!

[karlfer]

Slap, pah.
If I wanted to hit things I would have had the operation and become a drummer.

No offence. Much.

[thodrik]

Its not just shops, have you tried to listen to any kind of gear demo video from NAMM only to be distracted by a "KATOWWWW CACK" noise in the background. Many of them are fairly interchangeable as well.

I suppose being 23, a lot of my generation grew up on Flea. When I moved to Glasgow aged 18, I quickly learned that if you go into a music shop and find a suspicious looking guy plugging in a Stingray, then its best to have an exit stratagy, as bad slapping is likely to take place imminently.

Personally I like slap bass when used alongside other techniques to create a variation in tones, textures etc, but for me it should be learned only after mastering the basics. These include: playing in time, knowing when a string is way out of tune and how to fret a note.

Not that I think of myself as a guide to all other bassists but I only started slapping when I was seventeen and had been playing for about 5 years. Mind you, I grew up in an 'unfunky' environment, mainly listening to rock and blues with Flea and Les Claypool being my only slap bass heroes. A person growing up with motown and Marcus Miller might have had more of an incentive to pick the technique up more quickly.

I'm sure that the bass section of the shop in Waynes World with the 'No Stairway' sign had a similar sign which said:

'No slapping and popping in the key of E'.